Crane Library - Quincy, MA
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silverquill
N 42° 15.109 W 071° 00.072
19T E 334917 N 4679674
The Crane Library is located around the corner from the Church of the Presidents, Quincy, Massachusetts. The building was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, designer of Boston's Trinity Church, and founder of the Richarsonian Romanesque movement.
Waymark Code: WM6GPP
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 06/01/2009
Views: 7
THOMAS CRANE LIBRARY - QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS
The Thomas Crane Library started in 1882 as a monument to a wealthy stone contractor who got his start in Quincy’s granite quarries: a library—simple but stately—designed by the most famous architect of the time, Henry Hobson Richardson, constructed of Quincy granite and brownstone walls.
THOMAS CRANE LIBRARY - QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS
Born on Georges Island in Boston Harbor in 1803, Crane was seven years old when his family moved to Quincy. He was 26 when he left the Quincy granite quarries and went to New York City where he became one of that city’s leading stone contractors, and amassed a fortune in building and real estate.
Charles Frances Adams, second son of U.S. President John Adams, was chairman of the library board in 1879, when the city’s library was housed in the vacant Evangelical Congregational Church on the corner of Hancock and Revere Streets. He was contacted by Albert Crane who eventually contracted noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson to design this landmark building. Richardson designed at least five libraries, all of similar design. An interesting history of this construction can be found at
Thomas Crane Memorial Library
Made of locally quarried Quincy granite and brownstone, this impressive building underwent a major renovation and addition of a new wing in 2001. It continues to be an active public community library, having the second largest municipal collection in Massachusetts after the Boston Public Library More on this renovation project can be found at the library's web site Thomas Crane Library