{"nrhp_refnum":"08000769","name":"Friendship Free Library","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"40 W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Friendship","county":"Allegany County","state":"NY","lat":42.208963581000035,"lon":-78.13498848199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-08-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story brick public library with a high basement at 40 West Main Street in the hamlet of Friendship, Allegany County, New York, completed in 1912 to designs by Elmira architect Otis Dockstader.","why_significant":"The library is argued to be a highly intact, representative example of early twentieth-century library design in Friendship. Its plan reflects contemporary ideas about public circulating libraries, including a central circulation desk and open stacks. It also reflects the town's prosperity from agriculture and petroleum, and it blends neoclassical form with Arts & Crafts details.","narrative":"Friendship Free Library is a yellow pressed-brick public library on West Main Street in the hamlet of Friendship, Allegany County, New York. Completed in 1912, it was funded by a gift from Mary Church Pitt in memory of her husband, Dr. William H. Pitt, and designed by Elmira architect Otis Dockstader. A gabled portico with four Corinthian columns shelters the entrance, and a red Spanish pan tile hipped roof crowns the building. Inside, the stairs lead patrons to a central circulation desk with open stacks, an arrangement that followed the design thinking of Carnegie-funded libraries, though this was not a Carnegie building. The basement holds an auditorium and meeting rooms with brick fireplaces. The building combines a symmetrical neoclassical form with Arts & Crafts elements such as leaded glass, varnished oak and the tile roof. It is considered significant as a well-preserved example of early twentieth-century library design and as a reminder of the community's prosperity from farming and oil. It still serves as a library.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Otis Dockstader, architect; S.O. Richardson, contractor; W.S. Potter, builder","architectural_style":"Classical Revival; Arts & Crafts","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Continues to serve as a library, its original function.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.587725-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/08000769.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000769/caded1207c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000769/caded1207c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Friendship_Free_Library_Jan_10.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Friendship_Free_Library_Jan_10.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316419","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_Free_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5504397"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/allegany-county/friendship-free-library-08000769/"}