The 2025 Sawyer Free Library and Historic Saunders House

Our 2025 Sawyer Free Library

Our vision for the 2025 Sawyer Free Library is worthy of our heritage and our future. The reimagined building structures and interior layouts protect their historic feel while enhancing the Library as a place of creation and communication. It is a vision that fosters the values of place, belonging, and connection in the Gloucester community.

The 2025 Sawyer Free Library is designed to benefit everyone! The building plan is based on design principles that put people first: Accessibility, Sustainability, Health, and Safety.

The 2025 Saunders House

Preserved and Restored

The Saunders House is a prominent landmark of Gloucester’s Historic District and is unique in the grandeur of its original features and murals added in subsequent years. The significant architectural features will be preserved for historic study and the rooms restored for contemporary community use. The Saunders House will continue to be joined to the Sawyer Free Library and will be open to the public.

In the News

Sawyer Free Trustees eye renovation. Gloucester Daily Times. May 17, 2019

‘We have a plan’: Sawyer Free trustees look to raise $16M for proposed library renovation. Gloucester Daily Times. May 21, 2019.

My View: Strong libraries = strong communities. Gloucester Daily Times. November 20, 2019

Sawyer Free Library expansion to move forward. Wicked Local. January 29, 2020

Sawyer Free Library is not going anywhere. Gloucester Daily Times. October 20, 2020