MassachusettsThe Provincetown Public Library at 330 Commercial Street was built by the town in 1874 as a public library. Residential in scale, it is a two-story building notable as the only building in town with a (vernacular) mansard roof, which is covered with clapboards rather than roofing material; a one-story entrance portico with vernacular carvings and dentils, paired scroll-work brackets at the cornice, and pedimented windows distinguish the design, an example of provincial civic architecture. Beyond its architecture, the library has long served Provincetown's noted community of artists and writers, with past card holders including Eugene O'Neill, John Dos Passos, Sinclair Lewis, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, Tennessee Williams, and Norman Mailer. It was listed on the National Register in 1975 for its architectural, educational, and literary significance.
Provincetown Public Library
The places that make Massachusetts, Massachusetts.
Provincetown Public Library is a landmark in Provincetown, Barnstable County. It is one of 6,558 landmarks documented in Barnstable County, among 6,897 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 42.0525, -70.1852 near Provincetown. The nearest cataloged historic site is Cafe Blase (landmark), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Plain and Fancy, Fat Jack's Restaurant, and Commercial Building at 322 Commercial St.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
The Provincetown Public Library at 356 Commercial Street occupies the former Center Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1860 and once reputed to be the largest Methodist church in the United States, seating about 900 worshippers. After serving as a church and later as a maritime museum, the Second Empire-influenced building was converted for library use, and the library moved in around 2005. The building is part of the Provincetown Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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