Ames Free Library

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Ames Free Library

Location	North Easton, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°04′02″N 71°06′19″W / 42.0672, -71.1052
Established	1883
Number of branches	2
Director	Donna P. Richman
Website	http://www.amesfreelibrary.org/

The Ames Free Library is a public library designed by noted American architect H. H. Richardson. It is located at 53 Main Street, North Easton, Massachusetts, immediately adjacent to another Richardson building, Oakes Ames Memorial Hall.

The library was built from 1877 to 1879, although it did not open until 1883. It is generally rectangular, with broad gable projecting from its north end and a rectangular tower rising where the gable meets the main mass. The gable's front facade contains a heavily arched entry on the first floor and a row of five arched windows separated by pairs of short columns above. The facade is light-brown Milford granite laid in random ashlar with reddish-brown Longmeadow brownstone trim. Its roof is red-orange tile. A children's wing (red brick) was added in 1931, eliminating the original lavatory and document room.

Within, the library's major rooms, stack wing, hall, and reading room are laid out longitudinally. The reading room's fireplace is primarily by Stanford White, and the stone and bronze medallions of Oliver Ames were designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.