South Carolina Department of Archives and History
National Register Properties in South Carolina

Carnegie Free Library, Cherokee County (210 N. Limestone St., Gaffney)
S1081771101901 S1081771101902 S1081771101903 S1081771101904 S1081771101905
Facade Left Oblique Right Oblique Right Elevation Left Rear Oblique

The Carnegie Free Library, built 1913-1914 as one of fourteen public libraries built in South Carolina between 1903 and 1916 with funding from Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Foundation, is significant both as an example of Classical Revival public architecture and for its role as Gaffney’s first public library. It is representative of the trend toward the establishment of American public libraries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The library is a one-story over raised basement red brick Classical Revival building constructed according to the designs of Arthur W. Hamby, one of the well-known Columbia, South Carolina, architectural firm Hamby & Rorke. The gently pitched standing seam metal roof is hidden from view by a brick parapet which wraps around all four sides of the rectangularly shaped building. Set upon a brick basement, the two levels are delineated by a heavy limestone watertable. Granite steps flanked by stepped cast stone-capped pedestals lead to the centrally located double leaf wood and glass paneled doors at the entry to the main (second) floor of the building. In 1937 the original structure was doubled in size by a rear addition. Listed in the National Register June 2, 2000.

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