STINSON LIBRARY: A `PIVOTAL WORK' OF ARCHITECTURE

The Stinson Memorial Library was built in 1914.

ANNA, Ill. -- From its exterior of cascading limestone rock to its architectural pedigree, the Stinson Memorial Library is a landmark.

Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, the library is considered architect Walter Burley Griffin's best American design.

Griffin was a disciple of the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright for five years and managed his office. But Griffin quit Wright's employ over money he was owed and developed his own style during a spectacular career in Australia.

"It's said that he was to Australia what Frank Lloyd Wright was to the U.S.," says Robert E. Hafeman, director of the library.

Entire books have been devoted to Griffin's designs, and the library building at 409 S. Main St. is prominently featured in them.

The Prairie School of architecture Wright is best known for is evident throughout the library, from the colorful clerstory windows to the stained-glass light hoods to the horizontal oak beams.

Paul Sprague, an architectural historian and architect at the University of Chicago, wrote in 1977 that Griffin's Stinson design actually surpassed Wright.

"With the bold expressionistic forms and textures of the Stinson Library, Griffin moved ahead of his master, Frank Lloyd Wright, whose developed expressionistic style did not appear until late in 1913 with his design for Midway Gardens in Chicago. Thus the Stinson Library stands as a pivotal work in the evolution of early modern architecture in the United States."

Architectural societies from across the United States have visited the library, Hafeman says, and architects come by regularly. In the fall, the Public Broadcasting Service will air a Griffin documentary that features the library.

The building may be more appreciated by outsiders, Hafeman says.

"There is a measure of pride held locally for this building but I don't think the true measure of its importance is understood," he said.

He is trying to change that by speaking about the library to community groups. He also is collaborating on a book about the Stinson Library with Dr. Paul Kruty of the University of Illinois.

The interest on a $50,082 bequest from barrel-manufacturer, Civil War veteran and former state Rep. Robert Burns Stinson enabled the town to build the library in 1914.

At the time Griffin had designed more than 20 residences in Chicago, but this was his first public building.

The limestone was quarried near Jonesboro and hauled to the site either by oxen or horses, Hafeman said.

The same year Griffin was awarded the Stinson contract he won a contest to design the Australian parliament building. Griffin went to Australia when the politicians began changing his design, and eventually he was fired from the job.

But Griffin and his wife, former Wright illustrator Marian Mahoney Griffin, stayed in Australia. Together they produced now-famous buildings in Sydney and Melbourne.

In 1936, the Griffins were in India working on a design for a library in Lucknow when he died of peritonitis. His wife was so devastated that she left India immediately. He was buried in a pauper's grave.

Now Hafeman, the director since 1990, and the library board are trying to restore the two-story library to its original state or as close as possible.

"It's time to bring it back to what the original intent was," he said.

The small, original circulation desk sits before the entry. It is used primarily for displays. Also original is the water-stained architectural drawing of the library hanging in the entryway.

The drawing was found in a junk yard and is assumed to be by Marian Mahoney Griffin.

Hafeman designed the new circulation desk now used by the library staff. The original globe light fixtures have been taken out of storage and placed above the desk.

One goal is to remove air-conditioning ducts placed above the oak beams in 1968. The ducts block the view of the clerstory windows at the rear of the library.

The movement to restore the library has occurred only after modernizing its services. "When I came here the card catalog hadn't been touched in 50 years," Hafeman said.

Now the main library and the branches in Cobden, Wolf Lake and Alto Pass all have Internet connections, and the library's circulation is computerized.

Through its www.sirin.lib.il.us website, the library is disseminating information about its restoration needs. The staff is desperate to find old photographs that might have been taken during the construction.