Cambridge Public Library

	Cambridge Public Library
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	1888 building (photo 2012)
Location	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°22′26.8″N 71°06′38.9″W / 42.374111°N 71.110806°W
Built	1888
Architect	Van Brunt & Howe (1888); William Rawn Associates (2009)
Architectural style	Romanesque
MPS	Cambridge MRA
NRHP reference No.	82001931
Added to NRHP	April 13, 1982

The Cambridge Public Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts consists of: a main branch, of aesthetic architectural value, plus a further six localized branches sited throughout the city. Having developed from the Cambridge Athenaeum, the main library branch was built in 1888. The main library underwent renovation, and a modern building addition significantly expanded the overall branch in 2009, thus greatly increasing the area of the branch, more than tripling its square footage.[1] In fiscal year 2014, the city of Cambridge spent 1.63% ($7,064,381) of its city budget towards the library, $66 per person.^[2] The Cambridge Public Library maintains affiliation with the Minuteman Library Network.

History of organization

The Cambridge Public Library developed out of the Cambridge Athenaeum, which was founded in 1849 as "a lyceum, public library, and reading room with a building on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Pleasant Street where Cambridge residents could borrow books at the cost of one dollar per year.[2]

The City of Cambridge acquired the Cambridge Athenaeum in 1858 and renamed it the Dana Library for use as both a city hall and a public library. By 1866 the Library moved to the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Temple Street. In 1874, the library became free to the public and was renamed the Cambridge Public. The main branch for the Cambridge Public Library was subsequently built in 1888 at 449 Broadway.

Collection(s)

City Branches

Main branch

The main branch of the Cambridge Public Library consists of two buildings at 449 Broadway. The Van Brunt & Howe portion is an historic library building. It was built in 1888 with land and full construction funding donated by Frederick H. Rindge, a Cambridge native and philanthropist. Its Richardsonian Romanesque design was by Van Brunt & Howe. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The new expansion building consists of a $90 million expansion and renovation of the earlier library, led by the Boston architectural firms William Rawn Associates and Ann Beha Architects, the expansion opened on November 8, 2009.^[3] The new addition more than tripled the square footage of the building, and is the first building in the US to make use of European Double-Skin Curtainwall technology. Architectural drawings and construction photos are available here. During most of the construction, the library collection had been relocated to the Longfellow School.^[4]

The surrounding lawn of the main building is a popular meeting place for various interest groups, including pickup soccer, slacklining, book and religious study groups, casual picnics, and the traditional practice of various martial and therapeutic arts.

Building features and art works

Museum of Science Community Solar System

Prior to the renovation of the main library, the library was home to a scale model of the planet Saturn in the Boston Museum of Science's community-wide Solar System model.^[5] Saturn was located just outside the portion of the building that housed the old stacks, roughly where the computer workstation sign-in table is currently located. The Saturn model was packed up and shipped back to the Museum of Science and was not positioned at the reopened renovated library.^[6] Other locations in Cambridge that still have models in the historic nine planet series are the Royal Sonesta Hotel (home of Earth) and the CambridgeSide mall (home of Mars).

There are a further six smaller neighborhood branch libraries around the City of Cambridge:

Founded	Image	Location	Neighborhood served	Branch name	Notes
	*	45 Pearl St.	Cambridgeport (02139)	Central Square Branch
1896	*	826 Cambridge St.	East Cambridge (02141)	Valente Branch	Built in 1896, rebuilt in 1961 as part of the Harrington Education Complex on the same site. Last rebuilt in 2019 as part of the King Open Education Complex.[3]
*	*	48 Sixth St.	East Cambridge (02141)	O'Connell Branch
1902	*	70 Rindge Ave.	North Cambridge (02140)	O'Neill Branch
1936		64 Aberdeen Ave.	West Cambridge (02138)	Collins Branch	Has also been referred to as the "Mount Auburn" branch.
1989	*	245 Concord Ave.	West Cambridge (02138)	Boudreau Branch	Has also been referred to as the "Observatory Hill" branch.

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
^ July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014; cf. Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (2016). "FY 2014 Municipal Pie Report". Archived from the original on 2012-01-23. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
^ Buderi, Robert (November 10, 2009). "Cambridge Public Library Grand Opening: A Beautiful Library for a Great Innovation City". xconomy. Archived from the original on January 15, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
^ "Homepage". The Cambridge Public Library. Archived from the original on April 7, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
^ "Community Solar System Official Passport" (PDF). Boston Museum of Science. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2001. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
^ Grice, Noreen (September 7, 2006). "why does the world continually conspire to thwart me?". Charles Hayden Planetarium. Retrieved July 3, 2013. The Saturn model was brought back to the Museum of Science when the Cambridge library closed, and is currently in storage. Since the Saturn and Neptune models are not available, we revised the Community Solar System passport to give credit for those planets.

External links

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.

[2] July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014; cf. Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (2016). "FY 2014 Municipal Pie Report". Archived from the original on 2012-01-23. Retrieved 2016-03-19.

[3] Buderi, Robert (November 10, 2009). "Cambridge Public Library Grand Opening: A Beautiful Library for a Great Innovation City". xconomy. Archived from the original on January 15, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2022.

[4] "Homepage". The Cambridge Public Library. Archived from the original on April 7, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2022.

[5] "Community Solar System Official Passport" (PDF). Boston Museum of Science. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2001. Retrieved March 9, 2022.

[6] Grice, Noreen (September 7, 2006). "why does the world continually conspire to thwart me?". Charles Hayden Planetarium. Retrieved July 3, 2013. The Saturn model was brought back to the Museum of Science when the Cambridge library closed, and is currently in storage. Since the Saturn and Neptune models are not available, we revised the Community Solar System passport to give credit for those planets.

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Authority control databases
International	ISNI 2 VIAF
National	Israel United States