THE HARTFORD COURANT

8 / 28 - Monday, March 10, 2008

DEBATE OVER TURNING THE PAGE

TOWN TORN OVER FATE OF AGING LIBRARY DESIGNED BY FAMOUS ARCHITECT

Edition: 6 METRO/SPORTS FINAL

Source: LYNN DOAN; Courant Staff Writer

Dateline: SUFFIELD --

Section: MAIN Page: A1

Caption: SELECTMEN VOTED last month to send the finance board a plan to demolish Kent Memorial Library and to build a new facility, above.

Illustration: PHOTO: (B&W), COURTESY OF SUFFIELD LIBRARY BUILDING COMMITTEE

   The skylights atop Kent Memorial Library are meant to create an illusion from inside that the building is taller than it is. They also leak.

    The maze-like bookshelves that coil into the walls were designed to preserve openness in the study areas. They've also become a librarian's worst nightmare, both in terms of organizing books and accommodating new ones.

    The glass doors, leading into a garden court in the center of the library, are integral to the designs of renowned architect Warren Platner. And they're taped shut to keep out the winter chill.

    Platner's building may be one of a kind - the epitome of 1970s Modern architecture - but it's not cutting it as a library, and town officials want to demolish it and build a new, $13.7 million facility on the same site. This has left many residents torn between the need for a practical library and the preservation of what some believe to be the work of an architectural genius.

    "Platner designed a fabulously beautiful building," town historian Lester Smith said. "Unfortunately, what he didn't design was a functional library."

    Exactly how Platner's name came up as town officials planned Kent Memorial Library 35 years ago remains unclear. But the famous Connecticut architect, who designed the interior of the Windows on the World restaurant at the World Trade Center in New York and the shopping mall at Chicago's Water Tower Place, ultimately accepted the town's invitation to build.

    Some residents had pushed for a traditional library that would blend into the historic district on Main Street, but Platner won over library trustees with his plans to create a Modernist library - characterized by its simple form and lack of decoration. What really sets Platner's library apart from all others, architects say, was his attention to detail, from the exposed concrete ceiling down to the natural wood ramps.

    And he didn't just design the building. He also crafted the furniture in it, including the bookshelves, desks, chairs, couches and sunshades.

    "Every part of that building has been resolved and worked out," said Richard Munday, an architect for Herbert S. Newman and Partners in New Haven.

    Platner, who died in 2006, also was known for his extravagance. He lit up the library with incandescent bulbs, disregarding their energy inefficiency. He ordered top-quality carpeting. And when he couldn't find enough brownstone in Connecticut to support the walls of the library, he settled for granite from the same quarry that supplied the base of the Statue of Liberty.

    Such quality and detail in a public building during that time period is so rare, Munday said, that his firm placed a bid with the town last year to build an addition to the library as an alternative to tearing it down. The bid was ultimately rejected.

    When the library was finally completed in 1972, a few people applauded. Smith said "others vowed never to set foot in the place."

    Over the years, the practical faults of Platner's masterpiece have become painfully clear to the library staff. Rain seeps through the skylights, damaging books and staining the carpet that Platner planned so meticulously. The wraparound shelves create alcoves where children can hide, and have also become overcrowded.

    Because of its unique design, the building doesn't lend itself well to an expansion, and the library staff is in desperate need of space, Library Director James McShane said.

    As he stood in the employee workroom, McShane joked, "Let's try to have one person in here at a time. There isn't enough room for two."

    A space-needs study has estimated that the town requires a library twice the size of the current facility, and an ad hoc committee determined last June that razing the library and building a new one at the same site was the town's best option. A committee formed two years earlier reached the same conclusion.

    The ad hoc committee mulled over a proposal to turn a vacant school on Bridge Street into a library, but concluded that it would have been just as expensive as building a new one. And a plan to build the library on the fields adjacent to the school was shot down because, according to the committee's report, "while this option solves one problem, it creates two more in the vacant Bridge Street School building and Kent Memorial Library."

    Selectmen voted last month to send the finance board a proposal to demolish Kent Memorial Library and to build a new, 33,000-square-foot facility. Renderings of the proposed brick-and-concrete building were presented for the first time during last month's meeting of the selectmen, revealing floor-to-ceiling windows and arches over the entrance on Mountain Road.

    The renderings are expected to be shown to the town's finance board tonight.

    As the plans advance, the Connecticut Trust For Historic Preservation has fielded calls from residents about potential demolition. A recent study by the trust concluded that an addition to Platner's building is a viable alternative and might be cheaper than razing and rebuilding.

    Brad Schide of the Connecticut Trust For Historic Preservation said there's no doubt the building is architecturally and historically significant, whether you like the structure or not.

    "Tell me a library you know of that has an open-air atrium in the middle that blends architecture and nature any better," he said.

    Members of the historic district commission have warned town officials that they will not approve a new library that isn't as significant as Platner's building - a challenge even they admit might be impossible.

    In a twist of irony, the commission has renounced the town's plans to construct a library that will "blend in" with other historicbuildings in the area. Instead, it is calling for a library that is new and bold, to preserve what Platner brought to Suffield.

    "I would really regret authorizing this building to be torn down for a building of lesser quality and lesser significance," commission member Doug Mayne said. "That's going to make my toes curl."

    The commission eventually will vote on whether the new library is appropriate for Suffield's historic district. And so far, some commission members said, they are not impressed with the new designs.

    "Instead of coming up with an architecturally exciting or significant or challenging building to replace it," member Thomas Deupree said, "They've come up with something mediocre, something dull."

    Contact Lynn Doan at ldoan@courant.com.

   

ID: 2958568

Tag: 200803100075