Historic Homes

Historic Home Detail | 319

Back to Search Results

Historic Name

Upland Carnegie Library

Address

123 E D Street
Upland, CA 91786

Evaluation

Building
5/7/2007

Current Owner

City of Upland

Current Owner Address

460 n Euclid ave
Upland, CA 91786

Description

Classical Revival design lends monumentality and dignity to this one-story-plus-basement library building. Of masonry construction, the building is sheathed in variegated brown brick above the stuccoed concrete basement. A stuccoed parapet, suggesting stylized pediments over each of the three facade bays and the side elevations, screen the roof. Modillions emphasize the entablature which circles the building below the parapet. Strictly symmetrical in composition, the facade is dominated by raised central bay. Two 1onic columns antis define a recessed porch at the head of a flight of steps. Heavy brick side walls frame the stairway. The original door has been replaced. Decorated plaques mark the tops of the antal. Tripartite double-hung sash windows with transoms articulate three bays on the side elevations. Basement fenestration also consists of paired openings in each bay.

The library is separated from the street by a lawn bisected by a broad cement path; mature trees complement the structure. It is in fairly good condition, although some damage was incurred during recent earthquakes. Few alterations, among them the entry, comprise the integrity of this important local landmark.

Los Angeles architect Homer W. Glidden was engaged to design the building. A notice in the Los Anaeles Builder and Contractor (4/4/12) to that effect went on to describe the planned library: "It will be a one-story and basement classic style structure and will be of brick construction. Concrete foundation, 40 x 60 feet, pressed brick exterior, artificial stone columns, composition roof, tile partitions, pine trim and floors, plumbing, electric wiring and heating system. It will cost about $10,000. I' Glidden appeared to have been active in Upland at the time, with plans for remodeling a residence for Henry Eckstein announced in late 1911, construction of a cow, horse, and hay barn for the same client in 1912, and a two-story residence for Leavenworth Wheeler early in 1912. Upland builder John Gerry secured the contract to erect the library. It opened in 1913. The library occupied the building until 1969. In the intervening decades it had been joined on D Street by a two-story, brick vernacular firehouse and a one-story, PWA Moderne city hall. With the construction of a new civic center just to the north, the buildings await an appropriate reuse. In the meantime the Library has been recommended for listing in the National Register by the State Historic Resources Commission as a contributor to a thematic nomination of the remaining Carnegie libraries in California.