Foyer
The paneling in the David A. Howe Public Library's entrance hall is riff-sawn white
oak. The floors are cork, in a variety of patterns, and the ceilings are acoustically treated plaster with
hand-molded and set plaster trim. Overhead, just inside the
entrance, you can see a skylight which receives light from the
cupola on top of the building. Hand-carved oak
Ionic pillars separate the rooms.
Over each main doorway is a different carving. These represent the
Tree of Life,
Lamp
of Knowledge, and Hive of Industry
.
The oil
portrait of David A. Howe was painted after his death, from a
photograph. The artist was H. Willard Ortlip. The carving around the
painting is the most elaborate in the building. It is of English
lime wood, done in the style of Grinling Gibbons, seventeenth
century English artist. The three pieces were done in Rochester by
Swiss carvers, and took one and a half years to complete.
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