Northeast Branch (Lincoln) Library 1909
Photo Courtesy Lincoln City Libraries
From pamphlet An Urban Gem, used with permission of Neighborhoods Inc.
Usually referred to as the "Carnegie Library", the Northeast Branch was the
first branch library built by Lincoln City Library beyond its main location
downtown. the old main library located at 14th and N Streets was built in
1902 with assistance from Andrew Carnegie, the American industrialist and
philanthropist who gave grants to help build over 2,500 libraries in the early
twentieth century. Neighbors in what was then the northeast part of
Lincoln raised over $1,000 to purchase land at 27th and Orchard, and Lincoln
secured another Carnegie grant of $10,000 to build a branch library there.
By 1908 the design had been accepted for a buff brick, Neo-classical revival
style building with limestone trim. In the 1910s Carnegie grants were also
secured by the towns of Havelock, University Place and College View, and town
libraries were constructed in all those locations. When these town were annexed
into Lincoln between 1926 and 1930, their libraries were then merged into the
Lincoln City Library, bringing the number of Carnegie-assisted buildings in the
Lincoln system to five.
George Berlinghof (1858-1944), the architect for the Northeast Branch Library,
later designed Carnegie-funded libraries for Beatrice and Chadron, Nebraska.
He was a native of Germany who came to the U.S. in the 1880s and practiced
architecture in Council Bluffs, Omaha, and Beatrice before relocating to Lincoln
in 1905. He build many public buildings, including several courthouses,
throughout Nebraska and the Midwest. In Lincoln his most prominent
projects included Lincoln High School, the Miller and Paine Buildings, and the
Security Mutual Insurance Building (now called CenterStone), designed during his
partnership with Ellery Davis in the 1910s.
Berlinghof 's Northeast Branch Library is a small gem of
Neo-classic Revival architecture, with ornately carved limestone trim (including
lion 's heads flanking the entrance) and fine brickwork. Although the
building measures only about 45 feet wide and about 30 feet deep, Berlinghof
made it feel much larger by the generous scale of the main approach stairs, wide
arched entrance, and large windows. When completed in 1909, the building
demonstrated clearly both the importance of libraries and the contribution that
fine public architecture makes to a city.
The Northeast Branch served as a library until 1982, the last of
the city 's Carnegie libraries to remain in its original use. The other
Carnegie branches in University Place, College View, and Havelock had been
closed about a decade earlier, when the larger Anderson and Gere Branches were
built. Strong neighborhood interest helped keep the Northeast Branch open
the additional years, and the Clinton Neighborhood Organization uses the
building as its logo. This tradition, and the building 's architectural
quality, contributed to the decision to move the structure in 1992. After
the closing of the library, various public service agencies officed in the
structure. In the early 1990s, the neighboring East Lincoln Christian
Church was eager to sell its building and move to a new location. Tam
Allan, a Lincoln developer interested in building a Walgreen 's pharmacy on 27th
Street approached the church and the city, offering to buy the church and move
the former library, which had shared the church 's parking lot. The city
negotiated an agreement to allow the library building to be moved, at the
developer 's expense, to a new site and placed on a taller, more usable ground
story. The 27th and Center Street location, which was vacant, publicly owned
land, was selected as the site that best met several objectives:
-
keeping the library in its original neighborhood
-
providing a prominent, visible site on 27th Street
-
encouraging reuse by providing ample parking
The removal of the library was accomplished by Scrib's
Housemoving Inc., of David City, Nebraska, in 1992. Completion of the
foundation and basement was somewhat delayed, but in 1995 the City entered into
an agreement with Neighborhoods, Inc. (formerly Neighborhood Housing
Service), which provides housing assistance to homeowners and residents in the
central city neighborhoods, to locate in the building. The interior
rehabilitation was completed in 1996 and the building was rededicated on
September 14, 1996.
Lincoln Carnegie Libraries
College View
Havelock
Northeast
Old Main
University Place