Glass Floor Blocks
| 
| 
Remember the glass floor panels in the old Library stacks? You can own a piece of this history!
Glass flooring blocks from 1902 stacks of the Holyoke Public Library are now available for re-use. You can BUY the raw blocks in several sizes. Contact María Pagán, Library Director, 413-322-5640. Prices depends on size; see details in the captions on the Glass block photo gallery by Sandy Ward, a member of the Glass Block Committee. Or, in January 2013, you can APPLY to obtain a large FREE block for a creative project. Submit your proposal to the Glass Block Committee (c/o Jeffrey Byrnes) by January 31st. Blocks will be distributed in early February to selected artists, who then must complete the artworks by April 1 for a public exhibition. Afterwards the creations are to be sold with 50% of the proceeds benefiting the Library Capital Campaign; 50% for the artist.
Call for Entries:
http://www.holyokelibrary.org/images/stories/campaign/Glassblock-Call-for-Entries.pdf
Application Form:
http://www.holyokelibrary.org/images/stories/campaign/Call-for-Entries_application.pdf
Another option is to wait for the April 2013 exhibition, and buy a unique work of art created from this historic building material. We hope there will also be a variety of smaller products created from the glass blocks and offered for sale. (Proposals for such production are welcome! See the Call for Entries, above).
Read the interesting history of these floor panels:
Holyoke Public Library's Glass Floor Panels, by Sandy Nichols Ward (pdf of short illustrated story)
1902 booklet from Art Metal Construction Company, which installed the HPL stacks.
The Holyoke Public Library was designed by James A. Clough, who, according to an article in the Holyoke Transcript (January 1900), thoroughly researched modern library construction while planning the library. The stack room was 30 x 50 and held 22,000 books. The contracter was F.H. Dibble. A contract for the "stackwork" ($7047) went to Art Metal Construction Company of Jamestown, NY. The entire building was constructed 1900-1902. In other words, the stack wing was part of the original design, not something added later. Holyoke's 1902 library stacks were notable because HPL patrons were able to enter and browse the stacks themselves (rather than have books retrieved for them). Quite a milestone!
Although we have not yet found any mention of where the glass actually came from or how the panels were manufactured, we know that such glass flooring was used in other libraries of the period.
ssss
Glass flooring blocks from 1902 stacks of the Holyoke Public Library are now available for re-use. You can BUY the raw blocks in several sizes. Contact María Pagán, Library Director, 413-322-5640. Prices depends on size; see details in the captions on the Glass block photo gallery by Sandy Ward, a member of the Glass Block Committee. Or, in January 2013, you can APPLY to obtain a large FREE block for a creative project. Submit your proposal to the Glass Block Committee (c/o Jeffrey Byrnes) by January 31st. Blocks will be distributed in early February to selected artists, who then must complete the artworks by April 1 for a public exhibition. Afterwards the creations are to be sold with 50% of the proceeds benefiting the Library Capital Campaign; 50% for the artist.
Call for Entries:
http://www.holyokelibrary.org/images/stories/campaign/Glassblock-Call-for-Entries.pdf
Application Form:
http://www.holyokelibrary.org/images/stories/campaign/Call-for-Entries_application.pdf
Another option is to wait for the April 2013 exhibition, and buy a unique work of art created from this historic building material. We hope there will also be a variety of smaller products created from the glass blocks and offered for sale. (Proposals for such production are welcome! See the Call for Entries, above).
Read the interesting history of these floor panels:
Holyoke Public Library's Glass Floor Panels, by Sandy Nichols Ward (pdf of short illustrated story)
1902 booklet from Art Metal Construction Company, which installed the HPL stacks.
The Holyoke Public Library was designed by James A. Clough, who, according to an article in the Holyoke Transcript (January 1900), thoroughly researched modern library construction while planning the library. The stack room was 30 x 50 and held 22,000 books. The contracter was F.H. Dibble. A contract for the "stackwork" ($7047) went to Art Metal Construction Company of Jamestown, NY. The entire building was constructed 1900-1902. In other words, the stack wing was part of the original design, not something added later. Holyoke's 1902 library stacks were notable because HPL patrons were able to enter and browse the stacks themselves (rather than have books retrieved for them). Quite a milestone!
Although we have not yet found any mention of where the glass actually came from or how the panels were manufactured, we know that such glass flooring was used in other libraries of the period.
ssss