{"nrhp_refnum":"78002411","name":"Albright Memorial Building","other_names":["Scranton Public Library"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N. Washington Ave. and Vine St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Scranton","county":"Lackawanna County","state":"PA","lat":41.41089116100005,"lon":-75.65936394199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-05-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A public library building in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Vine Street. It was built around 1890 and designed by Green & Wicks of Buffalo, New York.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its role in the founding of Scranton's public library, which resulted from a private gift by John Joseph Albright in memory of his parents. Its French Renaissance chateau-style design, with carved stonework and leaded glass, is also presented as a notable example. The building is described as a landmark at the city's downtown entrance and as one of the few public buildings that creates a public space.","narrative":"Built around 1890 at the corner of Washington Avenue and Vine Street in Scranton, this library combines Indiana limestone walls over a Medina stone base with steep roofs covered in black Spanish tiles. Its design follows the French chateau style of the early Renaissance, with carved symbols of famous book makers on the stonework and leaded glass transoms showing printers' marks. The building was made possible by John Joseph Albright, a former Scranton resident then living in Buffalo, who gave it as a memorial to his parents, Joseph J. and Elizabeth Albright. Its origins trace to 1880, when a Scranton Board of Trade committee judged a free public library feasible if $35,000 could be raised by subscription. Albright chose the family homestead site for the structure. The architects, Green and Wicks of Buffalo, also designed the Albright Art Gallery and several other Buffalo buildings. The interior features quartered oak finish, marble mosaic flooring in the entrance hall, and plate glass partitions on the first floor.","period_of_significance":"C. 1890","architect_builder":"Green & Wicks, Buffalo, NY","architectural_style":"French chateau style of the early Renaissance","criteria":[],"status_note":"The exterior is described as completely intact since original construction; interior renovations occurred in 1970 and 1973.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.827615-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/78002411.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002411/382261f4b4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002411/382261f4b4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Billy Hathorn (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scranton,_PA,_Public_Library_IMG_1519.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Billy Hathorn (talk)</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:Scranton,_PA,_Public_Library_IMG_1519.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998099","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albright_Memorial_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4712690"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lackawanna-county/albright-memorial-building-78002411/"}