Romanesque
Library

1888  Norfolk Library
Designed by George Keller

Isabella Eldridge, daughter of the town pastor, engaged Hartford architect George Keller to design a library for the town in 1888. A disciple of the great American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and architect of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch in Hartford’s Bushnell Park, Keller used russet freestone, quarried at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, and fish scale shingles below a roof of fluted terra cotta tile. In 1911 he designed a seamless addition, a large reading room opening at the rear of the library and lit by two rose windows created by Maitland Armstrong. To the east the one-story Smith children’s wing, also sheathed in Longmeadow stone, was added in 1985.

Historic District Walking Tour Map Index: 3