Hobart Carnegie Library, also known as the Hobart Historical Society Museum, is a historic Carnegie library located at

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

Lake County, Indiana Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 2020, its population was 498,700, making it Indiana's second-most populous county. The county seat is Crown Point. The county is part of Northwest Indiana and the Chicago metropo ...

. It was built in 1914-1915, and is a one-story,

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

style brick building. The building has a high-pitched

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

gable roof and a polygonal bay with leaded glass windows and entry porch. The building was constructed with a $16,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation. ''Note:'' This includes . It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The Hobart Public Library is the first public library in

Hobart, Indiana Hobart is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,890 at the 2020 census, up from 29,059 in 2010. It has been historically primarily residential, though recent annexation has added a notable retail corridor to the city ...

. It hold two significant features, it is a Carnegie library and the only

structure in Hobart.Hobart Carnegie Library; National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form; El in B. Christianson, Hobart-Historical Society, Inc.. United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service; July 15, 1982 The Women's Reading Club of Hobart was granted $16,000 from the Carnegie Corporation in 1914-15. A. F. Wickes, an Illinois-born architect designed during a ten-year period of residency in Gary. Ingwald Moe who had emigrated from Norway in 1906 to Gary was hired to build the library. He created a large construction company. His company built many buildings for Indiana Steel, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, and the Gary Methodist Hospital and the Palace Theater. The Hobart Library is patterned after Floor Plan "A" as shown in "Notes on Library Buildings," a pamphlet supplied by the Carnegie Corporation. Carnegie had created the pamphlet as libraries were not common and standards were not common at this time. Recommendations on window placement and basement construction were followed. Exterior appearance was not specifically stated, other than the limiting of ornate or expensive features. There is no specific information regarding the use of the

design. It is the only known example of Tudor Revival in Hobart. In 1968, the library built a larger building elsewhere and sold the Carnegie building to the Hobart Historical Society. It is now a museum.

Description

The building is rectangular with a high-pitched gable roof. On the south is a small gabled bay and entry porch. It is a brick structure with a slate roof in a Tudor Revival style. The roofline is outlined by an

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinatio ...

-shaped

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 ...

with returns. The brickwork is a

Flemish bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and Mortar (masonry), mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''Course (architecture), courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks ...

, with decorative coursing in the foundation area. The double chimney is

corbelled In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the st ...

on the east facade. The main entry is on the south next to the

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...

. A small porch extends from the main roof over the door. East of the entry is a polygonal bay window, with five, large, leaded glass windows. Each window has a

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

flower decoration. The brickwork is intricate

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

trim. The bay window is topped by a gable in a half-timbered design with quatrefoil decorative elements. The west façade was built with a

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

style window grouping and a circular ventilator in the gable area. A later addition to provide access to the basement area has altered this façade. A 1969 addition on the north façade used concrete block. The basement is a one-half story above grade designed for lectures and meetings. The main floor is one large room. The east end was designated the children's reading room, while west end was reserved for adults. The librarian was located opposite the main door. The Carnegie floor plan "A" places windows high in the walls, to provide for bookshelves below. The east end has a fireplace center on the wall, was considered a waste of space for bookshelves. The woodwork and bookcases were of oak.

References

Bibliography

*George S. Bobinski; ''Carnegie libraries: Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development''; Chicago, American Library Assn., 1969. Hobart Gazette. January 15, 1915, Page 1 *William F. Howat; A Standard History of Lake County, Indiana. Chicago, Lewis, 1915, *Thomas H. Cannon and others; History of the Lake and Calumet Region of Indiana, Indianapolis, Historians' Assn., 1927 {{National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Carnegie libraries in Indiana History museums in Indiana Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Tudor Revival architecture in Indiana Library buildings completed in 1915 Buildings and structures in Lake County, Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Lake County, Indiana 1915 establishments in Indiana

Description

See also

References

Bibliography