Pleasant St., Woburn, Massachusetts. County/parish: Middlesex.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places November 13, 1976. NRIS 76000290.
1 contributing building.Also known as:
Woburn Public Library, previously known as the Winn Memorial Library (1876–79) is a National Historic Landmark in Woburn, Massachusetts. Designed by architect H. H. Richardson, the Romanesque Revival building was a bequest of the Winn family. It houses the Woburn Public Library, an institution that was established in 1856.
The first librarian of the Winn Memorial Library was George Mather Champney. In 1851, with the formation of the first town library, Champney served as Chairman of the Library Committee and worked to develop the library. After Charles B. Winn's death in 1875, Champney took a leading role in planning for the new library that the town would build with the Winn endowment. He spent considerable time and energy acquiring books for the library, and became the first librarian in the new building when it opened in 1879. George Champney wrote a history of the library for the Woburn Journal in November of 1881. Less than two months later, on January 4, 1882, Champney died on the front porch of the library, at the age of 69.
The library is also home to the Dr. Thomas J. Glennon Archives. The Glennon Archives holds many important records dating back to Woburn's early history in the 1600s. The Archives maintains more than two hundred separate manuscript collections relating to Woburn's history, several special collections of books including a rare book collection, tens of thousands of photographs, a fine art collection, and a museum. Many of the Archives' museum objects can be viewed in the Historical Artifacts Room, located in the Octagon Room of the Richardson Building.
In 2019, the library completed a $33 million renovation project, adding an additional 30,500 square feet (2,830 m2) to complement the historic Richardson Building. The new addition includes a maker space, a teen room, a program room, a climate-controlled archives and reading room, and a children's department which is complemented by a craft room and play area. The library was subsequently honored with a 2023 AIA/ALA Award for Library Design.
(read more...)National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796057