CAPSULE SUMMARY PG:68-112 Hyattsville Branch Library 6530 Adelphi Road, Hyattsville, Prince George’s County, 1964 Public

The Hyattsville Branch Library is a two-level, L-shaped building executed in the International Style. Its asymmetrical footprint is integrated with its sloping site. The main entrance, accented with a concrete flying-saucer- shaped entrance canopy, is located on Adelphi Road. A second entrance and the administrative wing of the building are located near the rear of the site, accessed at grade from the parking lot at the north end of the property. The north section of the library to the right of the front entrance is clad in weather-struck, rose-colored brick laid in Flemish bond. The administrative wing is also clad in rose-colored brick laid in Flemish bond. The south section of the building to the left of the front entrance is clad in white rusticated brick laid in a stack bond pattern. Window arrangements vary from ganged lights and concrete panels separated by aluminum spandrels on the rose brick portions of the building, to narrow, five-light slits bracketed by Vitrolite glass in the white brick portion. At the rear

(west) of the building, the full eight bays of the administrative wing are exposed. A central two-story projection on the library portion contains three drive-through garage bays for bookmobiles.

The Hyattsville Branch Library, historically known as Prince George’s County’s Memorial Library, First Regional

Library and Administrative Offices is an excellent example of International Style architecture, which was popular for government and commercial buildings in the throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The Hyattsville library was the first purpose-built library in Prince George’s County. It retains its character-defining features: flying saucer-shaped entrance canopy, ganged aluminum windows and spandrel panels, varied brick cladding and steel beam-supported colonnade. The library was designed by Walton and Madden Architects, then practicing in Mount

Rainier, Maryland. The design of the Hyattsville Branch Library evokes the time when space exploration and technology were viewed as vital American accomplishments. It reflects the aspirations of the county and nation and acknowledges the contributions of Prince George’s County to the aerospace and defense industries, exemplified by

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt and Andrews in Camp Springs.

Maryland Historical Trust Inventory No. PG:68-112 Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties Form

1. Name of Property (indicate preferred name)

historic Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s Regional Library and Administrative Offices other Hyattsville Branch Library (preferred)

2. Location

street and number 6530 Adelphi Road not for publication city, town Hyattsville, MD 20782 vicinity county Prince George’s

3. Owner of Property (give names and mailing addresses of all owners) name Prince George’s County street and number 14741 Governor Oden Bowie Drive telephone 301-699-3500 city, town Upper Marlboro state MD zip code 20772 4. Location of Legal Description courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Prince George’s County liber 02635 folio 132 city, town Upper Marlboro tax map 0042B2 tax parcel 0076 tax ID number 1941541 5. Primary Location of Additional Data Contributing Resource in National Register District Contributing Resource in Local Historic District Determined Eligible for the National Register/Maryland Register Determined Ineligible for the National Register/Maryland Register Recorded by HABS/HAER Historic Structure Report or Research Report at MHT X Other: Historic Preservation Section, Prince George’s County Planning Department, M-NCPPC _ 6. Classification

Category Ownership Current Function Resource Count district X public agriculture landscape Contributing Noncontributing X building(s) private commerce/trade X recreation/culture 1 0___buildings structure both defense religion sites site domestic social structures object X education transportation objects funerary work in progress 1 0___Total X government unknown health care vacant/not in use Number of Contributing industry other: Resources previously listed in the Inventory 0

7. Description Inventory No. PG:68-112

Condition

X excellent deteriorated good ruins fair altered

Prepare both a one paragraph summary and a comprehensive description of the resource and its various elements as it exists today.

SUMMARY

The Hyattsville Branch Library is a two-level, L-shaped structure executed in the International Style. Its asymmetrical footprint is integrated with its sloping site. The main entrance, accented with a concrete flying saucer- inspired entrance canopy, is located on Adelphi Road. A second entrance and the administrative wing of the building are located near the rear of the site, accessed at grade from the parking lot at the north end of the property. The majority of the site is occupied by the building and its asphalt parking lot, surrounded on all sides by a strip of landscaping. Three mature trees are located at the southeast corner of the property and one near the administrative wing. The bulk of the landscape features consist of lawns, small trees, and ornamental shrubs such as Nandina. Neat beaten-dirt paths provide pedestrian access to the front entrance from the southeast corner of the property and University Town Center.

LIBRARY

Completed in 1964, the Hyattsville Branch Library is located on three acres at the intersection of Adelphi and Toledo Roads one block north of East West Highway. The library was dedicated to the memory of President John F. Kennedy on January 19, 1964, and opened its doors to the public on March 2, 1964.1 The building contains approximately 41,000 square feet of library space and 24,000 square feet of administrative space.2 The library was designed by Walton and Madden of Mount Rainier, Maryland. The firm, which operates today as WMCRP Architects in Landover, Maryland, has made significant contributions to the Prince George’s County architectural landscape, designing many schools, libraries, and churches over the past 60 years.

The Hyattsville Branch Library is a two-level, L-shaped structure executed in the International Style. A concrete colonnade supported by exposed steel columns runs along the length of the administrative wing to the public entrance in the lower level of the building. A loading dock and garages for bookmobiles are located on the west elevation. A freestanding concrete flying saucer-shaped entrance canopy with a center Plexiglas dome (originally transparent, now translucent with age) rests on four splayed legs. The front entrance has two sets of double-leafed glass doors surrounded by windows in aluminum frames. The entrance is nestled in the north section where it abuts the south section. The north section of the library to the right of the front entrance is clad in weather-struck rose- colored brick laid in Flemish bond. The roof on this section projects approximately one-and-one-half feet and there are two sets of continuous nearly floor-to-ceiling windows, one set on the façade (east elevation) and one set on the north elevation. The east elevation fenestration consists of eight ganged three-light windows that rest on precast concrete aggregate spandrel panels, while the north elevation consists of eleven three-light windows also resting on concrete aggregate panels. The spandrels on the north elevation continue to the basement to frame eleven single- light windows that provide light to the lower level. All of the windows have solar gray glass and aluminum muntins and mullions. The vertical mullions extend over the concrete aggregate panels. Historically, signage consisting of

1 Promotional brochure for the dedication of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s First Regional Library and Administrative Offices. Property of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System. On file at the Hyattsville Branch Library. 2 Centennial Book Advisory Committee. Hyattsville Our Hometown: 100 Years of Life, Growth and Service in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Copyright 1988, City of Hyattsville, 186. Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

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raised aluminum sans-serif lettering identifying the building as the “Prince George’s County Memorial Library” with “Regional Library” below that was located on the blank brick wall facing Adelphi Road. The lettering was aligned with the top muntin of the windows. The lettering has been replaced with an internally light plastic and metal box sign identifying the building as the Hyattsville Branch Library, Prince George’s County Memorial Library System.

The administrative wing is also clad in rose-colored brick laid in Flemish bond. Seven sets of paired two-light windows with aluminum frames and muntins on the upper level rest on seven sets of similar windows on the lower level. Each set of windows has concrete aggregate spandrel panels above and below extending to the parapet roof and sill, respectively. A brick-clad mechanical penthouse is centrally located on the roof above bays four through six. A concrete colonnade supported by painted steel horizontal members connected to the building runs the length of the administrative wing to the public entrance in the lower level of the building. The horizontal beams terminate in steel columns and the roof of the colonnade is offset from their juncture as well as the face of the building. It connects to the building sheltering a door in the third bay. The north elevation of the administrative wing includes a pair of windows in the same style as those on the side located off-center to the right. At left near-center on the second floor is a four-light window like those in the white brick portion of the structure. This window appears to have been relocated from a center second floor position at the end of the wing when the wing was extended in 1968.

The section of the building to the left of the front (east) entrance is clad in white rusticated brick laid in a stack bond pattern.3 Nine narrow, floor-to-ceiling ribbon windows with aluminum frames and muntins are spaced evenly across the façade. The window bays consist of five horizontal operable louvered lights; above and below these are gray Vitrolite glass panels. The stacked brick is continued to the south elevation which has no windows. A projection clad in rose-colored brick laid in running bond is centered on this elevation with a strip window facing east toward Adelphi Road and a glazed door facing west. The projection contains an interior stair and appears to be a later addition. To the right of the vestibule on the white brick, raised bronze-colored midcentury signage reads “LIBRARY.” The signage appears to be original, but is now obscured with vegetation.

At the rear (west elevation) of the building the full eight bays of the administrative wing are exposed, with windows in the same configuration as that of the front. A central two-story projection on the library portion contains three drive-through garage bays for bookmobiles on the first story and presents a featureless rose-colored brick wall to the rear (west) and latticed brick to the north and south on the second story. Originally, a chiller plant was located above the garages; HVAC equipment is now located within a cyclone fence on the south elevation

The waffle slab roof is supported by concrete columns. This column-carried concrete framework with non-load- bearing walls was intended to provide for flexibility of function.4 The roof is a built-up ballasted system with

3 This bond is, of course, not structural and was often used in Midcentury-Modern designs to emphasize the brick as a cladding material divorced from the building structure. 4 Promotional brochure for the dedication of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s First Regional Library and Administrative Offices. Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

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minimal slope.5 On the interior, a wide corridor that serves as a lobby extends from the Adelphi Road entrance to a dog-leg stair at the rear that descends to the lower level. The circulation desk is to the right upon entry, with the children’s section behind it. To the left is the building-wide adult section including the Maryland Room which is furnished and decorated in the Colonial Revival style. The room contains special collections related to Maryland and is located in the southwest corner. The main stair and stairwell are distinctly Midcentury Modern in style and materials. Each tread is a poured-concrete scalene triangle balanced on its axis. The treads are cantilevered over the slope of the stair itself. Slim aluminum balusters are attached off-center at the face of the triangle treads and extend beneath them and continue above to support the wood handrail. Flat transparent Plexiglas rhomboids are attached to the balusters inside the stair. Surrounding the light well at the Adelphi Road level, the same balusters are attached to the wall with cone-shaped aluminum brackets.6 The walls surrounding the stair and lower-level corridor are covered with large glazed rectangular tiles, laid in a stacked bond pattern, that have been painted. Originally, these were varied with polychrome tiles of random size and color installed in a random abstract arrangement, now detectable only through grout lines visible behind the paint.7 Early photographs also show a partially visible light fixture consisting of large globes that hung from the ceiling and reached to approximately five feet above the lower level floor.

A midcentury icon recognizable as a symbol of space technology and exploration, the Hyattsville Branch Library’s distinctive element is its saucer. Although meant to draw attention to the library from passing motorists, the saucer is not “Programatic” [sic] architecture; i.e., roadside vernacular buildings primarily found in the American west.8 However, the saucer does echo important architectural motifs of the time by Saarinen and Associates and others.9 The saucer is an graceful and satisfying element: it affords exceptional identity for a building meant to attract the public, it provides shelter and a gathering space at the main entrance and makes the otherwise unadorned entrance the focus of the building, and it visually unites the two distinct arms of the library, the functions of which are expressed in their exterior treatments. The adult section to the south identifies itself with stacked white brick veneer (some of which is expressed on the interior) and narrow windows that shield books from sunlight and allow for ample shelf space. The children’s section to the north is clad in weather-struck rose-colored brick laid in Flemish bond (possibly an acknowledgment of Maryland’s eighteenth-century buildings) and bright with rows of floor-to- ceiling windows in the common area. The saucer itself hovers above the joined roof planes, while the restrained

5GWWO, Inc. Architects and Sidhu Associates, Inc. “Prince George’s County Memorial Library System Facilities Assessment.” GWWO Project No. 0921. Final submission on July 30, 2010. Assessment date, November 25, 2009. 6 A very similar stair can be found in Walton and Madden’s 1968 Greenbelt Library at 11 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, Maryland. 7 Promotional brochure for the dedication of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s First Regional Library and Administrative Offices. 8 Writing of the gigantic teapots, teepees, chickens, bread loaves, shoes, doughnuts, et cetera in California Crazy & Beyond (Chronicle Books, 2001) author Jim Heimann notes that “an all-encompassing word for this style remains elusive,” and settles for the time being on the term Programatic, invented by David Gephard in his introduction to the first edition of the book. 9 Eero Saarinen and his firm were responsible for important iconic, neo-futuristic American architecture of the post-World War II period. Works include the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the TWA Flight Center in New York City, and the Main Terminal at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C.

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

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International Style elements of the building provide a foil for its soaring legs and futuristic silhouette. Finally, the saucer has deliberate and perpetual appeal for children, valued patrons of any public library.10

The Hyattsville Branch Library may also be described as a Populuxe creation. Populuxe was a flamboyant decorative style of the period 1954-1964 employing futuristic contours and references from the past to impart a sense of luxury to everyday objects. In architecture, Populuxe was a permutation of the Modern Movement that was mainly aesthetic; i.e., its designs were not the product of a shift in building technology. In Populuxe architecture, concepts of post-World War II opulence and optimism were explored using pre-modern, organic, jet-age and industrial design motifs, often in collage and combined with conventional International Style vocabularies.

INTEGRITY

The Hyattsville Branch Library retains a high degree of integrity of location, design, setting, materials workmanship, feeling, and association. The setting has changed only in that University Town Center has been fully developed at the rear (west). Construction of the Edward Durell Stone buildings had been started even as the library was nearing completion in 1964 and can be seen in period photographs. Except for the addition of four identical bays to the original three on the administrative wing, the building exterior has been altered very little. Overall, the Hyattsville Branch Library retains a high degree of integrity.

10 Although photographs of the saucer are featured on the first page of the promotional brochure for the building from 1964, it is referenced only obliquely in text as a “plexiglass [sic] dome which is lighted at night.” A quote, ostensibly from a child, accompanies the photographs: “The new library has a porch like a flying saucer, you can see the sky through it!” The somewhat oblique references to the feature could be inferred to mean that it was not seen to be as striking as it is today. Dynamic parabolae and other Space Age images were pervasive in masscult imagery of the period; for example, Seattle’s Space Needle, to which the saucer can be compared, had been completed in 1962.

8. Significance Inventory No. PG:68-112 Period Areas of Significance Check and justify below

1600-1699 agriculture economics health/medicine performing arts 1700-1799 archeology X education industry philosophy 1800-1899 X architecture engineering invention X politics/government X 1900-1999 art entertainment/ landscape architecture religion 2000- commerce recreation law science communications ethnic heritage literature social history community planning exploration/ maritime history transportation conservation settlement military other:

Specific dates 1964-Present Architect/Builder Walton and Madden

Construction dates 1963-64

Evaluation for: National Register X Maryland Register not evaluated

Prepare a one-paragraph summary statement of significance addressing applicable criteria, followed by a narrative discussion of the history of the resource and its context. (For compliance projects, complete evaluation on a DOE Form – see manual.)

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The Hyattsville Branch Library was the county’s first regional and first purpose-built library. The administrative area contained offices of director Elizabeth B. Hage and administrative staff for the Prince George’s County Library System, as well as a board room, book selection division for the system, and bookmobile offices and garages.11 Designed by Walton and Madden and constructed 1963-1964, the library is an excellent example of International Style architecture. The International Style was a popular, nearly ubiquitous style used mainly for commercial and public buildings in the post-World War II period until the mid-1960s. Walton and Madden adapted the principles of High Modernism and the International Style to the specific contextual and programmatic requirements of the library. Vernacular traditions of Maryland are incorporated in the use of weather-struck brick laid in Flemish bond, while the library’s interior functions are articulated on the exterior through the contrasting veneers and window-to-wall ratios.

The design of the Hyattsville Branch Library evokes the time when space exploration and technology were viewed as vital to America’s role as a global power. It reflects the aspirations of the nation, and, importantly, acknowledges the contributions of Prince George’s County to the aerospace and defense industries, including NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt and Joint Base Andrews (formerly ) in Camp Springs. The Hyattsville Branch Library was dedicated to the memory of President Kennedy,12 who championed space exploration and reading and learning. Kennedy’s assassination and those of other leaders became cultural touchstones for the nation’s transition from the Cold War era—with its particular combination of optimism and naiveté—into today’s more circumspect age. The library exemplifies the former period but could not have been built in the latter. It is therefore emblematic of its time.

Finally, sited at the edge of Edward Durell Stone’s New Town Center (begun in 1964 and not fully developed until 1993, and now known as University Town Center) the construction of the county’s first purpose-built and regional library marked an essential step towards a mature and modern vision for Prince George’s County by county government. The Hyattsville Branch Library is an important symbol and component of that vision and an integral part of the larger landscape of Midcentury Modern buildings that once characterized this area of Hyattsville.

11 Promotional brochure for the dedication of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s First Regional Library and Administrative Offices. 12 The library was to have been named for President Kennedy after his assassination. County commissioners restored its original name to the Prince George’s County Memorial Library after a letter to the chairman from then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who expressed concern over an excessive number of memorials to the late president. Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

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HISTORIC CONTEXT

The land on which the Hyattsville Branch Library is located was originally called Lonehead and contained 782 acres when it was surveyed in 1714. However, the lines of the original survey were found to conflict with an earlier land patent and Lonehead was resurveyed on February 13, 1721. As patented to James Beall on May 20, 1724, Lonehead contained 714 acres.13 James Beall died in July 1725 and devised the Lonehead tract to his son, James Beall, Jr.14 It appears from deed records that James Beall, Jr. leased a majority of the Lonehead tract to surrounding planters.15 The land was eventually acquired between 1788-1794 from Beall’s daughters by Leonard Marbury Deakins, who owned much of the adjacent land.16

Deakins was a leader in the Revolutionary War and recruited a company of men from Georgetown. He served in several battles in New York and held the rank of by the end of the war. In the eighteenth century, Deakins resided in Georgetown and was involved in the shipping industry. He also owned considerable tracts of land in Prince George’s County at that time. Deakins died in June 1824 and his son, Francis W. Deakins, was allotted the land he owned in the Lonehead tract. In April 1835 Francis Deakins sold 219 acres of Lonehead and 30 acres of a tract called Jackson’s Necessity to Samuel Fowler of Washington, D.C.17 Three years later, Fowler conveyed the same land to Wallace Kirkwood, also of Washington, D.C.18 Kirkwood farmed the land with his family19 and died on September 8, 1853.20 Kirkwood’s 136-acre farm was sold to Charles Vance on July 31, 1868.21 Vance also farmed the land,22 which was purchased by Christian Heurich in April 1887.23 Heurich would purchase an additional 240 acres in the area over the period 1890 to 1932.24 His land became known as Bellevue Farm. Heurich,25 founder of Washington, D.C.’s largest brewery, died at age 102 in March 1945. He was buried in a mausoleum located at the crest of a small hill south of East West Highway east of Editors Park Drive.26

13 Prince George’s County Patented Certificate No. 1329. 14 Maryland Calendar of Wills, Volume 2, Compiled and edited by Jane Baldwin and Roberta Bolling Henry; Kohn & Pollock, Inc., Publishers, Baltimore, MD, 1917; 197. 15 Land Records of Prince George’s County, Y:18, 20; BB:435, 442. 16 Land Records of Prince George’s County, HH2:291; 294. 17 Land Records of Prince George’s County, AB9:472. 18 Land Records of Prince George’s County AB12:79. 19 1850 Federal Census, Prince George’s County, Bladensburg District. 20 The Washington Evening Star, September 9, 1853; 2. 21 Land Records of Prince George’s County, HB1:448. 22 1870 and 1880 Federal Census Records, Prince George’s County, Bladensburg District. 23 Land Records of Prince George’s County, JWB8:310. 24 Land Records of Prince George’s County, JWB14:363; JWB26:290; JB2:146; JB8:208; 243:389; 389:44. 25 Pronounced “HOY-rick.” 26 Now 3501 East West Highway. Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

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BELLEVUE FARM

Aerial photographs from 1938 show Bellevue Farm improvements arranged at the points of a scalene triangle, with a group of substantial barns and other dairy structures at the southwest corner of the where the mall parking lot is today; the mausoleum south and to the east across MD 410 in today’s parking lot of the Giant grocery store, and a large dwelling further east and to the south in a grove of trees along the curve of what is now Belcrest Road. Writing of a cattle sale at Bellevue Farm in March 1950, observed that “the farm was being sold because the area has become too urbanized for dairy operations.”27 In 1951 Isadore M. Gudelsky et al, acting as the Contee Sand and Gravel Company, Inc. (which later became the Contee Company) purchased the Heurich estate from Christian Heurich, Jr., for more than $1 million (the equivalent of over $9 million in 2015 dollars).28 The Post wrote that the sale was described by the listing agent Francis Key as “one of the biggest cash land deals in the Washington area in recent years” and also that “[p]ersons connected with the sale said the heirs reserved 11 acres, including the 18-room summer home and a mausoleum in which the one-time immigrant who rose to wealth is buried.”29 County land records, however, do not support this statement; the Heurich land was sold in toto in 1951. According to the Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog,30 the enormous 1896 granite Heurich mausoleum, complete with caryatids and a Tiffany window, was relocated to Rock Creek Cemetery in 195131. The Heurich summer home, which was a large Stick-style frame dwelling32 and which had been abandoned for several years, suffered a fire in late October 1954.33 Presumably the house was damaged beyond repair. In January 1956 a three-story dairy barn in the farm complex was also destroyed by a spectacular fire with “100-foot-high flames.”34 Thus the once-renowned Bellevue Farm was much diminished by the time rezoning of the property from agricultural to residential, commercial, and industrial use was completed in 1956.35

PRINCE GEORGE’S PLAZA/CENTER MIDCENTURY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

In the late 1950s the Gudelskys/Contee Company began subdividing their acreage and selling parcels to various developers, including H. Max Ammerman and the Byrd Development Corporation (Hershel and Marvin Blumberg). In 1959, the county’s first regional shopping mall, Prince George’s Plaza (designed by Lathrop Douglass) opened to

27 “Frightened Cow Injures 3 at Sale,” The Washington Post, March 21, 1950. 28 Land Records of Prince George’s County, Book 1431:333. 29 “Heurich Tract Brings Million in Cash Deal,” The Washington Post, December 27, 1951. 30 See siris-artinventories.si.edu. 31 The mausoleum was erected in 1895 upon the death of Heurich’s second wife, Mathilde. The artist was Louis Amateris. It had room for 16 urns and 16 coffins and was 38 long, 27 feet wide and 19 feet high. “A Magnificent Mausoleum,” The Baltimore Sun, June 3, 1895. 32 Possibly the house was an enlargement of an earlier house on the site, which was owned by the McLeod family. A McCloud [sic] dwelling is shown on the Hopkins Atlas of 1878 on the site, accessed by the same road. 33 “3 Fireman Injured in $10,000 fire on Old Christian Heurich Estate,” The Washington Post, October 27, 1954. 34 “Building Destroyed on Heurich Estate,” The Washington Post, January 5, 1956. 35 Harrison P. Hagemeyer, “Rezoning Petitioned For Heurich Estate,” The Washington Post and Times Herald, November 20, 1955. Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

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great fanfare.36 Prince George’s Plaza was developed by Eastern Shopping Centers, Inc. who purchased 52 acres from the Gudelskys in 1956. The Plaza (now The Mall at Prince George’s) was built with shops located around a central open-air landscaped court and was designed in a midcentury manner with Modernist forms contrasting against rusticated stone walls and planters. It has since been altered into an enclosed mall.37 Prince George Center across Belcrest Road (now University Town Center) was developed by the Byrd Development Corporation (Hershel and Marvin Blumberg) who had also purchased the land from the Gudelskys. The three towers38 (PG:68-104) on the site were designed by internationally renowned architect Edward Durell Stone (who would later design the Kennedy Center). Lauded by planners, Prince George’s Center is significant as an early attempt to create a pedestrian- oriented suburban downtown, and as a component of the overall Modernist aesthetic of the area, which also included multifamily housing north of the mall and churches at the juncture of East West Highway and Adelphi Road.39

Kiplinger Editors Park (PG:68-120; 1960-2015) at 3401 East West Highway was the sole industrial component of the redevelopment of Bellevue Farm. The design of Editors Park possibly inspired that of the library. Although slightly smaller in size, both the library and Editors Park were built with rose-colored brick and were one-story International Style boxes built into a sloping land contour so that a basement could be accessed at grade. Both were articulated with an abstracted representational element at the entrance that provided a unique identity for the building and a sense of delight for visitors and passersby. (Editors Park employed the abstracted motif of a book to signify the publishing industry.) Both the book and the saucer can be considered Populuxe creations. In many respects both Editors Park and the Hyattsville Library are the product of “Situated Modernists.” In their “Context Essay: Modern Movement in Maryland,” Dr. Isabelle Gournay and Dr. Mary Corbin Sies expound on the work of Sarah Williams Goldhagen, writing, “Many of the architects of significant modernist structures or cultural landscapes in Maryland can be considered “Situated Modernists.” Situated Modernists adapted the principles of modernism to specific contextual and programmatic requirements; in Maryland’s case, they responded to the exigencies of the modernization campaigns…among other stimuli. They emphasized local materials, vernacular traditions, and sense of place, seeking to shape buildings and neighborhoods to the needs of their users.”40

LIBRARY HISTORY

On April 28, 1921, under the sponsorship of the Women's Club of Hyattsville, a library was first opened in the front section of the J.C. Hawkins Electric Shop on the east side of the Pike (now Baltimore Avenue). An appeal was made for funds and the sum of $100 was raised for the purchase of supplies. A desk, two chairs, and about 325 books were donated by people in the town. Within a week, the Hyattsville Library Association was founded. The

36 Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson, Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009), 221. 37 Photographs of its original configuration can be seen at the Library of Congress website, loc.gov. 38 Today known as Metro 1, 2 and 3. 39 First United Methodist Church of Hyattsville (PG:68-116) and the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (PG:68- 114). 40 Page7. Gournay and Sies’ essay is available at http://mahdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Historic-Context-Modern- Movement-in-Maryland.pdf. Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

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library grew rapidly, doubling its collection within three months. In May 1922, the city incorporated the Hyattsville Public Library. By the end of the following year, the library had outgrown the space provided and moved into larger quarters on the second floor of the Municipal Building, where it could accommodate its collection of more than 2,000 volumes. In 1945, with the passage of the Public Libraries Law, the State Legislature recognized the need for library service on a county-wide basis. The following year, the Prince George's County Commissioners granted a citizen petition for the allocation of funds to establish the Prince George's County Memorial Library System under the new law. The County Library System was established on July 2, 1946 and was dedicated “...As a living memorial to those who have made the supreme sacrifice and a testimonial to all those who served in wars.”

Governor Herbert R. O’Connor appointed a seven-member board of trustees on September 10, 1946. One of the board’s first acts was to rent headquarters in the Masonic building at 4227 Gallatin Street, Hyattsville. Regular bookmobile service also began in 1947. On January 1, 1948, the Hyattsville Public Library joined the Prince George's County Memorial Library System and opened its second branch, a three-story building adjoining the City Hall purchased to house the library.41

Three acres for the library site were conveyed by the Spruell Development Corporation to the county in 1961. In September of 1962, Prince George’s County Commissioners approved a $693,865 bid for construction of the first of four new public regional libraries. A master plan calling for the creation of four new regional libraries in the county had been prepared three years earlier, with a system of public libraries voiced as a priority by citizens and the League of Women Voters for nearly four years prior to groundbreaking of the Hyattsville Library. The county’s ten library branches had been previously housed in rented spaces. The Permanent Building Company won the bid for construction of the Hyattsville Library, and estimated construction time to be only nine months for the 35,000 square-foot building. According to a September, 1962 article in The Washington Post, design of the Hyattsville Branch Library was to be replicated at each of the three other planned regional libraries in Prince George’s County;42 however, this plan was not carried out. The final cost to build the Hyattsville library was $1 million.43

41 John M. Krivak, “Hyattsville Public Libraries.” Hyattsville Our Hometown. 1988, The City of Hyattsville. 42 “Contract Let for Library in County.” The Washington Post, Times Herald, 9/26/1962. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877–1997). p.C1. 43 “Prince George’s Hails New Memorial Library,” The Evening Star, June 16, 1964. Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

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CHAIN OF TITLE

Liber 2635:132 Spruell Development Corporation to County Commissioners of Prince George’s County December 21, 1961 Part of the land conveyed in 2173:18 BEGINNING at the end of the North 85° 48' 42" East, 954.47 foot line as shown on a plat of street dedication entitled “Prince George’s Plaza” and recorded among the aforesaid Lane Records in Plat Book WWW 31 as Plat No. 63, said line being the South line of Toledo Road and running thence 1) 31.42 feet along the arc of a curve deflecting to the right having a radius of 20. 00 feet and a chord bearing South 49° 11' 18" East 28. 28 feet to a point on the West line of Colesville Road* thence with Colesville Road; 2) South 04° 11' 18' East, 512.76 feet to a point; thence leaving Colesville Road; 3) North 86° 27' 34" West, 255.97 feet to a point; thence 4) North 04° 11' 18" west, 498.33 feet to a point on Toledo Road, thence with Toledo Road; 5) North 85° 48' 42" East, 233.65 feet to the point of beginning; containing 130,680.00 square feet or 3.00 acres.

*now Adelphi Road

Liber 2173:181 Dewey Development Corp., Landy Development Corp., and Byrd Development Corp to December 10, 1957 Spruell Development Corp. Part of Tract 1 conveyed in 2093:118 containing 27.7244 acres

Liber 2093:118 Isadore Gudelsky, Harry Gudelsky, Homer S. Gudelsky, Anna S. Gudelsky and Ida April 5, 1957 Gudelsky, trading as Contee Company to Dewey Development Corp., Landy Development Corp., Spruell Development Corp. and Byrd Development Corp. Tract 1 containing 102.2290 acres; other tracts

Liber 1431:347 Contee Sand and Gravel Co., Inc. to Contee Company October 25, 1951 376.0087 acres of land

Liber 1431:333 Christian Heurich, Jr. to the Contee Sand and Gravel Co., Inc. September 7, 1951 376.0087 acres of land

Liber JWB8:310 Charles Vance and Mary J. Vance to Christian Heurich April 14, 1887 136 1/5 acres

Liber HB1:448 Mary Jane Kirkwood and William R. Woodward to Charles Vance July 31, 1868 136 1/5 acres

Liber AB12:79 Samuel Fowler to Wallace Kirkwood November 1, 1838 219 acres of Lonehead and 30 acres of Jackson’s Necessity Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 8 Page 7

Liber AB9:472 Francis W. Deakins to Samuel Fowler April 15, 1835 219 acres of Lonehead and 30 acres of Jackson’s Necessity

Liber JMR3:400 Charity Beall Magruder to Leonard Marbury Deakins September 26, 1794 Interest in the Lonehead tract

Liber HH2:291, 294 Cassandra Beall White to Leonard Marbury Deakins February 27, 1788 Interest in the Lonehead tract

Prince George’s “Lonehead” patented to James Beall County Patented 714 acres Certificate 1329 May 20, 1724

9. Major Bibliographical References Inventory No. PG:68-112

Bradley, Wendell P. “Library Again Seeks Expansion Funds in Prince George’s.” The Washington Post, Times Herald, June 2, 1960, B3.

“Building Destroyed on Heurich Estate,” The Washington Post, January 5, 1956.

“Contract Let for Library in County.” The Washington Post, Times Herald, September 26, 1962, C1.

“County Library System Still Growing.” The Washington Post, Times Herald, November 23,1963, 24.

Dunham-Jones, Ellen and Williamson, June. Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009), 221.

“Frightened Cow Injures 3 at Sale,” The Washington Post, March 21, 1950.

Grubisich, Thomas. “The Library That Tries Harder: Pr. George's Librarians Double as Impresarios.” The Washington Post, Times Herald, March 4, 1971, 1.

GWWO, Inc./Architects and Sidhu Associates, Inc. “Prince George’s County Memorial Library System Facilities Assessment.” GWWO Project No. 0921. Final submission on July 30, 2010. Assessment date, November 25, 2009.

Hagemeyer, Harrison P., “Rezoning Petitioned For Heurich Estate,” The Washington Post and Times Herald, November 20, 1955.

Heinman, Jim. California Crazy and Beyond. Chronicle Books, 2001.

Hine, Thomas. Populuxe; 1987, Alfred A. Knopf.

“Heurich Tract Brings Million in Cash Deal,” The Washington Post, December 27, 1951.

Holo, Melissa. “Hyattsville Branch Library Request for Historic Site Evaluation,” May 22, 2014, M-NCPPC HPS Archives.

Images of America: Hyattsville. Arcadia Publishing, 2008.

Krivak, John M. “Hyattsville Public Libraries.” Hyattsville Our Hometown. 1988, the City of Hyattsville.

Murphy, Gwyn. “Library Replaces Drugstore as Teenage Gathering Place.” The Prince George’s Sentinel, March 20, 1969. Vertical Files, Hyattsville Branch Library.

Promotional brochure for the dedication of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s First Regional Library and Administrative Offices. Property of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System. M-NCPPC HPS Archives. “Rose Colored Library.” The Washington Star, January 28, 1968.

Von Braun, Wernher. “Libraries and the Space Age.” ALA Bulletin, Vol. 56, No. 6 (June 1962), pp. 525-528. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25696452.

Willmann, John B. “Urban Center Under Way In Prince Georges County.” The Washington Post, Times Herald, June 6, 1964, E1.

10. Geographical Data Inventory No. PG:68-112

Acreage of surveyed property 3.00 Acreage of historical setting 3.00 Quadrangle name Washington East Quadrangle scale: 1:24,000

Verbal boundary description and justification

Beginning at the end of the North 85° 48' 42" East, 954.47 foot line as shown on a plat of street dedication entitled “Prince George’s Plaza” and recorded among the aforesaid Lane Records in Plat Book WWW 31 as Plat No. 63, said line being the South line of Toledo Road and running thence 1) 31.42 feet along the arc of a curve deflecting to the right having a radius of 20. 00 feet and a chord bearing South 49° 11' 18" East 28. 28 feet to a point on the West line of Colesville Road* thence with Colesville Road; 2) South 04° 11' 18' East, 512.76 feet to a point; thence leaving Colesville Road; 3) North 86° 27' 34" West, 255.97 feet to a point; thence 4) North 04° 11' 18" west, 498.33 feet to a point on Toledo Road, thence with Toledo Road; 5) North 85° 48' 42" East, 233.65 feet to the point of beginning; containing 130,680.00 square feet or 3.00 acres.

This is the tract conveyed by Spruell Development Corporation to the County Commissioners of Prince George’s County in December 1961.

11. Form Prepared by

name/title Daniel Sams, Preservation Specialist Field and archival research by Dr. Robert Krause, Ph.D., Planner Coordinator

organization The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commision

Historic Preservation Section, Countywide Planning Division

Prince George’s County Planning Department date December 8, 2015

street & number 14741 Governor Oden Bowie Drive telephone 301-952-3680

city or town Upper Marlboro state MD

The Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties was officially created by an Act of the Maryland Legislature to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41, Section 181 KA, 1974 supplement.

The survey and inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only and do not constitute any infringement of individual property rights.

return to: Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Department of Planning 100 Community Place Crownsville, MD 21032-2023 410-514-7600 Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 5

Figure 1: 1965 aerial showing the Hyattsville Branch Library (outlined in blue) and development of area including the mall (far left center) and first Edward Durell Stone building (Metro 1) at center. This view also shows the library before the administrative wing addition of 1968. Source: PGAtlas.com.

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 6

Figure 2: 2011 aerial showing the Hyattsville Branch Library (outlined in blue) and development of area. Source: PGAtlas.com Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 7

Figure 3: View of façade (east elevation), looking southwest. (January 2014) Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 8

Figure 4: View of façade (east elevation), looking south. (January 2014) Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

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Figure 5: View of façade (east elevation), looking northwest. (January 2014) Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

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Figure 6: Saucer at front entrance. View of the façade (east elevation), looking west. (November 2013)

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

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Figure 7: Administrative wing and colonnade from parking lot showing juncture at addition. (July 2014)

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

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Figure 8: Window and colonnade detail, looking southeast to the north elevation. [May 2014]

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

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Figure 9: Interior stairwell looking toward upper level.

Figure 10: Interior stair to upper level from lower level. Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 14

Figure 11: View of façade (east elevation), looking southwest. Date unknown; filed with other photos dated November and June 1967. Source: WMCRP Architects

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 15

Figure 1: View of north and east elevations, looking southwest. Date unknown: filed with other photos dated November and June 1967. Shows Administrative Wing before expansion. Source: WMCRP Architects.

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 16

Figure 2: Rear of Hyattsville Branch Library dated June 19, 1967, undoubtedly taken from a high floor of the first Edward Durell Stone building now known as Metro 1. Note the original four-bay administrative wing to the left, the center projection for the bookmobiles, and the saucer. Source: WMCRP Architects. Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 17

Figure 3: Rear of Hyattsville Branch Library in 1964 looking northeast and showing drive-through garages for bookmobiles. At left above is the chiller plant, later screened with brick lattice. The west elevation of the adult reading room is at right. Source: Promotional brochure for the dedication of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s First Regional Library and Administrative Offices. Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 18

Figure 4: Rendering of the library. Source: Promotional brochure for the dedication of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s First Regional Library and Administrative Offices.

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 19

Figure 5: Hyattsville Branch Library under construction, taken from Adelphi Road. The Plexiglas dome has yet to be installed. Source: Images of America: Hyattsville. Arcadia Publishing, 2008

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 20

Figure 6: Upper Level Floor Plan, 1964. Source: Promotional brochure for the dedication of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s First Regional Library and Administrative Offices.

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 21

Figure 7: Lower Level Floor Plan, 1964. Source: Promotional brochure for the dedication of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s First Regional Library and Administrative Offices.

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG:68-112 Historic Properties Form

Hyattsville Branch Library Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 22

Figure 8: Administrative Offices, 1964. Source: Promotional brochure for the dedication of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library’s First Regional Library and Administrative Offices. Parcel 76 Map/Grid 42B2 PG:68-112 6530 Adelphi Road Hyattsville, MD 20782 Hyattsville Branch Library

Property Line ¯ USGS The National Map: National Boundaries Dataset, National Elevation Dataset, Geographic Names Information System, National Hydrography 0 0.175 0.35 0.7 Miles Dataset, National Land Cover Database, National Structures Dataset, and National Transportation Dataset; U.S. Census Bureau - TIGER/Line; HERE Road Data Parcel 76 Map/Grid 42B2 PG:68-112 6530 Adelphi Road Hyattsville, MD 20782 Hyattsville Branch Library

¯ USGS The National Map: National Boundaries Dataset, National Elevation Dataset, Geographic Names Information System, National Hydrography 0 0.5 1 2 Miles Dataset, National Land Cover Database, National Structures Dataset, and National Transportation Dataset; U.S. Census Bureau - TIGER/Line; HERE Road Data Parcel 76 Map/Grid 42B2 PG:68-112 6530 Adelphi Road Hyattsville, MD 20782 Hyattsville Branch Library

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