Cambridge Public Library

Cambridge Public Library
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
1888 building (photo 2012)
Show map of Massachusetts Show map of the US
Location	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°22′27″N 71°6′38″W / 42.37417°N 71.11056°W / 42.37417; -71.11056Coordinates: 42°22′27″N 71°6′38″W / 42.37417°N 71.11056°W / 42.37417; -71.11056
Built	1888
Architect	Van Brunt & Howe (1888), William Rawn Associates (2009)
Architectural style	Other, Romanesque
MPS	Cambridge MRA
NRHP Reference #	82001931[1]
Added to NRHP	April 13, 1982

The Cambridge Public Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts is part of the Minuteman Library Network. It consists of a main library and six branches, located throughout the city.

In fiscal year 2014, the city of Cambridge spent 1.63% ($7,064,381) of its budget on the library, $66 per person.^[2]

Main building

Main branch expansion building, 2011

The main building of the Cambridge Public Library is an historic library building at 449 Broadway. It was built in 1888 with land and full construction funding donated by Frederick H. Rindge, a Cambridge native and philanthropist. Its Richardsonian Romanesque design was by Van Brunt & Howe. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

A $90 million expansion and renovation of the library, led by the Boston architectural firms William Rawn Associates and Ann Beha Architects, opened on November 8, 2009.^[3] The new addition more than triples the square footage of the building, and is the first building in the USA to make use of European Double-Skin Curtainwall technology. Architectural drawings and construction photos are available here. During most of the construction, the library collection had been relocated to the Longfellow School.^[4]

Museum of Science Community Solar System

Prior to the renovation of the main library, the library was home to a scale model of the planet Saturn in the Boston Museum of Science's community-wide solar system model.^[5] Saturn was located just outside the portion of the building that housed the old stacks, roughly where the computer workstation sign-in table is currently located. The Saturn model was packed up and shipped back to the Museum of Science and was not positioned at the reopened renovated library.^[6] Other locations in Cambridge that still have models in the historic nine planet series are the Royal Sonesta Hotel (home of Earth) and the Cambridgeside Galleria mall (home of Mars).

History of Organization

The Cambridge Public Library developed out of the Cambridge Athenaeum, which was founded in 1849 as "a lyceum, public library, and reading room with a building on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Pleasant Street where Cambridge residents could borrow books at the cost of one dollar per year.

The City of Cambridge acquired the Cambridge Athenaeum in 1858 and renamed it the Dana Library for use as a city hall and a public library. By 1866 the Library moved to the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Temple Street. In 1874, the library became free to the public and was renamed the Cambridge Public. The main building of the Cambridge Public Library at 449 Broadway was built in 1888.

Branches

Six smaller neighborhood branch libraries are scattered throughout the City of Cambridge. These are:

• Boudreau Branch, 245 Concord Avenue, West Cambridge
• Central Square Branch, 45 Pearl Street, Cambridgeport
• Collins Branch, 64 Aberdeen Avenue, West Cambridge
• O'Connell Branch, 48 Sixth Street, East Cambridge
• O'Neill Branch, 70 Rindge Avenue, North Cambridge
• Valente Branch, 826 Cambridge Street, East Cambridge

List of databases

As of 2014 the library arranges for its patrons and staff access to digital content from several providers:^[7]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts

References

Further reading

• Catalogue of the Cambridge Public Library, 1887.
• The Cambridge Public Library: Its history, rules and regulations, list of officers, past and present, etc. Cambridge, Mass.: J. Wilson and son, 1891
• "Cambridge." Report of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts. 1891
• Annual report. 1893-1904
• Cambridge Public Library Bulletin v.1-v.2 (1896-1897)

External links

• Cambridge Public Library Website
• Main Library Expansion Project

U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Barnstable Berkshire Bristol Dukes Essex Franklin Hampden Hampshire Middlesex Nantucket Norfolk Plymouth Suffolk Worcester (northern)
Lists by city	Barnstable County Barnstable Harwich Bristol County Fall River New Bedford Taunton Essex County Andover Gloucester Ipswich Lawrence Lynn Methuen Salem Hampden County Springfield Middlesex County Arlington Cambridge Concord Framingham Lexington Lowell Marlborough Medford Newton Reading Sherborn Somerville Stoneham Wakefield Waltham Weston Winchester Norfolk County Brookline Milton Quincy Suffolk County Boston northern southern Worcester County Southbridge Uxbridge Worcester eastern northwestern southwestern
Other lists	Bridges Cape Cod National Seashore National Historic Landmarks Boston
Category NRHP portal Massachusetts portal