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George C. Thomas Memorial Library

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1909. 901 First Ave.
  • George C. Thomas Memorial Library (Alison K. Hoagland)
  • George C. Thomas Memorial Library (Jet Lowe)

The George C. Thomas Memorial Library is the outgrowth of a church library. Episcopalian missionary Hudson Stuck started a library in a portion of Saint Matthew's Church in 1906. George C. Thomas, a Philadelphia banker, heard of this library and donated $4,000 toward a building for it. The designer is not known, but the log building is in a distinctly bungalow form.

Constructed in 1909, the one-story building is 40 feet square and constructed of 6-inch logs, sawn flat on three sides and nailed at the corners. Punctuated by eyebrow dormers, the hip roof extends on two sides to cover a porch. The large windows had leaded glass. Spiral-fluted galvanized-metal columns supporting the porch roof have recently been replaced.

The Episcopal church sold the library to the city in 1942; the city turned it over to the Fairbanks-North Star Borough in 1968. The library moved to a new building in 1977, and this one now houses a credit union.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Alison K. Hoagland
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Data

What's Nearby

First Avenue and Cowles Street
Odd Fellows Hall
Masonic Temple
Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church
Falcon Joslin House

Citation

Alison K. Hoagland, "George C. Thomas Memorial Library", [Fairbanks, Alaska], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/AK-01-IN001.1.

Print Source

Buildings of Alaska, Alison K. Hoagland. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 214-214.

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