Carnegie Free Library

National Register Listing

Street Address:

210 North Limestone St., Gaffney, SC (Cherokee County)

Alternate Name:

Cherokee County Administration Building

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NRHP Nomination

Record Number:

S10817711019

Description and Narrative:

The Carnegie Free Library, built 1913-1914 as one of fourteen public libraries built in South Carolina between 1903 and 1916 with funding from Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Foundation, is significant both as an example of Classical Revival public architecture and for its role as Gaffney’s first public library. It is representative of the trend toward the establishment of American public libraries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The library is a one-story over raised basement red brick Classical Revival building constructed according to the designs of Arthur W. Hamby, one of the well-known Columbia, South Carolina, architectural firm Hamby & Rorke. The gently pitched standing seam metal roof is hidden from view by a brick parapet which wraps around all four sides of the rectangularly shaped building. Set upon a brick basement, the two levels are delineated by a heavy limestone watertable. Granite steps flanked by stepped cast stone-capped pedestals lead to the centrally located double leaf wood and glass paneled doors at the entry to the main (second) floor of the building. In 1937 the original structure was doubled in size by a rear addition. Listed in the National Register June 2, 2000.

Period of Significance:

1914 – 1938

Level of Significance:

Local

Area of Significance:

Architecture

National Register Determination:

listed

Date of Certification:

June 2 2000

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