Hall Memorial Library (Northfield, New Hampshire)


The Hall Memorial Library is the public library of Tilton and Northfield, New Hampshire. It is located at 18 Park Street in Northfield, in an 1887 Richardsonian Romanesque building. The building, one of the most architecturally distinguished in the region, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Architecture and history

The Hall Memorial Library is located a short way south of downtown Tilton, on the Northfield side of the Winnipesaukee River, on a triangular parcel bounded by Park and Elm streets. It is a 1-1/2 story masonry structure, built out of red brick with brownstone trim. Characteristics of the Richardsonian Romanesque include round-arch windows lined with rough-cut brownstone, corner buttresses, and patterned brickwork in the gable peaks. This building is an almost exact replica of Banister Memorial Hall in Brookfield, Massachusetts, and may thus be the design of Robert Waite and Amos Cutting, who designed the Brookfield hall.
A library association was founded in the 1880s to serve the communities of Tilton and Northfield. It was given a bequest by Mary Hall Cummings in 1887 for the construction of this building. In the 1970s, that association was superseded by the Tilton-Northfield Library Association, which now manages the library.

Services

In addition to a circulating collection of books, media, and periodicals, the library offers internet access and access to a variety of online databases, as well as downloadable audio books. Also available for borrowing are passes for admission to regional museums.