Save New Canaan's Landmark 1913 Library

Dear Ms. Brooks Avni & Commissioners,

Recognizing that your purview is Planning & Zoning, I won’t be over long in my enthusiasm to save the 1913 Library. I do have an important request for the P&Z commission.

Of course the 1913 Library should remain right where it is and have the benefit of restoration so that it can continue to be and excel at being the workhorse it has been since inception. It’s a beautiful building with history and provenance - it also has vintage associates in the heart of our town - Town Hall (1910) and N.C. Savings Bank (1913). I picked that up and other great facts from a terrific letter of support I saw in the New Canaanite. The architect, Alfred H Taylor was no slouch and created a very commendable body of work. Our triumvirate of early 20th C. Buildings - the 1913 Library, Town Hall & Savings Bank were part of the City Beautiful movement that swept our country in the early 1900’s. This and other aspects -- make the 1913 Library iconic.

Along with doing what you can to support saving the 1913 Library, I wanted to request that you keep the public hearing scheduled for March 30 open beyond that date for additional testimony. This is necessary because of the sheer volume of the filing by the Library.

Please consider that the plan & rationale to eliminate 1913 for a green doesn’t make any sense. That proposed green is a void, an ill conceived negative space. The claim that people will sit there to look at shrubs fig leafing Cherry St. traffic is hard to imagine.

The 1913 building makes that corner and lights up that spot.

Please keep testimony open beyond March 30th. Please lend a hand to help save the 1913 Library. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Siobhan Sack