Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Carpenter Memorial Library, Manchester, New Hampshire

"Carpenter Memorial Library is the gift of Frank P. Carpenter to the City of Manchester, N.H. in 1914. A memorial to his wife Elenora Blood Carpenter. Italian Renaissance in style. In beauty, utility and convenience it has few rivals throughout the country. Constructed of white Vermont marble."

Soon after the death of his wife Elenora Blood Carpenter in January, 1910, the president of Amoskeag Paper Mill Frank Pierce Carpenter offered to construct a library building in her memory.

Frank Carpenter spared no expense in the planning and construction of the new library building. He hired architects Edward L. Tilton of New York and Edgar A.P. Newcomb of Honolulu to design the Italian Renaissance style building which would serve not only the then present needs but growth over many subsequent decades. [SOURCE]

Edward L. Tilton designed many libraries in the United States including: Springfield (Massachusetts) Central Library; Wilmington (Delaware) Public Library; Bayonne (New Jersey) Public Library; Elizabeth (New Jersey) Public Library, and many more. For a wonderful 15 page overview of Tilton and his architectural accomplishments, read (available as a PDF) Edward Lippincott Tilton, A Monograph on His Architectural Practice, researched and written by Lisa B. Mausolf with Elizabeth Durfee Hengen for The Currier Museum of Art (2007).

[LIB1880]

MANCHESTER STREET CARS - IMAGES OF AMERICA [Manchester, New Hampshire]

No comments: