The Lynn Public Library building is a historic library at Five North Common Street in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

. Although library services were offered in Lynn as early 1815, it was not until a bequest in 1896 that the city began planning a permanent home for the growing collection. After some controversy, library trustees chose a Renaissance Revival design by local architect George A. Moore, who happened to be related to one of the library trustees. Controversy also attended the size and scale of the building, along with the removal of trees at its site on the

town common Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has a r ...

. It was completed at a cost of $175,000, which included no public funding. Construction of the library began in 1898 and it was opened in 1900. In 1900 the library commissioned the first mural of

F. Luis Mora Francis Luis Mora (July 27, 1874 – June 5, 1940) was a Uruguayan-born American figural painter. Mora worked in watercolor, oils and tempera. He produced drawings in pen and ink, and graphite; and etchings and monotypes. He is known for his pain ...

, a prominent

Hispanic American Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...

artist. The library was added to 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 ...

in 1979, and included in the

Lynn Common Historic District The Lynn Common Historic District encompasses the town common of Lynn, Massachusetts and the surrounding buildings which face it. Although its establishment dates to the late 17th century, the area's time of development is predominantly in the ...

in 1992.

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Library buildings completed in 1898 Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Lynn, Massachusetts Education in Lynn, Massachusetts Libraries in Essex County, Massachusetts Public libraries in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Lynn, Massachusetts Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts {{EssexCountyMA-NRHP-stub

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