Slater Library

The Slater Library is the public library of Griswold, Connecticut.[2] It is located in a historic building at 26 Main Street in the borough of Jewett City.

Slater Library and Fanning Annex
Postcard view of the library, 1908
Location26 Main St., Griswold, Connecticut
Coordinates41°36′17.8″N 71°59′03.2″W
Arealess than one acre
Built1884 (1884)
ArchitectStephen C. Earle; Cudworth & Thompson
Architectural styleRomanesque
NRHP reference No.01001529[1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 28, 2002

The Romanesque Revival building was constructed in 1884 with funds donated by John Fox Slater, a New England industrialist and philanthropist. The original building was designed by Stephen C. Earle, and was nearly doubled in size in 1930 with the addition of the Fanning Annex, designed by the Norwich firm of Cudworth & Thompson, and funded by a bequest from local businessman David Hale Fanning.[3]

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.[1]

Griswold Historical Society Museum

The Griswold Historical Society Museum is located on the second floor of the Slater Library.[4] The museum's displays illustrate life in New England during the 18th and 19th centuries, and are themed around a farmer's workshop, a kitchen, school and children's playthings. The museum is open on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month in the afternoon.

Architecture

The library is a 1-1/2 story structure, built out of granite with brownstone trim, all finished with a rough quarry exterior. It is roughly rectangular in shape, with a projecting tower at the front right, and a hip roof from which hipped dormers project. The 1930 addition nearly doubles the size of the original building, and creates an L shape at the rear; it is built using similar materials. Most windows are set in rounded-arch openings with brownstone framing, with a brownstone stringcourse at the base of the arched section. Similar stringcourses and water tables also run below and at the base of the windows. The main entrance is set deeply recessed in the base of the tower.

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "Slater Library". Town of Griswold. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  3. "NRHP nomination for Slater Library and Fanning Annex". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-02-01.
  4. "Museum". Griswold Historical Society. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
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