This sepia-toned photograph by the Higgins photographic studio shows the eastern facade of Patten Free Library as it was being constructed in 1889 and 1890.

Three unidentified workmen, observed by another on the ground, sit on the main roof ridge of the slate-topped structure designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by George Edward Harding, a Bath native with an architectural practice in New York City. Harding (1842-1907) was raised in a home across the street from the site of the library.

Although Harding designed a few other structures in town, he was most known for this one -- grand in scale and unusual in design for this city.