One of the most unusually beautiful libraries I have ever seen can be found in Winchester, VA. Built between 1908 and 1913 in the Beaux Arts style, or a French neoclassical style more accurately perhaps, the Handley Library reminds me of the Library of Congress but charmingly intimate in its scale. Although diminutive in comparison, the library was so skillfully constructed that it really made me say, "Wow!"
Six Corinthian columns are spaced between three monumental arches at the main entrance but the Hadley Library can be accessed on a lower level below through which visitors find themselves in a 300 person auditorium. Cleverly, the floorplan is meant to evoke an open book standing upright with a central rotunda representing its spine and two wings being the pages. Despite the massive amount of stone used on its heavily sculpted exterior, architects Stewart Barney and Henry Otis Chapman of New York City lightened this design with large windows, numerous skylights, and a glass dome that make it airy. The interior is warm and welcoming and pleasant with honey-toned flooring, broad hallways, and massive fireplaces in the reading rooms. Much to my surprise, it still very much operates as a library with patrons checking out books, CDs, and DVDs, which seems rare in the digital era now.
Finances for the Hadley Library were originally willed to Winchester by John Handley who had been an Irish immigrant that fled the Potato Famine in 1850 at the age of 15. Although a resident of Scranton, PA, Hadley had frequently visited the area many times in his lifetime and his grave can be found in Winchester's Mt. Hebron Cemetery. His tombstone there reads:
"In memory of John Handley. Who was born in Dublin, Ireland, January 7, 1835, and died in Scranton, Pennslyvania, February 15, 1895. Judge of the several courts of Luzerne County, Pennslyvania, from 1875 to 1879; president judge of the several courts of Lackawanna County from 1879 to 1885; founder of the Handley Library and the Industrial Schools of Winchester, Virginia; of stately presence, amiable disposition and generous heart; he was beloved by the poor, to whom his charity was unfailing, and commended for his broad-handed philanthropy by all men. In the place of his choice among the people he loved, 'after life's fitful fever, he sleeps well.'"
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