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This is the largest and most elaborate of the Prairie Style libraries designed by Claude and Starck, Madison architects who specialized in this building type. All of the hallmarks of Prairie architecture find expression here: a low hipped roof clad in red tile, deep eaves, a band of ornament below the roof, and trios of windows. The building’s richly detailed frieze of leaves, beads, and shields show the influence of Louis Sullivan, for whom Louis Ward Claude had worked in Chicago. The library was built with funds from the Carnegie Foundation and local lumber magnate Thomas B. Scott.