Brilliant reds and streaming Art Nouveau–influenced decoration of terra-cotta bands are hallmarks of Williamson's exuberant style. What brought him to Mauch Chunk can only be guessed—perhaps someone knew of his contemporary library in West Chester (CH14). Here he adapted the familiar Richardsonian library—a multistory room surrounded by the collection on wall-mounted shelves instead of the new model being developed at the same time by Frank Furness with separate and expandable storage for books. The interior reflects the rebuilding of the main reading room after a disastrous fire in 1970. The present children's reading room in the rear was added in the reconstruction.