{{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Waltham Public Library | nrhp_type = | image = Francis Buttrick Library.jpg | caption = | location = 735 Main St.,<br/>Waltham, Massachusetts | coordinates = {{coord|42|22|35|N|71|14|23|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Massachusetts#USA | area = | built = 1915 | architect = Loring & Leland | architecture = Colonial Revival | added = September 28, 1989 | mpsub = Waltham MRA | refnum = 89001547<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref> }}
The '''Waltham Public Library''' is the public library of the city of Waltham, Massachusetts. Its main location is in the '''Francis Buttrick Library''', an architecturally significant Georgian Revival building built in 1915, funded by a bequest from Francis Buttrick, a major landowner in the city.<ref name=NRHP>{{cite web|url=https://mhc-macris.net/details?mhcid=wlt.487|title=NRHP nomination for Francis Buttrick Library|publisher=Commonwealth of Massachusetts|access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref> The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.<ref name=nris/>
==Architecture and history== The Buttrick Library building is located on the north side of Main Street, between Exchange and Spring Streets. The front portion of the building, its historic portion, is a tall single-story brick structure, with round-arch windows and a projecting semicircular entry pavilion. The building is topped by a balustrade. Additions extend the building to the rear, providing space for modern stacks and services.<ref name=NRHP/>
The Waltham Public Library was established in 1865 with a gift of 3,700 volumes from the Rumford Institute for Mutual Instruction, an 1826 organization established by the proprietors of the Boston Manufacturing Company as a service to its employees. It grew over the rest of the 19th century by the gifts of other collections, and was at first housed in the Welch Building at Charles and Moody Streets. In 1894, Francis Buttrick, then the city's largest landowner, bequested funds for the construction of a permanent home. The oldest portion of the building was designed by the Boston firm Loring & Leland, and was completed in 1915, it having taken twenty years to locate and acquire a suitable parcel of land. A gallery space was added in 1933,<ref name=NRHP/> and a modern addition made to the rear later in the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History: Waltham Public Library |url=https://waltham.lib.ma.us/history/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106155604/https://waltham.lib.ma.us/history/ |archive-date=6 January 2023 |access-date=16 March 2023 |website=Waltham Public Library}}</ref>
==See also== *National Register of Historic Places listings in Waltham, Massachusetts
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{official|http://www.waltham.lib.ma.us}}
{{NRHP in Waltham, Massachusetts}}
Category:Library buildings completed in 1915 Category:Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Category:Colonial Revival architecture in Massachusetts Category:Buildings and structures in Waltham, Massachusetts Category:Libraries in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Category:National Register of Historic Places in Waltham, Massachusetts