Erie Library, Erie, PA

Location: 160 E Front St, Erie, PA 16507

Significance

The Main Library of the City and County of Erie is one of the most architecturally distinctive buildings in Erie; designed in the Beaux Arts style by Pittsburgh architects Alden & Harlow, it typifies the high level of importance associated with learning and reading in the community. Its large, airy rooms for reading and its impressive, stone and wood-finished public spaces for circulation (of people as well as books) embody Beaux Arts design principles that represent dignity, order, and benevolence to the public by the government. The building’s architectural prominence is further reinforced through its location on the southeastern corner of South Park Row, one of Erie’s most significant public open spaces.

Alden & Harlow, the architects, began practice together in 1892; their first commission of importance was the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; over the years, their affiliation with the Carnegie continued, and they designed several branch libraries for the Carnegie. In Erie, they also designed the Lutheran Memorial Church.