The Crane Lihrary

The Crane Lihrary

by L. Draper Hill, Jr.

With an Introductiorl uy a Walter Muir Whitehill

Published by the Trustees of the

T H O M A S CRANE PUBLIC LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT 1962 BY THE TRUSTEES OF T H E

THO.I,IAS CRANE PUBLIC LIBRARY

PRINTED B Y THE ANTHOENSEN PRESS, PORTLAND, M A I N E

PLATES BY MERIDEN GRAVURE COMPANY, MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT

This book is dedicated t o the memory of

GALEN WENTWORTH HILL LIBRARIAN, 1926-1952

GALEN HILL died unexpectedly eight days before he was to retire as librarian. His friends and associates were deeply shocked by his un- timely passing which cast a pall over hearts already sad because of the all-too-rapidly approaching date of his retirement.

Twenty-six years of faithful service ended abruptly just as he was imparting final words of counsel to his successor.

H e was a kindly, gentle man, held in the highest regard in his profession, and loved by all who knew him.

H e bequeathed a splendid heritage to the city of Quincy in a library system of which it may well be proud.

ord MOST of life's great and lasting values have come from a small and feeble effort. Indeed it seems to be the way of all things worthwhile.

In spite of public neglect, errors of judgment or the adver- sities of time, our most valued institutions have come down to us from humble beginnings. The one indispensable element in these affairs is the consecrated devotion of many dedicated men and women. They come from all classes, all degrees of affluence, but all are determined to lift up and build a better community for themselves and their children.

It is therefore fitting that a record should now be made of their contribution to the development of the free public library system in Quincy.

Our appreciation and thanks go to Mr. L. Draper Hill, Jr., who did the necessary research and writing of the text, to Mr. Sinclair Hitchings who put the many parts together, and to the Quincy Patriot Ledger whose permission gave us their valuable services.

In behalf of the Trustees

D. FOSTER TAYLOR, Chairman

Acknowledgments THE writer gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the following in preparing this essay: Quincy City Historian William C. Edwards; Miss Gertrude Callahan, Librarian of the Thomas Crane Public Library; Houghton Library, Harvard Universi- ty; and the Boston architectural firm of Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott.

All but one of the original letters quoted in these pages are in the files of the Thomas Crane Public Library. Quotations from the letter of May 20, 1905, from Charles Francis Adams, Jr., to Albert Crane are from a copy of the letter sent to the library by Mr. Adams.

Several books from which quotations are made have been identified in the text. Two others that should be listed are Ad- dress of Charles Francis Adams, Jr. and Proceedings at the Ded- ication of the Crane Manorial Hall, at Quincy, Mass., May 30, 1882._Cambridge: John Wilson and Son, 1883, and Mrs. Schuy- ler in ~ensselaer, Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, I 888. In Appendix V of the latter, "H. H. Richardson's Professional Circular for Intending Clients" is printed in full.

Other information has been drawn from the manuscript min- utes of meetings of the Trustees of the Thomas Crane Public Library, the printed annual reports of the Trustees, the Rich- ardson plans and drawings on deposit in Houghton Library, Harvard, and the exhibition, "The Furniture of H. H. Richard- son," planned by Richard H. Randall, Jr., and held a t the Mu- seum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 9-February 18, 1962.

Most of the material used here was published originally by the Quincy Patriot Ledger in a series of three articles, April 7, 8, and 9, 1960.

Illustrations Following page I 8

Thomas Crane The Crane Library bears witness to his "strong feeling for the town of Quincy" where he grew up.

Albert Crane Over a period of almost 40 years he guided the Crane family's benefaction to Quincy. His patient acquisition of land eventually made possible the spread- ing lawns which give the library its handsome setting.

I

Charles Francis Adams, Jr. As chairman of the library's Board of Trustees during the years in which the first library building was planned, built and put into service through the generosity of the Crane family, he provided leadership of lasting value to Quincy. This portrait by I?. D. Millett at the Adams National Historic Site, Quincy, is reproduced by permission of the National Parlc Service, United States De- partment of the Interior. Everett Tatreau photograph.

Henry Hobson Richardson Richardson's fame was established during his own lifetime. He was the country's leading architect at the time the Crane Library was built. The photograph reproduced here by permission of Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott, architects, was taken by Mrs. Henry Adams, wife of the historian and philosopher, in Washington in 1884.

Richardson's Third Plan for the Library At this stage Richardson seems to have envisaged the building in more ambi- tious form than could be agreed upon by the Crane family and the library's Board of Trustees. The drawing is the third of a series of four plans now in the Richardson Collection at Houghton Library, Hamard. It calls for a lecture hall with 472-person capacity and a rear wing for book stacks. Both features were omitted from the final drawings. Although more sophisticated than they were in the first plans, the central arch and tower remain separate and indi- vidual, not to be merged until the final drawing.

A Tiny Detail from the Third Plan Here Richardson visualized the building in an elongated Byzantine fashion. The architect's airy, meticulous marginal sketches are a distinguishing charac- teristic of his plans. His pencil sketches often are accented with yellow, orange and brown watercolors.

8 Illustrations

Richardson's Sketch for the Rear of the Library The Romanesque form is combined with the gabled roof of a colonial farm- house. At the left may be seen a suggestion of the row of elm trees which once lined Washington Street. From the Richardson Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard.

The Evolution of the Final Plan Richardson retained ideas of a lecture hall and of the stack system of book storage until the final plan. His plans show a gradual development of the frontal arch and tower. Sketch by the author.

Pencil Sketch of Head of Column From the Richardson Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard.

Pen Sketch of Window in Gable From the Richardson Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard.

Pen Sketch of Window in Porch From the Richardson Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard.

The Thomas Crane Public Library As it appeared after dedicatory ceremonies in 1882. Built at a cost of approxi- mately $qo,ooo, it served as Quincy's main library for 57 years.

The Addition of I go7 -I go8 A need for space prompted the somewhat inharmonious addition designed by William Martin Aiken. Richardson's rear fagade was moved fifty feet nearer Spear Street and a children's room was added in the library basement. Aiken's large windows answered the demands for greater illumination although they clashed with Richardson's designs.

The drawings by Richardson are reproduced by permission of the Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library, and the architectural firm of Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott.

FOR a resident of Essex County, working in Boston, who seldom gets to Quincy, I find myself surrounded by friends in this little book. I remember with affection Galen Hill, to whom it is dedicated. Draper Hill, its author, was t of mine in Harvard College a few years ago. John R. I in whose newspaper the text originally appeared, and D. Foster Taylor, Chairman of the Trustees, became valued allies of mine in matters of mari- time history at the Peabody Museum of Salem before the author was able to walk or talk, much less vhile Fred Anthoen- sen has been my favorite printer r twenty-five years. Thus I should find it hard to disapprove of any part of the book. Quite apart from personal pleasure aking, it ~b le thing to remind present and futur ~ t s of QI the combination of disinterested patron (Lrane) and of distinguished architect (Richardson) and historian (Adams) that went into the making of the Crane Library eighty years ago.

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Baring Brumers and Comparly, who, althuugrl uurn in Wey- mouth in I 788, had lived and pros1 iearly forty years. The building of the Quincy ~ u t through a gift in 1880 in memory of Thomas wane (1ao3-1875), who had left Quincy fifty-one years before to make a fortune in New York. Thus in two instances New Englanders who had grown rich elsewhere provided for the literary enrichment of places that they had known as youths. Not many users of Bates Hall in Copley Square stop to consider who Bates was, or why this fine creation of Charles Follen McKim's has a Bates Hall. If they read my Boston Public Library, A Centennial History they can easily find out. I t is therefore desirable that readers in Quincy should know why H. H. Richardson's creation bears

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10 Introduction

the name of Thomas Crane. It is equally desirable that they should be reminded that, as a Richardson building, it should be respected through all predictable future. The architecture of the nineteenth century is only gradually beginning to receive the respect that it deserves. The Adams Mansion is rightly guarded as a National Historic Site. The "Stone Temple" of 1828 and the Crane Library of 1882 are monuments whose integrity should be as carefully safeguarded by residents of Quincy.

Charles Francis Adams, Jr., as able a grumbler as he was historian, complained in 1905 that Richardson had provided too little light, that "the alcove arrangement is dark, inconvenient and supplies a minimum shelf room." Yet Richardson had the right approach in wishing to surround the reader with books, while shutting out the world beyond as far as possible. Essen- tially one goes into a library in order to enter another world. If there happens to be a first-rate view outside, there is no harm in being able to look out of an occasional window, but few cities have views worth leaving a book for. W e are sometimes treated today to libraries with the privacy of goldfish bowls, where the reader instead of looking at rows of shelves looks through great sheets of glass to the beatific vision of a parking lot or an immense tangle of traffic. If C. I?. Adams, Jr., were alive today at the age of 127 to see Quincy streets, I doubt if he would hold to his criticism of 1905.

Boston Athengum 27 November 196 I

A Library for Quincy HE institution of the tax-supported free public library in this country is not nearly as old as one might suspect. The public library's solidity as a pillar of the community

today belies the fact that it is for the most part a post-Civil War development.

The nation's first public library opened its doors in Peter- borough, New Hampshire, in 1835 following a vote taken at the town meeting in March of that year. In I 848 the public library movement gained momentum after Mayor Josiah Quincy of Boston influenced the General Court to pass a bill authoriz-

i ing one of these institutions in Boston. The right to establish and maintain a library through public funds was extended to other communities in the Commonwealth in I 85 I, shortly before the Boston Public Library swung wide its portals. By I 870 there were eighty free public libraries in Massachusetts.

At town meeting in March I 87 I, citizens of Quincy voted to appropriate $ I ,000 for the salary of a librarian and for mainte- nance of a building, to be supplemented by the proceeds from the dog tax. A committee appointed at the meeting recommend-

I ed a further expenditure of $2,500, provided that the amount was matched by private subscription. This was adopted, and ninety-six men and women of the town worked during the summer to collect $2,694.87 from I ,o3 3 contributors. The amount of these many gifts varied from ten cents to $200.

At a meeting of the Trustees in May I 87 I, great power and responsibility were placed in the hands of the chairman, a post to be ably filled for most of the following twenty-three years by Charles Francis Adams, Jr.'

1 Charles Francis Adarns (1835-1gr5), son of Charles Francis Adams, the Civil War minister to England and grandson of John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, was a trustee of the Library from 1871 to 1894, and chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1875-1894. A railroad expert who was president of the Union Pacific in the 188os, Adams was also an historian whose Three Episodes of Massachusetts History is the definitive history of Quincy before 1888 and a model local history. He was a leader in civic affairs in Quin-

The Crane Library

The rules then adopted entitled every Quincy resident oyer the age of fourteen to the use of the library and reading room. upon signing a promise to conform to these rules. The hours , . were set for week rnoons from one to five o'clock and

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evenings from sir : o'clock. Also, Saturday mornings from ten to twelve o clock and "at such other times as the Trustees may prescribe."

Volumes were to be withdrawn one at a time, a1 be kept for no more than fourteen days under ordinary clrcum- stances. A daily fine of t s was imposed f lue books, with larger penaltic )re flagrant infra~ 'he rules concluded, "Persons V l ~ l L l l l g the library will LF; IGCiuded . to deport themselves quietly, and tl ~ l l unnecessary con- versation. N o person, except the Li )r the Trustees, shall be allowed to take books from the snelves."

At the May 18; ees' meeting, Chairman William W. Greenough recon 1 housing the library in the Adams Academy Building on mancock Street, noting that President John Adams had intended to found a classical school with funds -

derived from the gift of certain lands. Mr. Greenough recalled that the town had accepted the offer on July 8, I 82 2, and had agreed to maintain such a school with the funds received from the Adams gift. President Adams, he declared, had envisioned a school "for the teaching of the Greek and Latin languages and any languages, arts and sciences which a majority of the minis- ters, magistrates, lawyers and physicians inhabiting in said town may advise."

cy in the last decades of the nineteenth century, and in his autobiography wrote of his civic work with pride. In his excellent sketch of Adams in the Dictionary of American Biography, Worthington C. Ford noted: ''Living in Quincy, Mass., he and his brother John Quincy Adams served as moderators in town meetings for twenty years and directed the proceedings of the town government at a time when the place by its size was outgrowing that form of administration. . . . Adams was a member of the school committee, a trustee of the public library, a park commissioner, and a commissioner of the sinking fund." Adams in his autobiography listed some of the civic improvements made during these years of service; conduct of town meetings was reformed, city finances put in order, the school system reorganized, "the Public Library building was erected and endowed," and a system of parks was planned and developed.

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Mr. Greenough suggested that a union of the academy and town libraries would benefit both, render both accessible and assist the school, then in unfortunate economic straits, with an infusion of public funds. Proposing a joint control, he stated that the Trustees'would not interfere with the conduct of the I

school-"nor shall the [academy] Supervisors meddle with the management of the public library in any way." Concluding his remarks, Mr. Greenough said, "The Free Public Library furnishes this mental food which shall make strong men and women of our people. . . . It is what we need to round off and make whole our popular and efficient system of education."

On December I I, I 87 I, at the Adams Academy, the Quin- cy Public Library was opened for the circulation of books. The collection contained 4,607 volumes, 2,458 of which came from the Quincy Lyceum, the Adams Literary Association, the Quincy Book Club and similar intellectual and literary societies.

Describing the initial selection of books, the Trustees' report published in 1872 noted that "at the outset, the Trustees were guided by a simple principle, which experience has shown to be safe and economical,-to obtain immediately a considerable

tion of books which were of general interest, and would ore be read. Without undertaking to obtain every volume

l"l which a wish-was expressed. thev have already purchased, or intend to purchase, such wo em to them suitable. As the library increases in size, it o naturally increase its number of books of permanenr: vame. So far, the collection consists mainly of fresh and ne ; by the most approved and most popular modern authc irhich additions are con- stantly being made,-and it will grow m time to meet every rea- sonable demand of the population to which it furnishes a part i

of their intellectual and moral culture." L--* the first two years of the operation, Miss Abbie J. Hails

! as librarian at a monthly salary of $41.66. Her assistant, imelia L. Bumpus, received $37.50. Miss Hails resigned

"11 account of poor health in I 874. On July I 6, I 87 3, the Adams Academy notified the Trustees

14 The Crane Library that they required the space occupied by the library, and would expect evacuation of the premises before September I. On Au- gust I I, Mr. Adams suggested and received approval for a transfer to the Lyceum Room of the Town Hall. There is no record showing that such a move ever took place. In December Mr. Adams and Mr. Charles Foster were appointed to make a further search for quarters.

In March 1874 the Town Meeting voted its permission for the library to relocate in the vacant Evangelical Congrega- tional Church Building at the corner of Hancock Street and Revere Road (formerly Canal Street). The Trustees approved of this suggestion on July I, and after a brief suspension of oper- ations, the library opened an eight-year tenure at Hancock Street and Revere Road on September I 6. On March 5, I 875, Charles Francis Adams began his nineteen-year chairmanship of the library board and the second major phase in the institution's history commences.

SUPPLYING A PUBLIC NEED

IN HIS ANNUAL REPORT for 1878, Mr. Adams reported that a need was felt for increased space, adding that he felt a more central location in the town would be in the library's interest.

Mr. Adams noted that the Trustees had no intention of ask- ing the town to finance a new library. H e added: "In other and neighboring towns, however,-as, for instance, in Hingham, in Braintree, in Randolph, and in Nonh Easton,-the needs of the public libraries in this respect have been met by the gifts or bequests of wealthy inhabitants desiring to do something to evince their interest in their native places." Pointing out that the existing accommodations were neither convenient, com-

Supplying a Public Need

fortable, ornamental nor well adapted to their use, he com- mented that "Private munificence may supply a public need."

On February 20, 1880, the selectmen of Quincy were most pleasantly surprised by receipt of the following letter from Albert Crane:

"Gentlemen,-The family of my father, the late Thomas Crane of New York, are desirous of erecting some memorial to him. Though long a resident of New York, my father always retained a strong feeling for the town of Quincy, where his family originated and had resided for over a century, and where he himself passed the earlier portion of his life, . . . His family, therefore, desire to make, through you, the following propo- sition to the town of Quincy: they will erect an edifice to his memory, to be known as the Crane Memorial Hall or Library, to be held in trust forever by the town, . . . for the free use of the town as a Public Library building."

Mr. Crane concluded by suggesting that the memorial be located "in some convenient and central locality," adding that he favored the lot owned by the nephew of the late Ebene- zer Woodward. This tract connecting Washington and Spear Streets was the one chosen.

Oddly enough, although Mr. Adams' aspirations for a visita- tion of private munificence were borne out, the man who amassed the fortune which made the core of Quincy's library system possible, left town at the age of nventy-six. His wife and children, who originated the idea after his death, never lived in Quincy at all.

Thomas Crane was born on Georges Island in Boston Har- bor in I 803, two decades before the construction there of Fort Warren. In I 8 I o his family moved to Quincy Point. The one- room school in which he received his education accommodated 250 pupils of assorted ages and sizes.

Crane celebrated his twenty-first birthday shortly before John Quincy Adams was named to the Presidency of the United States by the House of Representatives. Despite the fact that

The Crane Library his home town contained "the summer White House," Quincy in the I 820s still displayed many examples of a rather primitive way of life.

The annual appropriation for public expenditure was $3,500 in 1829 and the cost of educating one student for one academic year was computed at three dollars. In the library's dedicatory address, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., noted that Quincy's post office and tavern were one and the same.

Mr. Adams also recorded that young Crane was in the habit of walking to Boston each Sunday to attend the new Universal- ist Church. At first a shoemaker by profession, Crane shifted to stonecutting while still in his early twenties.

In I 829 he departed from Quincy for the growing metropolis of New York, preceded by an older brother. In company with a group of other young journeymen he started a co-operative stone yard. He gradually bought his partners out and by I 835 was master of his own business. A fire in December of that year leveled large sections of commercial New Yorlc, creating huge new markets for the Quincy granite in which Crane dealt.

During the next thirty years Mr. Crane captained the city's granite trade during a period of unprecedented growth. As he grew prosperous, he served as a bank director, insurance company official, a leader in the management of the city's street railway and one of the more faithful patrons of the Universalist Church.

Among the buildings Crane helped build are the New York Custom House and the old Grand Central Station. Much of his wealth was based on judicious purchases of real estate in uptown New York, an area of the city which was just then becoming fashionable.

Mr. Crane was a close friend of Horace Greeley and an ar- dent supporter of the famous editor in the antislavery movement. His services as an arbiter of industrial disputes were in frequent demand.

By the time of the senior Crane's death in 1875, his fortune

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Shortly after the Crane offer was maae to Quincy, Chairman Adams wrote in the Trustees' report for I 880: "The Trustees have no reason to suppose that the suggestion [their hope for a private bequest] thus thrown out ever came to the knowledge of the Crane family or in influenced their On the contrary, we are well hat it did not."

Albert Crane promised L u GAvend "not less tlrall ~wcnty thousand dollars" ed that the matter be brough ~t their earliest convenience. w11 Lvrarcn 2 z, I UOU, a g r ' d ~ e ~ u ~ cown meeting voted to accept the offer, a for the purchase of the Woodward l

Mr. Crane reserved for hlmse~r cne all-important choice of an architect, and his wisdom :cision insured th ua- tion of his father's memorj ceful and handso ier.

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Born in Louisiana in I 838 of wealthy 1 Richardson was a grandson of Dr. Joseph Priestley, the ~ l~u~ee~ i th -cen tu ry British scientist.'

irdson can . . - 1 As a matter of fact, when Rich: lot embarking upon his family's first brush with the Adams dynasty. HIS grandfather (1733- 1804) was a brilliant scientist. Widely acclaimed for the discovery of oxygen and for experiments with light, he was less popular for his alleged sympathies towards the radicals of the French Revolution. A theologian and Unitarian minister as well as a scientist, Dr. Priestley fled his native Birmingham just before an angry mob burned his chapel and home in July 1791. After establishing himself as a lecturer in New York and Philadelphia, he enjoyed a brief

The Crane Library

H e was a large, hearty, bear of a man, distinguished in later life by a full beard, a warm but penetrating gaze and a taste for yellow vests. From youth he was afflicted with a slight impedi- ment of speech.

Richardson excelled in mathematics and French at Harvard, from which he graduated in 1859. During his years in Cam- b r i d ~ e he was a member of the exclusive Porcellian Club where

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he formed associations valuable to his career as an architect. After a period of European travel, Richardson enrolled at

the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris where he studied until the Civil War strangled the flow of funds from his family in Lou- isiana. The student architect returned to the United States in 1862, remaining long enough to refuse to take an oath of loy- alty to the North after which he returned to Paris.

Described by his contemporaries as a hard worker, Richard- son managed to complete his education despite a lack of funds. H e received broad practical experience under several of the leading Parisian architects of the day.

American architecture at mid-century was in the throes of a classic Greek revival of devastating proportions. In the rush to expand into the front ranks of the nations of the world, chaos supplanted organization and imitation dominated invention in the building habits of the young country.

By the end of the Civil War the finest traditions of the neo- classic period had blurred into a confusing influence on the architectural profession, which suffered an "almost complete loss of the sense of architecture as sound building," according to Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Jr., in The Architecture of H. N. friendship with an old admirer, John Adams. In 1797 he dedicated his series of lectures on T h e Evidences of Revealed Religion to Adams. The relation- ship foundered on Priestley's penchant for expounding his inflammatory po- litical sentiments. In 1799 Secretary of State Piclrering suggested action against him under the Alien and Sedition Acts, but President Adams, in a letter dated August 13, 1799, replied, "I do not think it wise to execute the alien law against poor Priestley at present. He is as weak as water, as unstable as Reuben, or the wind. His influence is not an atom in the world." (Quoted by Zoltan Harazti in John Adams 6 the Prophets of Progress (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1952), p. 282. Harazti gives a de- tailed description of the relations between Priestley and Adams.)

The Evolution of the Final Plan

A Distinguished Architect Richardson and His Times. "There was never a time, perhaps, in which an architect was freer to create a personal style," Hitchcock comments.

From his earliest professional days, Richardson's touch is dynamic and sure. His first commissions show more of the con- temporary French influence than the unmistakable Romanesque arches, towers and gables which stand as a superficial trade- mark of much of his later work.

The force of his powerful personality lifted American architecture out of the trough of the 1850s and '60s. Under Richard- son's hands, stone assumed new strength and dignity as a building material. In the 1870s demands for small railroad stations and public libraries created new architectural problems which Richardson met with bold and original solutions.

Richardson's taste for sculpture and painting was probably developed during his years in Paris and is another dimension lacking in most of his professional colleagues. The products of artistic alliances, notably with the artist John LaFarge and the sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens, added beauty to many of his works.

The Richardson blend of beauty and strength took the nation's architecture by storm. During the I 880s and '90s his imi- tators produced a giant volume of "Richardson Romanesque," most of which was little more than a blind fusion of the master's building elements and materials, with his sense of design and harmony conspicuously absent.

Richardson made little use of glass and iron which were com- ing into use during his career. For this reason he appears to have little direct influence on the skyscraper architecture of the twentieth century. His lasting mark is one of taste, respect for the essential nature of his building materials and a concern for function and purpose.

In one of his Brown Decades essays, Lewis Mumford de- scribes Richardson as "an architect who almost single-handed created out of a confusion which was actually worse than a mere void the beginnings of a new architecture. No single mind

The Crane Library

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since Wren's [Sir Christopher Wren, who planned the construction of many of London's great buildings after the devastating fire of 16661 has perhaps left such a large impress of his own personality, not alone through his work, but through that of his disciples and ~rs; and no one has demonstrated better in practice the q hat are necessary for a complete orches-

of all'the personalities and forces concerned in building." ly event, Richardson stands with Charles Bulfinch, the of Federal Boston, and with Frank Lloyd Wright as one

of the titans of American architecture. In 1877 Richardson received his first library commission.

With Boston's grandiose Trinity Church just completed, he was solidly established as the foremost architect. Thrashing out the problems of pub -y design in Woburn and Eas- ton during the next three years, Richardson was approaching the simplicity a pt which gstal- lized in the Crar

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Crane's son Albert de son during the spring of 1880, presumably aft ~ i t h his brother Ben- jamin and his mother. Amerr: Lrane graduated from Tufts in 1863, Y r Richardson left the Boston area, but the men might f through a common interest in stone and real estate in iyew fork City.

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years before Richardson. The architect was a close personal friend of Adams7 brother, philosopher-historian Henry Ad- ams, a Harvard graduate of I 858.

All speculation aside, Richardson was most probably chosen simply because he was generally considered America's foremost architect in I 880.

A request for Richardson's services during the latter part of his life was customarily answered with a printed circular in which he explained the basis of his charges and the responsi- bilities which he undertook as an architect. In it he stated that he would provide sufficient supervision to "secure the furnish- ing of materials of the kind and quality required by the con- tract, and the performance of the work in accordance with the plans and specifications, and in a good, workmanlike, and sub- stantial manner."

He also declared: "In preparing the architectural design, I agree, after consultation with the owner, to use my best judgment. I cannot, however, guarantee that the building, when completed, shall conform to his ideas of beauty or taste, or indeed to those of any person or school. I can only agree to ex- amine and consider this matter well and carefully, and to rec-< ommend nothing which is inconsistent with my own ideas upon these subjects."

Despite the apparent rigidity of this manifesto, a study of the several layouts for the Crane project indicates a considerable give and take on form and function during the planning stage.

According to Richardson authority H. R. Hitchcock, the architect customarily started a project from the point of de- parture of the last building of the same sort that he had built. Throughout the first three preliminary sketches, there is more resemblance to the larger Winn Memorial Library in Woburn completed in 1878. The only Richardson library big enough to make additions unnecessary during the last eighty years, the Winn building is imposing, but ornate.

The Arnes Memorial Library in North Easton, completed the next year, is more closely related to the Crane building. In

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the left, .ed. . .

both, pinkish-tinted Easton granite, trimmed with dark Long- ;? meadow brownstone, is used. The two buildings have a similar A simplicity of design.

All three libraries : combin a tower to the right of the ya :h whicE d one of its earliest and most pure mcnarason expressions in ~a rva rd ' s Sever Hall. They alsc high row of win

1 to illuminate the alca where the book:

4 zwis Mumford, writlng in The Brown Decades, declares "Richardson, more perhaps than any other architect, was

I onsible for abandoning the window as a repetitive unit, as in Renaissance design, and making it an integral part of the interior development-placing it and establishing its dimensions J by the needs of the interior, rather than by the purely formal requirements of the facade."

Two months after Albert C rst letter lson and Albert Crane traveled to Quincy ro rlold thell 111s~ ulscussions with the library trustees. This meeting took place April 12,

t 1880, with thg town selectmen also present. Charles Francis Adams, Jr., described the session with the architect as a free consultation at which suggestions were invited.

The structures existing on the lot were removed du summer and ground was broken in September 1880.

It soon became apparent that the building would cost far more than had originally been anticipated, and further, that it

* b

would not be readv in time for the planned I 88 I opening. Mr.

I Ada imented that the building "will exceed its pron excellence became apparent," he added, "the I L u a L c u CllLuUia~ed delay rather than urging haste."

h e Richardson's first proved considerably more am- 1.1

1' bitious than the final hich the Norcross Brothers con-

I tracting firm had in hana at rhe groundbreaking in September

t 1880. The initial sketch, on rough manila paper, includes a circular stack wing at the rear and a small lecture hall.

The earliest references to the building are as "The Crane . 1 Memorial Hall," to "include" the town's library. Sometime be-

ring the

Shaping the Image 2 3

tween the second and third drawings it appears that the Cranes changed their minds about the purpose of the memorial and its r n c t

furnitur The c

lced in t the lect . .

g is red^ he third ; and missing ans, as is ure hall. 1 of the wing

apparently left the architect m doubt as to the location of the circulation desk which is vague1 d in the center lobby on the final drawing. Economy nsideration of greater importance after it became evident the cost would more than double the minimum offer of $20,000 suggested originally.

Despite the reduction to rectangular form, the traditional cruciform orientation of the R ~ u e church is main- / tained. As the project decreases i the drawings indicate a growth of sophistication and fi

The work is the simplest of Richardson's libraries. The deep porch serves as a vestibule into the single room of the original / structure. The projecting turret contains a spiral staircase leading to the overhead alcoves and the attic storage area.

Greatest attention to lavish detail was paid to the interior, fitted with ornately carved woodwork of southern pine. Wood of dderent colors was carefully to enhance the richness of the effect. Richardson's T :signs for the column supporting the ceiling beams were based on floral motifs and must have taxed the skill of the woodcarvers employed by the Norcross Construction Company. In keeping with the archi-

J tect's concern for every detail of the interior. chairs and other

,e were built to his desigr :xterior remains the sing1 e richness of

the deep Longmeadow brownstullc: yluvlues an ideal accent for the solid architectural forms. The rough-hewn semifinished character of the stone contributes a rugged strength except

J where careful attention has been paid to carved decoration.

The horizontal bands of brownstone are expertly broken by the tower and the arch, only to be resolved and, in a sense, summed up by the reading room window at the right front.

The passage of four-fifths of a century and the changing en-

selected raried dc

24 The Crane Library vironment has had little effect on the feeling of pleasure in the observer created by the seemingly effortless blend of line, form, and color. There is an aura of solidity in the massive base and

,

the triangularity of the stairway which seems virtually to hug the ground. The warm red of the roof and the richly contrast- ing brown of the walls is courted with equal gallantry by the lush greens of summer and the biting blues of winter's snowy shadows.

One of the greatest aspects of Richardson's genius is his un- erring ability to find beauty in the irregular and harmony in / the off-center. Much of his talent lay in knowing when not to use ornament.

One has to go no further than the rear of the building to contrast the results of this skill with later, less inspired work by another architect. The 1908 addition is conspicuously de- void of grace or variety, its success from a functional point of

1 view notwithstanding.

UTILITY AND REPUTATION

THE SKIES WERE CLEAR for dedicatory ceremonies on May 30, I 88 2. Joseph L. Whiton, later to become a mayor of Quincy, attended the event as a boy of nine. H e recalls the impressive array of Knights Templar on hand and the large crowd which gathered to hear the principal address by Charles Francis Ad- ams, Jr. Also present was Adams' father, the former minister to Great Britain.

Richardson, a man who would walk ten miles to avoid writing a letter, apparently felt the same way about making speech- es. Called to the rostrum he expressed pleasure that the job was done. At the time he confided to Albert Crane that he felt the Quincy structure "could hold its own" with his other libraries.

Utility and Reputation 2 5

Earlier that morning a reception was held at the Library, where friends and citizens had the opportunity of meeting Thomas Crane's widow and her two sons, Albert and Benja- min. While this was taking place a procession was forming on Hancock Street for a ten o'clock parade to the First Parish Church where the dedication took place.

Taking part were: a 27-piece police band from Boston; 92 men from the South Shore Commandery, Knights Templar; I 29 men from the Rural Masonic Lodge; 63 men from the In- dependent Fusileers of Boston; 60 men from the Paul Revere Post, Grand Army of the Republic; the Quincy Union Band; I 55 men from the Quincy Fire Department and 46 men from Clan McGregor.

Starting with I 2,000 volumes in I 88 I , the small building was jammed to the rafters with 26,000 books by 1906. Charles Francis Adams, Jr., decided the time had come for a re-evalu- ation. After a May 1905 visit he wrote Albert Crane:

"In looking over the library building, however, I must ac- knowledge to a sense of disappointment and a certain degree of self-reproach. The outside I admire greatly. The interior is a failure. It is now twenty-four years since the library was built, and it was designed during the earlier days of construction of this character, when the requirements of a public library were not understood. I was very largely responsible for what was done myself, and now see the error of my ways.

"For one thing, however, I was not responsible; that is, for the wretchedly inadequate lighting. I well remember telling Mr. Richardson that I thought the supply of light was inadequate. H e over-ruled me, insisting that, if anything, there was too much light. Architects are apt to be wrong on this head. / The result is that, whereas the interior of a library should be bright and cheerful, in that case it is murky and dismal."

Mr. Adams then states that no provision was made for even- tual enlargement, criticizing the architect for his use of the al- ,/ cove system. "The whole interior arrangement is one which now no architect or builder would adopt. . . . The alcove ar-

The Crane Library

ped on tl . .

lor the c a library live, thou

rangement is dark, inconvenient and supplies a minimum shelf room. The stack arrangement is light, convenient and affords the maximum shelf room."

H e then suggested that Richardson's errors could be correct- ed by the addition of a wing on the Coddington Street side, < c and then carrying an harmonious extension out to the East. Here would be the stack." H e felt that this would house the book accumulation for the next fifty years.

In this respect it is interesting to note that ( I ) Richardson's plans show he felt the need in 1880 for the wing that necessity demanded in 1905, and ( 2 ) his first three sketches proposed the

/ revolutionary stack system. In the absence of information on the subject we can only guess that this latter feature was vetoed by Albert Crane.

Asked about Adams' reaction, Richardson scholar Hirchcock told the author: "The small public library was a rather new functional type in the '70s and early '80s when Richardson built his libraries . . . It is probable that the functions of a pub-

/ lit library were rather differently understood even as early as the beginning of this century when C. F. Adams condemned the Crane Library."

In view of Mr. Adan rations, it is inter1 learn that praise has been heal le building since letion by critical voices at home and abroad. The library was the subject of a favorable and profusely illustrated article in Harper's Weekly for April t I, I 883. It should be added in fairness that neither this comment r me which follov - )n the building's usefulness as

Perhaps more impress ~gh, is the opinion -eorge Bodley delivered at a dinner of members of the Royal Institute of British Architects during the I 880s. Sir George ( I 8 27- I go7), was recognized as the chief exponent of the Victorian Gothic Revival, He built cathedrals at Liverpool, England, and Wash- ington, D. C., to name two. In his concern for furniture and interior decoration Bodley was closely linked with William Morris and Pre-Raphaelites much admired by Richardson.

irS bear (

10fSirG

Creating a Suitable Setting 2 7

At the dinner in questic ily declared that the Thomas Crane Public Lil f the most beautiful buildings in existence. Albert H. UOW, an architect of Tufton- boro, New Hampshire, recalled the incident in 1935 from second-hand reports. According to Mr. Dow, there was general - -- - - -.

apreement with Bodley's led that had ( I two photos of t

)n the ea By the

slafi,.aA +I

kreet int er. The r .:A_- -L - 1

jn, Bodle brary w .-- -

:y allege( as one o

remark. he librar

He adc ,y at the dmner.

ersectior :ecent de

; the are: . of the F .--I- L-- - !

WHEN ALBERT CRANE BEGAN his forty-year crusade to create a suitable park around the library built in his father's memory, he could hardly have visualized the beneficial effect his generosity would have on the whole of Quincy Center.

In 1880 the "public area" of Quincy Center consisted of the First Parish Church ( I 828) and the Town Hall ( I 844), closely hemmed in by private residences and an oc business es- tablishment. Washington S t r a t was a nai lpaved road flanked by two picket fences and an imposing. column of elms c st (or library) side.

time of his death in I 9 I 8, Albert ( had CIL~ILU ~ ~ l e southeast quadrant of the Wa~lllll~~ull-Coddington S 1, triplini 3 of Quincy's municipal cen- t molition 'axon homestead divested the CLLY 01 a Irarluwlrle land mar^, uur: ~t made the overall vista even more apparent to an observer on Hancock Street. Completed in 1927 with the erection of the imposing gothic of Bethany Church, the panorama includes the United First Parish Church and City Hall in neo-classic style, together with H. H. Rich- ardson's Romanesque library-a concise review of American monumental architecture.

In 1880, a view of the library from Hancock Street was

The Crane Library

blocked by a large gray frame grain store, by the office of the Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and by the Quincy Hotel and the homes of Dr. George B. Twitchell, Joseph T. French, Dr. Ebenezer Woodward and Woodward Hudson.

Dr. Woodward's home was moved to Hancock Street at Cliveden Street, clearing the way for initial construction of the Richardson library building. The hotel was owned by the Quincy Hospital, which acquired additional land in the block during the next decade.

In 1880, Mr. Crane began to purchase all the land in the area that he could. His persistence is all the more remarkable when one learns that a large part of his business was conducted by mail from resort hotels in Europe and in the South.

On June 24, I 9 I o, he confided in the library's Board of Trus- tees: "The Morton house and lot immediately adjoining the public library is unpleasantly near . . . I am secretly trying to purchase same." Other references mention laundry on the line at the Mortons', a circumstance which evidently distressed the old gentleman.

The grain store was purchased and removed in 1889. By I 907 the hotel was no more, and a 19 I 3 thunderbolt from the Crane checkbook dispatched the insurance company. The en- tire end of the block bounded by Washington, Coddington and Spear Streets thus passed into the hands of the Trustees. Mr. Crane's last big land battle was fought over the Laban Pratt property. This site, present location of the main library building, was acquired in I 9 I 9 after a considerable wr"--'-

In 1907-1908 Mr. Crane put up $64,000 to fin: rear wing. Though he favored a separate building, he fir to the advice of C. F. Adams, Jr., apparently a ma11 UUL easily

eded / opposed. William Martin Aiken, former supervising architect -t of the United States and Richardson's original clerk of works, undertook the addition.

Although temporarily satisfying the need for space, the new wing fails to blend with the exterior of Richardson's original structure. Aiken died shortly after the work was completed,

J

Creating a Suitable Setting and we may speculate that poor health prevented his personal attention to all details of the project.

A lusty debate arose in the early 1900s on the question of the library's role as a repository for plaques and monuments to Quincy's leading citizens. Although clearly opposed to the idea, Mr. Crane was reluctant to force his will on the Trustees. In March I 9 I 3 he wrote from Magnolia Springs, Florida, that he had no objection to the placing of a tablet to former Mayor Charles H. Porter, but that "great care and reserve should be used hereafter and most everything declined."

The hopes of Mayor Porter's friends were dashed in June after C. F. Adams, Jr., advised Crane that the City Hall was a more suitable location for such a memorial. Mr. Crane then advised the Trustees that further plaques in the library would be "in conflict with the everlasting fitness of things."

The outspoken C. F. Adams, Jr., addressed himself to the problems of the library with his usual clarity, shortly after the opening of the new wing in 190

"The great difficulty with a1 libraries is the rapid accumulation in them of printed ruvuisn, of but passing interest and no value. It is an undoubted fact that nine books out of ten purchased for every public library in the country go upon the shelves and are never called for except during the first six months after publication; and further, in four cases out of five the six months could be reduced to six weeks.

"The inevitable upshot of this is obvious. N o public library can hold the printed accumulation on its shelves. The Quincy Library is only thirty-seven years old and it is simply appalling to reflect what will be its condition when it is 137 years old. The retention of public documents alone will crowd it out of its building."

The problem was a familiar one to Mr. Adams, who more than I 5 years earlier, in April I 893, had written one of the librarians: "I want you to go through the library now pretty carefully, and select about 2,000 volumes,-to as large an ex- tent as possible from works of fiction which have ceased to be

The Crane Library

i the bu: is predic ----.. L- oad and

1 .

,. Whir wn. H 1

eads' sur Trustee: . .

called for, having wholly done their wo be prepared to weed them out."

After the I 9 I 3 removal of the last foreign strucmre from the Washington-Coddington corner of the library lawn, plans went ahead for the landscaping and general beautification of the property. Olmstead Brothers, a Brookline firm of landscape architects, decided that Washington Su-eet should be widened, and the elm trees removed. The trustees were advised that "this portion of Washin~ton Street will undoubtedly become in the future the siness section."

Mercifully en :tion has not proved entirely accurate. Washirlg L U I ~ ~ U G C L , lluwever, was widened in I 9 I 8 to the 66-foot-wide "bn dignified thoroughfare" rec- ommended by the Olmst

A comment in the Trustees report for 1913 indicates the scope of their thinking at the time of the Olmst vey. "Surrounded as we are by public buildings," the 3 declared, "we suggest that the city make laws restricting the height and distance from the street of all future buildings front- ing on the library grounds, with the view of making it the 'Copley Square' of Quincj- "

In I 9 I 7 Mayor Joseph L was planning to start a new la lpril suggesting a much better lawn w o u a resulr: 11 me grounds were planted wit les for the season and ther with seed in the fall."

Forty-three years later, Mr. Whiton recalled that tne gesture was prompted by "the great hue and cry that food would win the war." H e explained that the city expended a considerable amount on loam, fertilizer and a bona-fide potato expert from Maine. "They came up very prettily," he chuckled. "The lawn was all blossoms, there wasn't a potato in the lot that was anywhere near as large as a golf ball." H e said that a few were sent to the city poor farm as had been originally intended.

The Trustees' report for 1918 noted: "It was the desire of the Trustees to restore the beautiful green lawn of the library

e library tees in -L' -1- . -~ - - -

But, OM

Washinl 1 *

Memories and Milestones 3 1

~d restful ers passi

grounds which was so p11 I, not only to the eyes of our citizens, but to a ng through our city.

ring to the unfinished condition of the sidewalk on gton Street, and the difficulty in securing teams and

lat>orers, it was deemed advisable to postpone the grading and seeding until the spring of I 9 19. Then M w more trees planted, we hope to make this the civic ~f Quincy, in attractiveness second to none in the Commonwealth."

MIL: , . .

Jith a f e center o

*6*6*-6*m**MmmmM&

N RIES NES

en comn ie for th .- A

I her me]

nissioned e readins

vements

close. Cf "",A l-11

nory is 1

D ERA WAS DRAWING to a I ancis Adams, JI., ulcd in 1916 and Albert Clallc LUUUWGU 111 1918. (His mother died in 1895, and with a tablet in the Richardson buildi~

Following Mrs. Alberr: Lrane s death in 1930 an additional $ I 64,000 was willed to the library. In 1940, Col. George E. Adams presided at the dedication of the main building of the Thomas Crane Public Library, designed by Paul Coleni and his late brother Carroll and built : of $200,000.

One mystery remains in regarl Richardson building. According to an account in HarUL-, J Y;7""L1-' Augustus St. Gaudens had be -ait bas-relief of Thomas Crar , similar to a likeness of Oakes r u m s ne creareu I u r ruclraruson in Easton. There is no record of the outcon s project by St. Gau- dens, who is now recognized as the nation's greatest sculptors.

TWO handsome stained glass windows by John LaFarge, who developed new methods of leading and coloring glass, decorate the reading room. The small panel of an old man is regarded as one of his supreme achie

w

at a cost d to the ,"h,,nr7" T2

I to carv g room J I--- n

ne of thi: ; one of

iarles Fr: I,,,7-A :,

' GGKC;y , .

e a poru fireplace l:-L-- 3- -

The Crane Library Students of Richardson's work may be interested to know

that the architect's only other South Shore project, a home for Dr. John Bryant of Cohasset, was under way at the same time as the library. The shingled frame mansion at 150 Howard Gleason Road is known as the Bellarmine House and presently is a retreat lodge for members of the Boston College faculty.

Today the foundation of Quincy's admirable library system may be seen in the generosity of Thomas Crane's family, the foresight and energy of Charles Francis Adams, Jr., and the art of H. H. Richardson. Building on these contributions, the tireless efforts of many others through the years have combined to keep library service in Quincy at a level of consistent excellence.

Librarians of the Thomas Crane Public Library

AB

CO

MAKY I. EKUUKS

AMELIA L. BUMPUS

AL

TR

Documents

The Crane Lihrary