Kraft, Herbert, Memorial Free Library - Red Bluff, CA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The Herbert Kraft Memorial Free Library is a one and a half story classic revival building with a full ground-level basement. The building is located at the corner of Jefferson and Hickory Streets in Red Bluff’s Victorian district at the edge of the town’s commercial district.
The unreinforced masonry building is clad in Gladding McBean’s pressed brick in a mottled buff color with a dark buff mortar set in a stretcher bond pattern. It sits on a concrete foundation and is trimmed with Blue Gray Sandstone from the same Colusa, California quarry that provided sandstone for the San Francisco Mint and Ferry buildings.
Construction of the building began in early 1908 and was designed by Franklin Pierce Burnham, the architect responsible for many of California’s early libraries. The library opened on May 22, 1909. Elizabeth Kraft donated over $40,000 for the land and construction of the library and dedicated it to Herbert Kraft, an influential early resident of Tehama County who had died in 1895. Elizabeth Kraft had stipulated building and property always be used as a free library and that if the building was ever abandoned or used for another purpose the property would be returned to the Kraft family. The Kraft Free Library was used as the city’s public library until 1962. In 1962, the City and County merged their library systems and the Kraft Free Library became the main branch of the Tehama County Public Library. In 1982, the County Library board voted to move to a larger building. After the building had set abandoned for a number of years the last remaining Kraft heir filed suit against the City for the return of the building to the Kraft family which occurred in 1987. In 1997, the building was sold to a new owner who began a restoration of the building in 2006.
The Kraft Free Library was placed on the National Register on April 14, 2000. More details of the building can be found at: (visit link)

Street address: 909 Jefferson Street Red Bluff, CA USA 96080 County / Borough / Parish: Tehama Year listed: 2000 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Event Periods of significance: 1900 -1945 Historic function: Education Current function: Social Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/19/2013 Volcanoguy visited it 06/02/2013 NW_history_buff visited it

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