Thursday, April 3, 2014

Howard Memorial Library, New Orleans, Louisiana


[LIB10986] Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886), a native of Louisiana, created an architectural style of his own, ‘Richardsonian Romanesque’ characterized by a massive, solid stone appearance contrasted with squat towers, Romanesque arches, recessed entrances and bands of windows. This building was built posthumously, in 1889, from an enlarged design he had submitted for the Hoyt Memorial Library in East Saginaw, Michigan. The stone used on this construction is Massachusetts sandstone. The Seal of New Orleans has been carved over the entrance. Inside, the reading room is a grandly scaled circular room with a massive hooded fireplace and an intricate dome-like hammerbeam ceiling carved with wolves.

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