It would be an architectural crime to tear down the Ken Memorial Library in Suffield, even for a new building that is larger and less leaky than the 1972 Modernist gem.
The unique building in the center of town was lovingly crafted by the architect who designed the original Windows of the World restaurant in the fallen World Trade Center.
The bland structure that would replace it (see the renderings at www.suffield-library.org) will be a mediocre gravestone over a meticulously built treasure. Will the new library have granite from the quarry that supplied the Statue of Liberty, as the Kent library has? Will it be infused with natural light like Kent’s? Will it have the homelike warmth?
To be sure, the town is in need of more library space. But it should not even think of razing its most prominent public landmark to make room. No more than Enfield should raze its 1914 Carnegie library, one of a handful left in the state, or North Granby its 1890 Frederick H. Cossitt library with its gingerbread trim.
If there is money to demolish the Kent library, there has to be money to save it. At least for one more generation. Time will bring greater appreciation for this small ‘70s monument – or deep regret that it was lost. The library is impossible to miss. The white brick, glass-paneled building at the busiest crossroads in town looks as serene outside as inside the light-flooded, mood-lifting, embracing interior. Guarding its Main Street flank are rows of broccoli-like trees with skinny trunks and wild tangles of branches at top, worthy of J.K. Rowling.
Indeed, it’s befittingly magical. As Margaret E. Haller wrote in her 1991 book “libraries of New England”: “Even in the smallest of villages you will probably find a fanciful library, unlike any other structure in the town.” The Connecticut Trust For Historic Preservation believes an addition to the Kent library could cost less than razing and rebuilding. Also, there are vacant town-owned buildings nearby that can be turned into large library branches with ample parking and stacks.
So what if retrofitting them would cost as much as building anew? At least the structures wouldn’t be standing empty, luring vandals and deteriorating into eyesores.
The irony is that Suffield is a town that otherwise values its heritage and architecture. Its Main Street rivals any in beauty and history. Its stunning structures range from the Phelps-Hathaway House museum, built in three stages in the 1700s, to the 1871 Victorian mansion Spencer on Main, a bed and breakfast that has been in the same family since it was built. The Kent represents its era as gracefully as they did theirs.
It is irreplaceable icon that the town should do everything it can to protect and preserve, not bulldoze.
Save The Library, Hartford Courant, March 12th, 2008
