Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny

The Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny is situated in the Allegheny Center neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Donated to the public by entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie, it was built from 1886 to 1890 on a design by John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J. Pelz.

Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny
LocationAllegheny Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40°27′11″N 80°0′19″W
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1886–90
ArchitectSmithmeyer & Pelz
Architectural styleRomanesque Revival, Richardsonian Romanesque
NRHP reference No.74001736[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPNovember 1, 1974
Designated CPHSMarch 15, 1974[2]
Designated PHLF1970[3]

It was commissioned in 1886, the first Carnegie library to be commissioned in the United States. Yet it did not open until 1890 thus making it the second library to open. The first one to open being the Carnegie Free Library of Braddock, built for steel-workers in Braddock, 9 miles up the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh.

The building also features the first Carnegie Music Hall in the United States. The Music Hall at the Braddock Library would not open until an 1893 expansion of that structure.

The running costs were met from local taxes – unlike the Carnegie Library in Braddock, which received an endowment from Carnegie.[4] After a mid-2000s lightning strike, the library was moved to a new building a few blocks north on Federal Street. Following the move, the New Hazlett Theater was the primary tenant. In April 2019, the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh opened Museum Lab, a makerspace for youth aged 10+.[5]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.[1]

  • Reading Room, ca. 1900
  • Women's Reading Room, ca. 1900
  • Library entrance
  • Carnegie Hall entrance (now New Hazlett Theater)
  • Monument to Colonel James Anderson, who inspired Carnegie to donate free libraries

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "Local Historic Designations". Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
  3. Historic Landmark Plaques 1968–2009 (PDF). Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
  5. "museumlab.org website". Museum Lab. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
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