Bancroft Memorial Library
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	50 Hopedale St., Hopedale, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°7′49″N 71°32′30″W / 42.13028°N 71.54167°W / 42.13028; -71.54167
Area	less than one acre
Architect	C. Walker Howard
Architectural style	Romanesque
NRHP reference No.	99000188[1]
Added to NRHP	February 12, 1999

Bancroft Memorial Library is the public library serving Hopedale, Massachusetts. It is located at 50 Hopedale Street in the town center, in a fine Romanesque building built in 1898-99 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[1]

Architecture and history

The library is located on the west side of Hopedale Street, a short way north of the town common. It is a single-story stone structure, designed by Boston architect C. Howard Walker of the firm Walker & Kimball. It is constructed of pink Milford granite, and was modeled after Merton College Chapel at Oxford. Its entrance is prominently located in a cross-gable projection, set in a round-arch opening flanked by smaller round-arch openings. The interior retains many fine original finishes, include oak ceiling trusses, an oaken circulation desk, and oak partitions in the reading areas that are typical of Gothic churches.^[2]

The town of Hopedale's first proper library was established in 1840, and was located in a variety of places, including private residences, churches, and town hall, where it occupied the first floor in 1886.^[2] This building was built for the town by Joseph Bubier Bancroft, in memory of his wife Sylvia. Bancroft was an executive with the Draper Company, the town's principal employer,^[3] and also represented the town as a selectman and in the state legislature. It was built adjacent to Bancroft's house (which still stands), and was donated to the town upon its completion in 1899.^[2]