The Grass Valley Public Library (renamed the Grass Valley Library-Royce Branch) is a Carnegie library and 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 ...

. Located in

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this northern Gold Country city is by car from Sacramento, from Sacramento I ...

and a part of the Nevada County Library System, it is open Tuesday through Saturday.

History

There were several early attempts to establish a library in the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

town of Grass Valley. The first was in 1860, followed by another in 1869, but neither survived. The Emmanuel Episcopal Church was established in Grass Valley in 1858, but it wasn't until 1901 that the non-denominational Emmanuel Church Library opened to provide library services to "the Atheist and the Buddhist if such there be". A decade later, the city became the library's governing body. It requested a Carnegie grant in 1914 and received $15,000 the following year. The chosen building site, at 207 Mill Street, near the intersection of Mill and Neal Street, had been the birthplace and early home of philosopher Josiah Royce. In 2005, the library, now a branch of the county library system, was renamed to honor Royce.

Structure

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

architect William Sebastian Mooser was selected over William Weeks to design the new library. The builders were Welch Bros. and Hannemann from

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

who also built the Gridley Carnegie Library. The building is of

Neoclassical architecture 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 ...

(also known as "classical revival" style). Its exterior includes red

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and white

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

References

External links

Official Grass Valley Public Library website
{{authority control Carnegie libraries in California Public libraries in California Grass Valley, California Buildings and structures in Nevada County, California Library buildings completed in 1916 Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Nevada County, California 1916 establishments in California Neoclassical architecture in California