| Ansel B. Cook Home | |
| Coordinates: | 42.2872°N -87.9553°W |
| Built: | 1921 |
| Architect: | Ansel B. Cook |
| Architecture: | Classical Revival |
| Added: | August 16, 2001 |
| Area: | less than one acre |
| Refnum: | 01000867 |
The Cook Memorial Library, also known as the Ansel B. Cook House, is a historic house museum in Libertyville, Illinois, United States. It was built as a Victorian house for contractor and politician Ansel B. Cook in 1878. In his will Cook donated the home to be used as a public library, although it remained for many years the residence of Cook's longer-lived widow. After Emily Barrows Cook's death, the building received a major Neoclassical renovation that converted it into a library, opening to the public in 1921.[1]
By the 1960s the library had outgrown the space available, and voters approved a referendum to construct a new library. The new facility of what is now the Cook Memorial Public Library District opened directly behind the Cook House in 1968.[2]
The building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2001. Today the Libertyville–Mundelein Historical Society operates the house as a Victorian house museum.