Juneau Memorial Library

Additional Information

The two-story concrete building has a side gable wood-frame, low pitch roof. The foundation is reinforced concrete. The full height pedimented porch, cornice and frieze display Neo-Classical Revival style elements. Centered in the gable above the porch is a circular, red marble inlay. A cornice and wide dentil frieze are below the pediment and continue across the front and side elevations. On the front lawn lies a marker commemorating the Alaska Statehood Site. Two totem poles flank the property, the 34-foot Four Story Pole carved by Haida artist John Wallace, and the 14-foot harnessing the Atom pole, carved by Tlingit artist Amos Wallace.

The Juneau public library was a community based effort and built with locally raised funds. In 1945, the Juneau Rotary Club announced that its top priority was building a library as a memorial and tribute to the area veterans of the World Wars. The club purchased the property and hired the architects to design the building. Service clubs, fraternal organizations, church groups and other members of the community began to raise the money to build the library. The Juneau Memorial Library was the first building in Alaska constructed for the purpose of a library. On the library property is the Alaska Statehood Site. The site of official United States of America 49-Star flag raising, July 4, 1959. At noon on this date the 49-Star flag and the Alaska flag were officially raised on this site with appropriate ceremonies. For the past 20 years, the building has housed the Juneau Douglas City Museum.

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Juneau Townsite Building Survey, City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, September 1988; National Register nomination, 2005