Hinsdale Public Library
Our Building, An Architectural Treasure
The bottom windows facing Maple Street from the Children's Room are a departure from the Tudor elements we have previously looked at. As you can see, their sleek arches are Romanesque in nature. Curiously, the capitals on the colonettes for the Children's Room are uncarved. I believe that this has to do with the incredibly short time frame for construction of the building. Alternatively, resources might have been expended, leaving these colonettes unfinished.
Typically, final carving on a capital would be compleated at the construction site. If you have a good eye, you can spot that the colonettes over the main attic windows are finished in an ornate Corinthian fashion.
The pointy window surrounds on these top arches give them a gothic touch, despite the Romanesque arch of the window itself.
The windows along South Street are totally different from the showy Romanesque windows we have been examining. This bank of double hung windows allows an incredible amount of natural light into the attic.
The wider window that you can see in this picture is more or less a standard size, albeit a very large standard size. We can replace this wide window for about $180. If you adopt this window for that price, we will put a nameplate on the new sash.
Before the false ceiling was installed out of necessity, these windows would have provided beautiful reading light to patrons in the main reading room. If the Library can replace the upper windows, and find a creative insulation solution to the exposed timber roof inside, in the long term, we might be able to remove the false ceiling.
Note also the steep slippery slope of the slate roof.
To continue on our walkthrough, click here.
