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Lynn Public Library

Buildings and structures in Lynn, MassachusettsEducation in Lynn, MassachusettsEssex County, Massachusetts Registered Historic Place stubsHistoric district contributing properties in MassachusettsLibraries in Essex County, Massachusetts
Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in MassachusettsLibrary buildings completed in 1898NRHP infobox with nocatNational Register of Historic Places in Lynn, MassachusettsPublic libraries in MassachusettsUse mdy dates from August 2023
Lynn Public Library MA 01
Lynn Public Library MA 01

The Lynn Public Library building is a historic library at Five North Common Street in Lynn, Massachusetts. Although library services were offered in Lynn as early 1815, it was not until a bequest in 1896 that the city began planning a permanent home for the growing collection. After some controversy, library trustees chose a Renaissance Revival design by local architect George A. Moore, who happened to be related to one of the library trustees. Controversy also attended the size and scale of the building, along with the removal of trees at its site on the town common. It was completed at a cost of $175,000, which included no public funding.Construction of the library began in 1898 and it was opened in 1900. In 1900 the library commissioned the first mural of F. Luis Mora, a prominent Hispanic American artist. The library was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and included in the Lynn Common Historic District in 1992.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Lynn Public Library (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Lynn Public Library
North Common Street, Lynn

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Wikipedia: Lynn Public LibraryContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 42.464444444444 ° E -70.953611111111 °
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North Common Street 5
01901 Lynn
Massachusetts, United States
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Lynn Public Library MA 01
Lynn Public Library MA 01
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Nearby Places

G.A.R. Hall and Museum
G.A.R. Hall and Museum

The G.A.R. Hall and Museum is a historic museum at 58 Andrew Street in Lynn, Massachusetts. The four story Romanesque brick building was built in 1885 by contractor Frank G. Kelly to the design of the Lynn firm Wheeler & Northend for the General Frederick W. Lander Post 5 of the Grand Army of the Republic, an American Civil War veterans organization. It has two storefronts on the ground floor, offices and a library with spaces for 1500 volumes on the second floor, and a large 46'10" x 56'4" meeting hall on the upper two floors. The roofline originally had ornate brick crenellations, but these were removed in the mid 20th century. The first two floors have also been altered over time, but the meeting hall remains in nearly original condition.The building was constructed with incandescent electric lighting by the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, which had moved to Lynn two years prior.With declining membership in the organization, the building was turned over to the city in 1919 by a Special Act of the Massachusetts Legislature. The city operates it as a museum.The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.The building is the earliest known work by Holman K. Wheeler, who designed and constructed more than 400 structures in Lynn and surrounding towns, including residences, schools, commercial and factory buildings, and monuments. A total of five H. K. Wheeler structures in Lynn are listed on the National Register. The father of co-architect William Wheelwright Northend, Massachusetts State Senator William Dummer Northend, while attending Governor Dummer Academy as a child, became longtime friends with General Frederick W. Lander for whom the Lynn G.A.R. Post is named. In 2018, a fundraising campaign was started to raise as much as $10 million for needed repairs, renovations, and preservation of the museum's collection. Plans include making the building ADA compliant with additions such as an elevator. An updated climate control system is also needed to preserve the museum artifacts.The museum was named one of the top 11 most endangered historic resources in Massachusetts for 2018 by Preservation Massachusetts.