Prince Frederick Library

The Prince Frederick Library is a 29,000 gsf , two-story building located in Prince Frederick’s New Town Center and surrounded by retail, shopping, and nearby residential. The library is located in the heart of Calvert County, Maryland  - a peninsula which is bound on the east by the Chesapeake Bay and on the west by the Patuxent River.  

Interesting local features are the famous “Calvert Cliffs” (which are embedded with prehistoric fossils and overlook the Chesapeake Bay), the Drum Point Lighthouse, the history of boat building, the history of farming, and the numerous historic tobacco barns in the surrounding region.

The library’s design refers to and celebrates many of these local features: 

• The massing of the building takes it’s shape from local tobacco barns and boat building sheds;

• The main stair of the library is physically expressed as a lighthouse on the exterior of the building;

• The masonry coursing at the base of the building is reminiscent of the rock strata that forms the famous “Calvert Cliffs.”