Fireproof Building
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Bethany Library (Fireproof Building)
1823; 1936 restored. 8 Court St.
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(William E. Fischer, Jr.)
Because the second frame courthouse (1817; 1857 destroyed by fire), like the first log building, was flammable, the town fathers constructed a one-story brick, gable-roofed fireproof building to store records. At a later date, the second story was constructed, in the same Flemish bond of the original building but with an unusually broad panel of brick between the windows that is the principal hint of the massive brick vaults that crown the first story and are visible in the reading rooms of the library. The building was restored and improved by Visscher and Boyd in 1936 when the present cupola was added and adapted as the town library.
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Data
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Location: Bethany, PennsylvaniaRegional Overviews:Styles:no metadata available
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Citation
George E. Thomas, "Bethany Library (Fireproof Building)", [Bethany, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-02-WA15.
Print Source
Buildings of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, George E. Thomas, with Patricia Likos Ricci, Richard J. Webster, Lawrence M. Newman, Robert Janosov, and Bruce Thomas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 535-535.
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