{"nrhp_refnum":"79000374","name":"Heywood, Levi, Memorial Library Building","other_names":["Gardner Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"28 Pearl St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gardner","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.57951574700007,"lon":-71.98523298999999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-12-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-one-half storey Queen Anne style former library at 28 Pearl Street, Gardner, Massachusetts, built 1885-1886 and now used as the Gardner Museum.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be among the most sophisticated examples of Queen Anne design in Central Massachusetts, with intact carved stone, terra-cotta panels, stained glass and oak woodwork. It is also significant for its ties to the Heywood family, the city's leading industrialists, who built and supported the library.","narrative":"Built between 1885 and 1886 at 28 Pearl Street in Gardner, this one-and-one-half storey Queen Anne building served as the city's first library building and now houses the Gardner Museum. Designed by the Worcester firm Fuller and Delano, it has a granite ashlar basement, red pressed brick walls, brown sandstone and terra-cotta trim, steep slate roofs and abundant stained art glass. A gabled central pavilion carries the words Memorial Building and the name Levi Heywood. Inside, original oak woodwork, stained glass and all four fireplaces survive, despite a 1963 mezzanine. The building memorializes Levi Heywood, a Gardner native who helped develop the local chair industry and served in public office. It was given to the city in 1886 by Calvin Heywood, Helen Greenwood and Alvin Greenwood. The library operated until 1978, when consolidation of library services led to its closing and re-use as a museum. Its design quality and Heywood family associations underpin its significance.","period_of_significance":"1885-1886","architect_builder":"Fuller & Delano","architectural_style":"Queen Anne","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent; the library closed in 1978 and the building was re-used as the Gardner Museum. It is occupied.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.545701-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/7973/63797398/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/79000374.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000374/e120099c26-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000374/e120099c26-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GardnerMA_GardnerMuseum.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</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:GardnerMA_GardnerMuseum.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"99000660","name":"Gardner Uptown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/gardner-uptown-historic-district-99000660/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797398","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Heywood_Memorial_Library_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6535432"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/heywood-levi-memorial-library-building-79000374/"}