Queset House
Overview
Ames Free Library
The Ames Free Library is a public library designed by noted American architect H. H. Richardson. It is located at 53 Main Street, Easton, Massachusetts, immediately adjacent to another Richardson building, Oakes Ames Memorial Hall....
. The house was designed by noted architect Andrew Jackson Downing
Andrew Jackson Downing
Andrew Jackson Downing was an American landscape designer, horticulturalist, and writer, a prominent advocate of the Gothic Revival style in the United States, and editor of The Horticulturist magazine...
in 1854 under commission from industrialist Oakes Angier Ames
Oakes Angier Ames
Oakes Angier Ames was a wealthy industrialist and philanthropist in the Ames family of North Easton, Massachusetts. His brother Oliver Ames was Governor of Massachusetts....
. In 1872 John Ames Mitchell
John Ames Mitchell
John Ames Mitchell was a publisher, architect, artist and novelist. He was regarded as a Renaissance man who kept to himself but influenced many. A Harvard University educated architect who studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in 1883 he co-founded Life magazine with Andrew Miller...
designed its rear extension. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
planned its grounds.
The Ames Free Library purchased the house in 2007 and will rename it the Fanny
Fanny
Fanny is a given name, and a pet form of Frances.Notable people bearing this name include:* Fanny , an alias of breakcore artist Fraser Runciman* Fanny Adams, a 19th-century murder victim* Fanny Ardant, a French actress...
Holt Ames Center. The building will be used as an extension for the library's collections and activities.