The Dickinson Branch Library, at 1545 Hooker St. in the
West Colfax neighborhood of
Denver, Colorado, is a
Carnegie library which was built in 1914. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
[
It was designed by architect ]Maurice Biscoe
Maurice B. Biscoe (July 1871 – 29 December 1953) was an American architect. He worked in New York and then moved to Denver, Colorado. He returned to the east to work in Boston. His work was part of the architecture event in the art competit ...
in Italian Renaissance Revival style.[ Above a raised concrete basement, it is built of brick covered by white concrete stucco. It was originally light ivory in color with a sage green base. It has a hipped roof of red Spanish tile with broad overhanging eaves supported by wooden brackets, and a broad ]cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
"ornamented with ceramic tiles of heraldic designs, originally in brilliant colors. The tiles, now painted over, were blue-green squares attached to circular tiles set into the stucco finish. The tiles are of an alternating square and diamond pattern."[
The library included mural work by Allen Tupper True, "Colorado's most prolific mural painter", and relief sculpture by Denver artist and sculptor Dudley Carpenter. The murals and relief sculptures were removed from the building after the library was closed, and, as of 2001, their locations were unknown.][
It has also been known as the Charles E. Dickinson Branch Library, as the Carnegie Dickinson Library, and as the West Denver Branch Library.][ With ]
It was one of four Carnegie libraries funded by an $80,000 grant in 1912, which were all opened in 1913 "to much fanfare", three years after the main Denver Public Library was opened in 1910.[
It was deemed significant "for its association with the nationwide public library movement sponsored and funded by grants from Andrew Carnegie's philanthropic foundation, ...for its association with the City of Denver's efforts to create a system of branch public libraries, nd... as an important example of the work of Denver architect Maurice Biscoe."][
It is located in west Denver at the southwest corner of Hooker Street and Conejos Place, near major boulevards West Colfax Avenue and Federal Boulevard, and it is visible from both.][
]
See also
*National Register of Historic Places listings in west Denver __NOTOC__
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in West Denver, Colorado.
This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in western Denver, Colorado, ...
References
Carnegie libraries in Colorado
National Register of Historic Places in Denver
Buildings and structures completed in 1914
Italian Renaissance Revival architecture in the United States
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