From 1886 to 1917, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie provided $40 million for the construction of 1,600 libraries throughout the country, motivated by his belief that the wealthy are obligated to give back to society, according to the research of Catherine Lavoie, chief of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), the federal government’s oldest preservation program. Libraries previously had been available by subscription only, and therefore the domain of the well-to-do.
Philadelphia was home to the first private, subscription library in the U.S., the Library Company founded in 1731, and the American Library Association formed in 1876. The Free Library was established here in 1891 and moved into its home on the Ben Franklin Parkway in 1927. Its branches were located in old mansions, storefronts and the back rooms of commercial buildings. So Philadelphia was a likely candidate for Carnegie’s largesse.
While he paid for 66 branches in New York City, Carnegie funded the next highest number of libraries, 25, in Philadelphia between 1905 and 1930.
Lavoie, an expert on vernacular architecture, traveled with a colleague throughout Philadelphia in 2007 to examine and collect data on the city’s 20 surviving Carnegie libraries.
The four survivors that now face city closure are the Holmesburg, Logan, Kingsessing and Haddington branches.
The Kingsessing branch, 1201 S. 51st St., opened in 1919 and was designed by Phillip Johnson, who was employed by the city’s Health Department and was known for his hospitals, firehouses, police stations and armories.
“The most exceptional Carnegie library in Philadelphia is the Haddington branch,” Lavoie said. Designed by Albert Kelsey and Paul Cret, the building at 446 N. 65th St., has elaborate, multi-colored terra cotta work that includes a frieze with cartouches of old printers marks. The Haddington Library opened in 1915.
Two of the city’s Carnegie libraries, those in Southwark and Germantown, have found new life as civic or senior citizen centers. The remaining four libraries are still in very good, well-maintained condition, Lavoie said, thanks to their communities and the city.
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