The Former Eldora Public Library is a historic building located in

Eldora, Iowa Eldora is a city and the county seat of Hardin County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,663 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Hardin County. History Eldora was platted in 1853. It was i ...

, United States. On December 30, 1901, the Carnegie Foundation agreed to grant the community $10,000 to build a new library building. The

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

architectural firm of Patton & Miller designed it in the

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

style, and it was dedicated on May 11, 1903. The single-story, brick structure is somewhat rare in that its plan is an asymmetrical massing of intersecting

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s. with The entrance pavilion is located at the intersection of the two masses. The building was 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 ...

in 1983. In 2010 it was included as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

in the Eldora Downtown Historic District in 2010. The library has subsequently moved to a new facility, and this building has been converted for commercial use.

References

Library buildings completed in 1903 Renaissance Revival architecture in Iowa Eldora, Iowa Buildings and structures in Hardin County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Hardin County, Iowa Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Carnegie libraries in Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa {{HardinCountyIA-NRHP-stub