Oldham has a plan to pay for legacy 1913 relocation
NEW CANAAN — The executive director of the New Canaan Library expects to be able to raise up to $2.9 million for the moving of the 1913 antique library to its new home on the opposite side of the property to fit in with the new campus.
Lisa Oldham was “confident” in the fundraising capabilities of the library, which has just recently opened a special fund dedicated to the Legacy Building project. “Anyone can contribute,” the library director said.
The orginal $39.5 million estimate for the new modern library assumes demolishing the old building, including renovations, after the new building is complete. Moving and conducting a “surgical demolision” of the 1913 protion will be more expensive.
On Tuesday, Selectman Nick Williams said he would like to help the library since Oldham had raised concerns at the previous meeting about paying for the legacy building while raising funds for new 42,000 square foot modern building.
She did not make a formal request for money at that time and did not give a total amount for the move when Williams asked.
Oldham has recently stated that she needed at least $500,000 “right now” to bring the new plans before the Planning and Zoning Commission in time for the new library's expected completion date early next year.
“I'm confident that, given the number of people who have expressed their commitment to the original building, we'll see them contributing funds to ensure its success,” Oldham said. “We are already in discussion with a couple of generous donors.”
Fundraising efforts for the new project have already raked in $33 million, including $10 million from the town. The Board of Finance approved the $10 million, obtaining a credit line for the library, which Williams wondered if it could be used for this.
After Oldham spoke at the last selectmen meeting, Neele-Banks Stichnoth, the New Canaan Preservation Alliance's president, offered to fund keeping the 1913 library ‘in situ,' which she estimated to cost $1.2 million.
The preservation group wants to keep the remains twice the size of the discussed Legacy Building at 2,400 square-feet with an addition of a glass curtain for a rear wall, abutting a half-acre green, for performances.
Late in the approval process for the modern library, the Planning and Zoning Commission made a contigency that the library find a meaningful way to preserve aspects of the building. Since plans have changed, “a great deal of engineering, site work and landscape planning must now be redone to make all the changes that retaining the building will require,” Oldman said.
To preserve the 109-yearold building, “a great deal” of hazardous material needs to be removed. This means that the interior will need to be “almost entirely rebuilt,” the director said.
Also, to ensure the building “lasts another 100 plus years as a functional, beautiful part of the campus,” it needs to be brought up to all current building codes.
Removing the remainder of the existing library while keeping the 1913 section standing requires significant engineering planning, extensive shoring-up and costly precision surgical demolition, according to Oldham. Also, since the building is being moved, new mechanical systems, plumbing and modern wiring in that part of the building will need to be added.
Oldham discounts the preservationist's argument that “true” preservation requires the antique stone building must be kept in its original location, which would be 100 feet from the modern building. “Moving older buildings to ensure their preservation has been done in America for close to 200 years,” she said. She pointed to the city of Philadelphia where “many beloved, historic buildings are not on their original sites, having been moved over the past 150 years rather than demolished and they continue to be revered.”
Stitchnoth argued that more diminutive plans proposed by library officials make it harder to be purposeful, where the preservationists' plans would lend itself to small concerts on the green and meetings.
Oldman said she was optimistic a good use will be found for the smaller building, since the library has been working on the antique building's use since the Legacy Building idea was approved in December.