Andrew Carnegie provided over 2,500 libraries across the world between 1883 and 1929. [1] What a great idea and gift. The Brooklyn Branch of the Cleveland Public Library is one of Carnegie's [2] libraries.
Community green houses would provide an important civic function - just as libraries provide a healthy physical nexus for people to access information and to meet their neighbors and discuss books and issues. The green house in the mash up above (located at the Land Mark School in Beverly, Massachusetts [3]) is probably a century old. Though in pretty good shape, it was, sadly, not getting much use.
The design is smart - the north wall is stone (should have been insulated outside) which acts as a solar heat sink all day and then radiates the heat back into the greenhouse at night. The tables had terra cotta tile floors supported on a metal frame. Check out the handsome woodwork over the entry door - providing a glass roof over the entry stoop.
How would you like to have one of these in your back yard? or in your neighborhood for your shared use with your neighbors?
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| green-house-views.jpg [4] | 67.38 KB |
| green-house-red-insulation.jpg [5] | 23.34 KB |
