Blackstone Memorial Library (1896)

At 758 Main Street in Branford is the imposing James Blackstone Memorial Library, constructed between 1893 and 1896. The library was a gift of Timothy B. Blackstone, a railroad executive born in Branford, in memory of his father. The James Blackstone Memorial Library Association, with a board of trustees consisting of six residents of Branford and the librarian of Yale University, was incorporated in 1893. Blackstone provided an endowment fund $300,000. The monumentally-scaled library, constructed of Tennessee marble with a domed octagonal rotunda, was designed by Solon Spencer Beman of Chicago. It is a Classical Revival building with architectural details modeled on the Erechtheion on the Acropolis in Athens. The dome has murals painted by Oliver Dennett Grover. The library was dedicated on June 17, 1896. There is also a Blackstone Library in Chicago, also designed by Beman and named after Timothy Blackstone.

Links:
Architectural Description of the Blackstone Library Building by the Architect, Solon S. Beman of Chicago

Description of the Paintings in the Dome by the Artist, Oliver Dennett Grover, of Chicago

Exercises at the Opening of the James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, Conn., June 17, 1896 (New Haven: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1897)

Catalogue of the James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, Conn., May 1897 (New Haven: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1897)

Blackstone Library on YouTube