Bancroft Memorial Library is the public library serving
Hopedale, Massachusetts
Hopedale is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located 25 miles southwest of Boston, in eastern Massachusetts. With origins as a Christian utopian community, the town was later home to ...
. It is located at 50 Hopedale Street in the town center, in a fine Romanesque building built in 1898-99 and listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.
Architecture and history
The library is located on the west side of Hopedale Street, a short way north of the town common. It is a single-story stone structure, designed by
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
architect C. Howard Walker of the firm Walker & Kimball. It is constructed of pink
Milford granite, and was modeled after
Merton College Chapel at Oxford. Its entrance is prominently located in a cross-gable projection, set in a round-arch opening flanked by smaller round-arch openings. The interior retains many fine original finishes, include oak ceiling trusses, an oaken circulation desk, and oak partitions in the reading areas that are typical of Gothic churches.
The town of Hopedale's first proper library was established in 1840, and was located in a variety of places, including private residences, churches, and town hall, where it occupied the first floor in 1886.
[ This building was built for the town by Joseph Bubier Bancroft, in memory of his wife Sylvia. Bancroft was an executive with the Draper Company, the town's principal employer,Joseph B. Bancroft]
/ref> and also represented the town as a selectman and in the state legislature. It was built adjacent to Bancroft's house (which still stands), and was donated to the town upon its completion in 1899.[
]
See also
*
References
External links
Bancroft Memorial Library - Town of Hopedale
{{Authority control
Library buildings completed in 1898
Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Public libraries in Massachusetts
Libraries in Worcester County, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Worcester County, Massachusetts