Victorian Library

Cook Memorial Library // 1895

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The Cook Memorial Library of Tamworth, New Hampshire, is one of the state’s finest 19th century and charming libraries. The library in Tamworth got its start in 1796, when Samuel Hidden, the new pastor of the Tamworth Congregational Church brought residents to support a library in the community. In 1891, the New Hampshire legislature approved the Free Library Act, appointing a State Library commission and authorizing benefits to New Hampshire towns for the purpose of establishing free, public libraries. In 1894, a local committee was formed to act upon a gift of $2,000 from Susan (Staples) Cook for the purpose of purchasing land and erecting a building in the memory of her husband, Charles P. Cook, who had been a prominent local storekeeper, selectman, and state legislator in town. The gift also stipulated “…that Mrs. Lucy A. Cook (daughter-in-law of Susan) shall continue as librarian, if she desires, so long as she performs her duties acceptably”, they accepted. The library appears to have been designed by Boston architect, Joseph Randolph Coolidge of the firm, Coolidge & Carlson, who spent summers in nearby Sandwich, NH. The historic, wood-frame library is notable for its shingled siding, clock tower, and stained glass windows, all of which were preserved in a later renovation and expansion of the 1895 building.

Bennett Library, Billerica // 1881

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In the late 19th century, Eleanor Richardson Bennett (1794-1891), the widow of Joshua Bennett (1793-1865), bequeathed funds to erect the first purpose-built public library building in her hometown of Billerica, Massachusetts. A private members library known as the Social Library, was formed in Billerica in 1772, but Ms. Bennett wished to gift the town a public facility of learning in memory of her late husband, a prominent landowner in the West End of Boston and one of the richest men in Middlesex County. Eleanor Bennett hired the Boston firm of Rotch & Tilden, to design the new library building overlooking the Town Common. Completed in 1881, the Victorian Gothic library is built of brick with limestone trim, and features a large rose stained glass window, intricate terracotta and wooden detailing, and a slate hipped roof with a pointed spire. The library was eventually outgrown and the facility relocated to a new building, and again to the former Town Hall building in 2000. The former Bennett Library is still owned and maintained by the town as an event space available for rent. The building has been restored through Community Preservation Act funding.