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Woburn Public Library
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Winn Memorial Library
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| Location: | Woburn, Massachusetts |
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| Built: | 1879 |
| Architect: | H. H. Richardson; Norcross Brothers |
| Architectural style: | Other, Romanesque |
| Governing body: | Local |
| NRHP Reference#: | 76000290 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP: | November 13, 1976[1] |
| Designated NHL: | December 23, 1987[2] |
The Woburn Public Library (est.1856) or Winn Memorial Library is located at 45 Pleasant Street in Woburn, Massachusetts.[3]
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The 1879 building was designed as a public library by American architect H. H. Richardson and is now a National Historic Landmark. The Winn family specifically requested that the library not be named after them despite their generosity paying for constructing the library, and the library is properly called the "Woburn Public Library." Nevertheless, it is popularly known, in architectural circles, as the Winn Memorial Library.
The library was built between 1876-1879 as the first of Richardson's series of library designs and in it he established his characteristic, asymmetrical plan for such buildings: an entrance and reception, usually with staircase tower; the reading room(s) with stacks; and an optional art gallery.
The library's front facade presents a long, single-story stack area (at left), with high, column-separated windows forming a strip below the peaked roof; a projecting, three-story set of reading rooms with entryway and High Victorian tower at center right; and picture gallery and octagonal museum at the right side. The facade is formed of brownstone with lighter stone trim, arranged in polychrome over the main arches, accented with a red tile roof.
A statue of native son and notable scientist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, rises from the main lawn before the library.
As "Winn Memorial Library", it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.[2][4]
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