{"nrhp_refnum":"72000143","name":"Crane, Thomas, Public Library","other_names":["Crane Memorial Public Library"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"40 Washington St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Quincy","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.25158030000006,"lon":-71.00131469162638,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-10-18","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1987-12-23","areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national","state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A public library building at 40 Washington Street in Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and built in 1881-82 of Milford granite with red Longmeadow sandstone trim.","why_significant":"It is the third of Richardson's five libraries and, per Henry Russell Hitchcock, the most successful expression of the concept underlying all five. It is noted for its overall simplicity, its combination of Richardson's library elements, and interior woodwork and La Farge glass.","narrative":"Thomas Crane Public Library, at 40 Washington Street in Quincy, was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and built in 1881-82. The Crane family gave it to the town on condition that Quincy supply a site and the family choose the architect; Richardson received the commission in May 1880, and the building was dedicated on May 30, 1882. It is built of random ashlar Milford granite with red Longmeadow sandstone trim, a steep roof with eyelid dormers, an asymmetrically placed entrance gable, a round stair tower with a conical roof, and a broad entrance arch. A band of stack windows runs along the front. Inside, Richardson designed the southern pine woodwork, the carved fireplace and the furniture, and John La Farge made the windows. It was the third of Richardson's five libraries and is considered the most successful. A 1908 stack addition and a 1930s addition with a connecting passageway have altered the original building. The city still owns it and uses it as a library.","period_of_significance":"1881-82","architect_builder":"Henry Hobson Richardson (architect); 1908 stack addition by William Martin Aiken","architectural_style":"Richardson's personal Romanesque style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the City of Quincy, occupied and in use as a library; marked as altered, with a 1908 stack addition and a 1930s addition connected by a passageway.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.816701-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/7962/63796216/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/72000143.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000143/85d24fa90f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000143/85d24fa90f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Upstateherd","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Crane_Public_Library.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Upstateherd</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Crane_Public_Library.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796216","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Crane_Public_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7788678"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/crane-thomas-public-library-72000143/"}