This brick building is located in the center of Main St. It is relatively small compared to the buildings around it,but the architecture of this building is very detailed. The first photo is of the three windows that are centered on the front of the building. They are outlined in stone and have been there since the building was built. The third and fourth photos are from inside the building. The windows upstairs have little stairs so you can walk up into them and sit. I believe they were designed this way because the upstairs was the children's reading room of the original library.
The last picture is a view from the outside of that same window. The staircase inside is pretty narrow and all hardwood. The railings have nice detail and continue with the dark wood that is the theme of the building. When you enter the building is very dark and then the back of the building where the reading room and the stacks would have been is very bright and lets in a lot of light. The extensive detailing covers both the inside and the outside of the building and it is the original work of the building.
Historical Background:
This building was orinigally built as the Dyer Library in 1893. The building was originally designed as a big open space that was divided by a wooden arch which is still there today. Now it seperates the entrance from the large dance studio in the back. The entrance was the original reading room and the stacks were located in the back half of the room. There was also a conference room and then the librarians office. Cornelious Sweetser, who was a wealthy well known philanthropist in the Saco Biddeford area, left the library a 10,000 dollar maintenance fund. The support for the actual building of the library came from the estate of Mrs. John C. Bradbury. The colonial style library was designed by Horace Waldin from Reading, Massachusettes. He also desgined six other buildings in Saco. This building housed the library until 1955 when the children of F. C. Deering donated his mansion on Main Street to the library. It then became the district courthouse, followed by York Health Services and then the police station. The new police station was recently built right off of Main St., and now the house has been turned into a dance studio. In the 103 years of the buildings history it has served as as public building. While the dance studio is not public service it has kept the integrity of the building by not changing it structurally. The bookshelves upstairs are still in place as well as the original wooden arch and stair case. When comparing a photo from 1914 the building looks identical even down to the entryway. This building has represented public serivce in Saco for over a hundred years. It is a focal point of Main Street and also of Saco's history. It is also an example of the great architecture that was being built in Saco which had become a bustling city during its mill years.
