{"nrhp_refnum":"07000546","name":"Wellesley Hills Branch Library","other_names":["Wellesley Free Library","Hills Branch"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"210 Washington St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wellesley","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.31477465000006,"lon":-71.27087445699993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-06-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story Colonial Revival municipal branch library at 210 Washington Street in Wellesley Hills, Wellesley, Massachusetts, built in 1927-28 to designs by Hampton F. Shirer from sketches by Ralph H. Hannaford.","why_significant":"It is the only building in Wellesley built specifically as a branch library and reflects the town's effort to create a system of neighborhood branches, continuing village library service dating to the late 1870s. It is a well-preserved example of late 1920s library design and was the first all-local-stone building in town, receiving honorable mention for the J. Harleston Parker Medal in 1930.","narrative":"Wellesley Hills Branch Library, at 210 Washington Street, is a Colonial Revival municipal building completed in 1927-28. Hampton F. Shirer designed it from sketches by fellow local architect Ralph H. Hannaford. The one-story building on a raised basement has local fieldstone walls, stone-framed openings and a Ludowici-Celadon clay tile roof, with a wooden cupola at the junction of its two gabled wings. Inside, the Adults' and Children's Reading Rooms keep vaulted ceilings, pigmented California Stucco trim, fireplace nooks and built-in oak benches. It is the only building in Wellesley constructed specifically as a branch library, and it grew from village lending libraries dating to the late 1870s. It was also the first all-local-stone building in town, using fieldstone donated by Isaac Sprague, and it earned honorable mention for the J. Harleston Parker Medal in 1930. Its architecture and its place in the town's civic improvements and library history supported its listing.","period_of_significance":"1927-1957","architect_builder":"Shirer, Hampton F.; Hannaford, R. H.; Griffin, John F. Company; Ludowici-Celadon Company; California Stone Products Corporation","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed current function as library, noted as closed as of 2007.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.17647-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/38/7963/63796338/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/07000546.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000546/3b509a6ec3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000546/3b509a6ec3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wellesley_Hills_Branch_Library_MA_03.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</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:Wellesley_Hills_Branch_Library_MA_03.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796338","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellesley_Hills_Branch_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7981249"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/wellesley-hills-branch-library-07000546/"}