{"nrhp_refnum":"76000290","name":"Woburn Public Library","other_names":["Winn Memorial Library"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Pleasant St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Woburn","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.479242727500036,"lon":-71.15448209392642,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-11-13","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1987-12-23","areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national","state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A public library building on Pleasant Street in the civic center of Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, built in 1879 to a design by Henry Hobson Richardson, on about 5 acres across from City Hall and the District Courthouse.","why_significant":"It was the first of Richardson's library commissions and foreshadowed much of his later work in that building type. It is important in the development of his style and his contribution to American architecture. It is also a symbol of the philanthropy of the Winn family of Woburn.","narrative":"Built in 1879 on Pleasant Street in Woburn's civic center, this public library was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson after winning a design competition. The building follows a Latin cross plan, with a 78-foot octagonal tower at the northeast corner, a cloistered entrance porch and an attached octagonal structure at the rear. Walls are rough-faced random ashlar of McGregor stone from Longmeadow, trimmed in cream-colored Ohio sandstone, under a deep red molded tile roof, with polychromatic arches. The library traces to 1855, when a donation from Jonathan B. Winn was matched by the town. His son, Charles Bowers Winn, left $450,000 in his will for a library building named for his father. It was Richardson's first library commission and anticipated much of his later work. A museum of local artifacts is kept on the second floor. The building is also valued as a symbol of the Winn family's philanthropy.","period_of_significance":"1879","architect_builder":"Henry Hobson Richardson","architectural_style":"Richardsonian Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and still in use as a library; a museum of local historical artifacts is maintained on the second floor.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.967612-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/7960/63796057/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/76000290.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000290/2464e56fe8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000290/2464e56fe8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"User Daderot on en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woburn,_Massachusetts,_Library_with_statue_of_Benjamin_Thompson.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">User Daderot on en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"http://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:Woburn,_Massachusetts,_Library_with_statue_of_Benjamin_Thompson.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796057","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winn_Memorial_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8025526"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/woburn-public-library-76000290/"}