The Barron Library is a historic building located at 582 Rahway Avenue in Woodbridge Township,

Middlesex County, New Jersey Middlesex County is a County (United States), county located in the North Jersey, north-Central Jersey, central part of the U.S. state of New Jersey, extending inland from the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region to the northern portion of the ...

. Formerly a public library, it is now the Barron Arts Center. The building was documented by the

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

in 1976. It was added to 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 ...

on November 11, 1977, for its significance in architecture and education. With

History and description

Thomas Barron (1790–1875) funded the construction of the building in his will. It would become the first free public library in Middlesex County. The

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Ty ...

building was designed by architect J. Cleaveland Cady in the

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a architectural style, style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revivalism (architecture), revival style incorporates 11th- and 12th-century ...

style and features a three-story clock tower. The fireplace in the Reading Room is bordered with blue and white

Delft tile Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue () or as delf, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major cent ...

s, each depicting a biblical scene. The library was dedicated on September 11, 1877. In 1967, it became part of the Woodbridge Township Library System. In 1977, the building became the arts center for Woodbridge Township.

References

External links

* * * * {{NRHP in Middlesex County, New Jersey Buildings and structures in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey 1877 establishments in New Jersey Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in New Jersey Historic American Buildings Survey in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, New Jersey Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places Former library buildings in the United States

History and description

See also

References

External links