Newton Senior Center (former Newtonville Library) – Newton MA

Description

Newton, Massachusetts’s Senior Center was originally constructed as the Newtonville branch library. The building was constructed with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA contributed $50,040 of the project’s total $102,011 cost.

The Town of Newton’s official site writes:
“In December of 1939, on a cold winter night, an excited group of some 400 residents of Newton gathered in the newly constructed building at the corner of Walnut Street and Highland Avenue to witness the dedication of a new branch library in Newtonville. The new library was located where the Newton Club, a social organization, had been. …

After over three years of intensive work in planning and raising necessary funds to open the $111,200 John R. Prescott Library, Newtonville residents were finally able to enjoy the Georgian style, red brick building, complete with granite steps.

Designed by the firm Robb & Little of Boston, who’s member E. Donald Robb was a resident of the city, the structure included a lantern-shaped cupola, two large reading rooms on the main floor and a spacious lobby that held the charging desk. Overlooking the main floor was a mezzanine. …

An article in Newton Graphic’s November 18, 1938 issue stated that the library “would be a valuable reference library for the 2600 students of the High Schools,” because the high school library was inadequate and the branch was only one block away.  To accommodate the students, the new library would be much larger than the other branch libraries.”

PWA Docket No. MA [X]1547.