{"nrhp_refnum":"02000549","name":"Goodnow Library","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"21 Concord Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sudbury","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.363299847000064,"lon":-71.41676154799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-05-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A public library building at 21 Concord Road in South Sudbury, Massachusetts. It began in 1862-63 as a small brick octagon designed by Joseph R. Richards of Boston and was enlarged in about 1885 and in 1894.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a long-serving town library whose 1862 octagonal reading room survives inside a remodeled 1894 Richardsonian Romanesque building by Richards & Richards. It reflects the growth of a small-town library and the care of its trustees. The 1997-99 rear addition was built behind the historic section so the street view keeps its 1894 appearance.","narrative":"Goodnow Library on Concord Road in South Sudbury began in 1862-63 as a small brick octagon topped with a wooden lantern, designed by Boston architect Joseph R. Richards. As the collection outgrew the building, a rear annex was added around 1885. In 1894 Richards and his son William, working as Richards & Richards, transformed it into a two-story red-brick Richardsonian Romanesque building. It gained a terra cotta and brick entrance arch, brownstone trim, and a new 28 by 40 foot south reading room with a tiled fireplace. Inside, the original 30-foot octagonal reading room survives, with its walnut-columned gallery. A 1997-99 addition more than tripled the library's size, but it sits directly behind the older building, so the view from the street still shows the 1894 appearance. The grounds include a 1897 Civil War memorial statue and a circular drive that follows the line of the 1860s original. The library is still used as a library today.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Joseph R. Richards; Richards & Richards (Joseph R. Richards and son William P. Richards), Boston","architectural_style":"Richardsonian Romanesque (Romanesque); octagon mode","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a library. The historic building is now the Atkinson Wing, and a large rear wing completed in 1999 serves as the main library. The 1862 octagonal reading room and the 1894 reading room were restored in the late 1990s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.642861-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/7957/63795798/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/02000549.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000549/aa918f30c2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000549/aa918f30c2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goodnow_Library,_December_2012,_South_Sudbury_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goodnow_Library,_December_2012,_South_Sudbury_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795798","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnow_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5583562"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/goodnow-library-02000549/"}