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Ames Free Library
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| Location: | Easton, Massachusetts |
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| Area: | H.H. Richardson Historic District of North Easton |
| Built: | 1883 |
| Architect: | Henry Hobson Richardson |
| Architectural style: | Richardsonian Romanesque |
| Governing body: | Town of Easton |
| NRHP Reference#: | 87002598 |
| Added to NRHP: | 23 December 1987 |
| Ames Free Library | |
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| Established | 1883 |
| Branches | 2 |
| Other information | |
| 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, 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.