Work Begins on Gothic Library
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | July 29, 2010
One of the most striking buildings in Framingham, Mass., a Victorian Gothic library that has stood on the city's central common since 1872, is being restored, thanks to a $100,000 grant from Partners in Preservation.
The Edgell Memorial Library won fourth place in last year's online voting competition: About 175,000 people selected the library from a list of 25 historic Boston-area sites contending for grants.
This summer, the Framingham History Center, which oversees the library, is putting the grant to good use. Workers from Kronenberger and Sons Restoration Inc., based in Middletown, Conn., removed 22 of the building's 64 windows earlier this month and will install the restored windows by the end of August.
Built from local granite as a Civil War memorial, the Edgell Memorial Library was threatened with demolition in 1963, but local activists saved the building.
Today "the building is in pretty bad shape," says Annie Murphy, executive director of the Framingham History Center. "It's beautiful inside, even though it's not in good repair." Hoping to remedy that, the center will oversee repairs to the library's exterior masonry. A grant from the Massachusetts Historical Society will fund repairs, which will begin as early as this fall, Murphy says.
"We'll do it. We're looking at all different kinds of funding," she says. "We're going to get all the money we need to finish [restoration]."
Despite the building's lack of windows, the Edgell Memorial Library's offices and temporary exhibits remain open. "It's pretty noisy," Murphy says.
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Comments
Submitted by Margaret Foster at: August 12, 2010
According to the Framingham History Center, the architects were William A. Rice and W. Frank Hurd.
Submitted by Ron at: August 4, 2010
Who was the architect? Thanks.
Submitted by GeWaMa at: July 30, 2010
Beautiful!