Expand<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cOverall, the intent is a maintenance project to restore the facade to its original looking condition,\u201d Summa said.<\/p>\n
Library Director Scott Thomas said an employee saw a crack and that prompted the repair project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe backstory is one of my maintenance persons noticed a crack and so we had to close the front entrance of the Children\u2019s Library. Now there\u2019s scaffolding there. It looks awful, so we do need to get this repaired,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
Stones will be removed and reset and there is at least one missing piece that will need to be replaced with a match, Summa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to look the same as much as we possibly can, after more than a century,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
HARB unanimously approved the library application.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciate the project. It looks like a nice restoration effort and it sounds much needed,\u201d HARB Chairman Michael Muller said.<\/p>\n
According to \u201cHistory Set in Stone; A Guide to Downtown Scranton Architecture,\u201d the Children\u2019s Library is among the downtown\u2019s \u201cGothic District\u201d properties, which also include the next-door Albright Memorial Library, the nearby Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple, and Scranton\u2019s Municipal Building (City Hall) and Central Fire Station.<\/p>\n
The guide\u2019s description of the Children\u2019s Library says: \u201cThis wonderful example of Neoclassical Revival architecture was built for the First Church of Christ Scientist in 1914 by architects R.W. Snyder & A.J. Ward, featuring a large auditorium and several smaller reading rooms. In 1987 It was converted for use as a welcoming children\u2019s library.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
According to archives of The Times-Tribune:<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Children\u2019s Library started as a small room in the Albright Memorial Library and moved into the former First Church of Christ, Scientist building next door in December 1987 to accommodate the growing number of families using its services.\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 The cornerstone of the First Church of Christ, Scientist was laid Dec. 26, 1913 and crews completed the church in 1915.<\/p>\n
\u2022 A Feb. 13, 1915, Scranton Times article announced the first services at the graceful temple constructed of white Indiana limestone. Its doors opened to an auditorium that could seat up to 715. The basement contained a Sunday school room, restrooms and offices, according to a Feb. 13, 1915, Scranton Truth article.<\/p>\n
\u2022 As the 1980s approached, the congregation of the First Church of Christ, Scientist had dwindled and the building was no longer needed. It was put up for sale but got no offers for two years, according to a July 11, 1983, Scranton Times article.<\/p>\n
\u2022 In January of 1985, the Lackawanna County Library Board voted to allocate funds for an expansion of the Scranton Public Library.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Lackawanna County Children\u2019s Library welcomed its first patrons in mid-December 1987. Upon opening, it was the only free-standing one of its kind in the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 112-year-old Lackawanna County Children\u2019s Library at 520 Vine St. in downtown Scranton needs some facade repairs of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-213744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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