[LIB0935]Judge John Handley of Scranton, Pennsylvania left $250,000 in his will to “ . . . open a Public Library for the free use of the people of the city of Winchester forever.” The Handley Trustees hired architects J. Stewart Barney and Henry Otis Chapman of New York who designed the building in Beaux-Arts style. The Handley Library opened in 1913 at a cost of $233,230.28 for the building and furnishings. An addition was added to the building in 1979 and a complete renovation, designed by Dennis Kowal Architects, was completed in 2001. [Thanks to the Handley Regional Library, www.hrl.lib.state.va.us]
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You have to see this building! It is designed to look like an open book, with the Rotunda as the spine, the reading rooms as the covers, and the glass floor book stacks as the pages. The 2001 renovation used over 50 different colors of paint. Walking on the glass floors is a real thrill. It is worth a trip to Winchester just to tour Handley Library. Call 540 662-9041 for hours.
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