Eldredge Public Library is the public library of

Chatham, Massachusetts Chatham () is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Chatham is located at the southeast tip of Cape Cod and has historically been a fishing community. First settled by the English in 1664, the township was originally called Mo ...

. It is located at 564 Main Street, in a

National Register The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

-listed Romanesque Revival building donated by Chatham native Marcellus Eldredge. It was designed by

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

architect A. M. Marble.

Architecture and history

The library is set at the southeast corner of Main Street and Library Lane in Chatham's central business district. It is a 1-1/2 story brick and stone structure, with a slate roof and a granite foundation. Its Romanesque Revival features include parapeted end walls, eyebrow dormers, and brownstone trim, including beltcourses, window trim, and corner quoining. A 1968 addition, extending the building to the rear, was rebuilt in the early 1990s to more sympathetically resemble the original building. The interior has floors of marble and oak, and lavish oak woodwork. The Chatham library has its origins in a small library in South Chatham in 1875, and a library and reading room in Chatham village in 1887. Marcellus Eldredge, a Chatham native who made a fortune as a brewer in

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...

, offered the town a new library building, which was constructed in 1896 at a cost of $30,000. The designer was the otherwise little-known Boston architect A. M. Marble. Eldredge also established a $20,000 endowment to maintain the library. This building was enlarged in 1968 to a design by Alger and Gunn of Hyannis, and again in 1991-92 by A. Anthony Tappe of Tappé Architects in

. The library was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

for its architectural significance in 1992. It is the only major Romanesque Revival work in the town, and one of very few in

Barnstable County Barnstable County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 228,996. Its shire town is Barnstable. The county consists of Cape Cod and associated islands (some adjacent islands are in Duk ...

References

External links

Eldredge Public Library
- official site {{authority control Library buildings completed in 1896 Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Libraries in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Public libraries in Massachusetts 1896 establishments in Massachusetts Chatham, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Barnstable County, Massachusetts

Architecture and history

See also

References

External links