{"nrhp_refnum":"09000934","name":"Sears, Jacob, Memorial Library","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"23 Center St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dennis","county":"Barnstable County","state":"MA","lat":41.747832265000056,"lon":-70.14707173699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-11-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, wood-frame library and memorial hall at 23 Center Street in East Dennis, Dennis, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, built in 1895 and opened in 1896. It measures about 69 by 34 feet and is in the Shingle Style.","why_significant":"The building was funded by a bequest from Jacob Sears and has served as a lending library and a hall for lectures and community events at the center of Quivet Neck village life. It is the earliest library of its type in Dennis and an excellent, well-preserved Shingle Style design by the Boston firm Rand & Taylor. It is significant at the local level under Criteria A and C.","narrative":"Built in 1895 on Center Street in East Dennis, this shingled building combines a lending library with a large memorial hall and stage. It was funded by a bequest from Jacob Sears, a lifelong resident of Quivet Neck, and it gave a permanent home to a library association founded in 1866. The Boston firm Rand & Taylor designed it in the Shingle Style, with a conical-roofed turret, long wall dormers and a sweeping porch roof. J.M. Kellaway of Newton Centre was the builder. Inside, a reading room with a fireplace sits beside an open hall with mahogany roof planks. For more than a century the hall has hosted lectures, plays, fairs, suppers and annual Old Home Week events, making it an institutional focus for the village alongside the church across the street. Exterior and interior remain largely intact, and a 2005-2006 rehabilitation left the building in excellent condition. It is significant locally for its role in village life and for its architecture.","period_of_significance":"1895-1959","architect_builder":"Rand and Taylor, architects; J.M. Kellaway, builder","architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Shingle Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Extensively rehabilitated in 2005-2006 and in excellent condition; still in use as a library, open year-round.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.464852-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/37/7940/63794037/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/09000934.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000934/437c59c8da-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000934/437c59c8da-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jerry Johnson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_Sears_Memorial_Library_-_full_view.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerry Johnson</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:Jacob_Sears_Memorial_Library_-_full_view.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794037","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Sears_Memorial_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6119253"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/barnstable-county/sears-jacob-memorial-library-09000934/"}