The Adriance Memorial Library is located on Market Street in Poughkeepsie,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. It is a stone building in the

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

erected shortly at the end of the 19th century. In 1982 it 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 ...

. It is the oldest tax-supported library in the state and the third oldest in the United States, dating back to 1839 at various locations prior to the construction of the current building. It is also the main

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District, serving the city and

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of that name, with a branch in the suburb of Arlington. It is a member library of the

Mid-Hudson Library System Since 1959, the Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS) has acted to ensure the public's right to free access, facilitate economical resource sharing, and promote professional library services while working in partnerships with the independent public and ...

, which has its headquarters next door. The building has been through two renovations and expansions. A large rear wing was built in the 1920s. It was removed in the early 21st century to make way for an even larger addition. During that time the main building was closed as well for renovations. It was reopened in 2009 with its appearance and layout intact.

Building

The library is located on the east side of Market Street between Noxon and Pine streets, just north of where Market forks to its south end at Montgomery Street. A block and a half to the north is Church Street (eastbound

U.S. Route 44 U.S. Route 44 (US 44) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that runs for through four states in the Northeastern United States. The western terminus is at US 209 and New York State Route 55 (NY 55) in Kerhonkson, ...

New York State Route 55 New York State Route 55 (NY 55) is a east-west state highway in southern New York, running from the Pennsylvania state line at the Delaware River in Barryville to the Connecticut state line at Wingdale. It is the only other state hi ...

), Poughkeepsie's major eastbound arterial road and the south end of downtown. The area is extensively developed and urban, along the point where the terrain levels off after rising a half-mile (800 m) from the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

to the west. Nearby are several other buildings also listed on the National Register. To the southwest, across the fork of Market, is the

Harlow Row Harlow Row, also called Brick Row, is a group of brick townhouses in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. While their address is given as 100-106 Market Street, they are actually located on a short side street referred to as Little Market Stree ...

, a group of attached brick rowhouses slightly older than the library. Across Market is the Market Street Row, a group of several houses, including the Mott–Van Kleeck House, the city's oldest. North along the same side of Market is the Romanesque Revival brick Hasbrouck House, now headquarters of the

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later organ ...

United Way, with the brick Colonial Revival Amrita Club next to it at the corner of Church, opposite the city's former armory. A stone retaining wall, topped by a small decorative guardrail, runs along the street, broken by a set of steps in the center flanked by gas lampposts. The building itself is a one-story, 13-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

structure of Tennessee marble with a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

ed roof, projecting

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

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...

s, plain frieze with "Adriance Memorial Library" carved into it. Atop is a small green dome. On the west (front) facade the seven bays in the middle are recessed. Within that section the middle three project slightly to form a central pavilion with four round fluted Corinthian columns. A double set of steps leads up to the main entrance. The entrance bay has a round-arched glass

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

with radiating muntins, topped with a scroll keystone. It is flanked by two similar blind bays. Above each is a panel with swag decorations. Outside the colonnade, each side has two flanking windows. They have similar decorative treatment as the central bays, but are set with one-over-one double-hung sash above a recessed panel. On the sides, windows are set with two eight-pane casements, opening in the center, above a recessed panel. A

stringcourse A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the fl ...

is at the bottom, paralleled by the building's

water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

. Below them on the sides are square two-over-two double-hung sash in the basement. A parged brick

hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes (figure d ...

, two stories with two bays set with one-over-one double-hung sash between

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 ...

sills and lintels, trimmed with a

molded Molding (American English) or moulding (British and Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the process of manufacturing by shaping liquid or pliable raw material using a rigid frame called a mold or matrix. This itself may have ...

wooden cornice, connects the main block to a rear addition built of smooth dressed stone blocks, rusticated on the first story. It is four storeys high, with a three-story front section, and a projecting rear. The front has modern paired windows with two small panes over one large one. Similar windows alternate on the addition's main block, and rise near the east corner of the rear section. The flat roof is trimmed with a cornice similar to that on the hyphen. The interior features Tiffany

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

plaques and intact oak

woodwork Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials ...

. The library's annual report described it as a Renaissance Revival building, but today it is more frequently described as

History

The Adriance Memorial library was given to the city of Poughkeepsie by the Adriance family, who ran a successful farm equipment company in Poughkeepsie. John and Mary Adriance's six children donated $100,000 from the fortune he made developing the buckeye plow to build the library, and purchase its books, in their parents' memory. It opened with a huge gala celebration on October 18, 1897. By the early 1920s it was running out of space. A brick addition was built on the rear in 1923. It would serve for the remainder of the century.

2007-2009 reconstruction

On September 30, 2007, the Adriance Memorial Library temporarily closed its main building in order to perform a major renovation project in order to more than double the space within the library. The 1923 addition was removed to make room for a new and larger addition at the back of the building, leaving the historic original structure intact in the front. The building was originally scheduled to reopen on October 1, 2009.Pough Keepsie Journal
In the interim, the main library was temporarily relocated to a former

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building on Bancroft Road. On October 18, 2009, the 112th anniversary of the original opening, the library celebrated its Grand Re-Opening. As of April 2012, the Adriance Memorial Library has been featured as a special building for the Hudson Valley civilization in a mod-pack in the popular strategy game '' Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword''.

References

External links

Poughkeepsie Public Library District
{{authority control Library buildings completed in 1897 Public libraries in New York (state) Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Poughkeepsie, New York Neoclassical architecture in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Poughkeepsie, New York 1897 establishments in New York (state)

Building

History

2007-2009 reconstruction

See also

References

External links