"We're actually competing with ourselves internally to find the space to do the lectures and music programs that we're trying to present," New Canaan Library CEO Ellen Sullivan Crovatto told NewCanaanite this month.
She was explaining why the library wants to spend about $2 million on the small building at the western edge of its Main Street campus. That building was saved only because the town required it. It was moved 115 feet in 2023 and has been sealed and unfinished since then. The library now has a use for it, and the reason is practical. The new library opened in February 2023, and it already runs out of rooms most days.
The building the library did not plan to keep
The old library at 151 Main Street was built in 1913. It was enlarged in the 1930s, the 1950s and 1979, and according to the library's own fact sheet, only two walls of the original structure remain. The library spent close to a decade arguing that the building should come down to make room for a new campus and a green. A group of preservation advocates argued it should stay. The town ended up somewhere in between.
- 2012. A community study group ranked keeping the old building 15th out of 25 desired features.
- 2017. The library concluded that rehabilitating the building, in place or after moving it, was not feasible. It cited an estimated cost of $3 million to $4 million, hazardous materials, missing building systems and the green space it wanted.
- The MOU debate. The Friends of Our 1913 Library, led by the New Canaan Preservation Alliance, argued for keeping the structure and its 1930s addition. They cited the town's planning and village-district guidelines. The Town Council voted 8 to 4 to remove draft wording that would have held off demolition until a funded preservation plan existed.
- July 2021. Planning & Zoning approved the new library 6 to 3. The approval required the library to come back with options for preserving appropriate parts of the 1913 building and its 1936 addition.
- After approval. The New Canaan Preservation Alliance and K.K.F. LLC, the owner of the neighboring gas station, filed suit over the approval. P&Z later approved a final plan to move the salvageable portions of the building to the western edge of the campus.
- 2023. The building was lifted and moved 115 feet. The library paid about $2.4 million for the move.
In February, Sullivan Crovatto told the Board of Finance that the $2.4 million was "an additional cost that we undertook with our own cash and our own endowment reserves," and that it "left us with a very big hole to fill," NewCanaanite reported. She also said the building's new spot "has pleased pretty much everyone." Since 2024, the only use of the shell has been on its exterior, where the "Changemakers" art installation is displayed.
Three years in, the shortage is meeting rooms
At a January budget presentation to the Board of Selectmen, library officials said the meeting rooms and study rooms are booked at a rate of 50 meetings per day. They also reported more than 1 million visitors since the new building opened in February 2023, according to NewCanaanite. The new building has plenty of rooms. Its meeting room page lists study rooms, conference rooms, a community room and the Bartlett Auditorium, which seats 200 by itself or 300 when combined with the Community Room. Even so, Sullivan Crovatto said a community needs assessment showed demand that the building cannot meet.
"Overwhelmingly what we're looking at is that people are really needing additional meeting space. Even though we are so well-equipped with our meeting rooms, we are really at a point of practical capacity most times." Ellen Sullivan Crovatto, as quoted by NewCanaanite
The second request in that assessment was later hours. The main library is open until 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Keeping the whole building open later means paying staff to cover the whole building.
What the plan builds, and what it leaves out
The plan is shaped by those two problems, so the building would work differently from the main library.
The structure measures 65 by 20 feet. The plan adds energy-efficiency upgrades, an ADA-compliant bathroom, a kitchenette and a storage room that doubles as a green room. Those additions need a 6- to 8-foot bumpout on the back of the building, toward the rear of the Gulf station. The architect is Amanda Martocchio, who served on the building committee for the new library. She said the bumpout leaves the interior as "one open space from end wall to end wall." The room would hold up to 90 people.
On the south end, new glass double doors would open onto the Bailey Stewart Terrace and connect the old building to the glass-walled new library. A planted buffer, like the one there today, would stay between the building and the gas station.
The building would not be open for walk-ins. Use would go through a reservation system, and Sullivan Crovatto said that is mostly about the operating budget. She said there's "plenty of space" in the main building for reading the periodicals and the library does not want to staff a second reading room. What the annex does allow is later evening use. She described a board meeting or a nonprofit group staying about an hour past the main library's closing time without the main building having to stay open.
The building that preservationists fought to keep would end up hosting the community groups, lectures and music programs that the new library cannot fit.
Who pays, and why the date moved
The funding plan splits the estimated $2 million in half. In February, the library asked the town for a $1 million grant. Board of Finance Chair Todd Lavieri asked whether it should be split into $500,000 in each of two fiscal years. Board member Michael Chen asked whether the annex would add operating costs, and Sullivan Crovatto said "the rental income opportunity is very large" and should cover them, NewCanaanite reported. The town has since earmarked $1 million for the project in the FY27 budget. The library has applied for a Connecticut State Library grant of up to $1 million and expects a decision by the end of November. Sullivan Crovatto said some private fundraising will also be needed.
The schedule has moved back. In February, Sullivan Crovatto said town support could make it possible for the building to open for the library's 150th anniversary in 2027. The current target is late 2028. The next public step is Planning & Zoning. The library said it would file for site plan and Special Permit approval ahead of the commission's December 15 meeting. That puts the building back before the same commission that required the library to keep it.
The main building's calendar until then
The annex is at least two years away, so the events this season are in the main building. The library calendar and the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce list these dates through early December:
| Date | What's scheduled |
|---|---|
| Nov. 26–27 | Library closed for Thanksgiving |
| Dec. 4, 5:30–8:30 p.m. | Chamber Holiday Stroll, first night |
| Dec. 5, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. | Holiday Stroll continues, with Santa at 161 Elm St. |
| Dec. 5 | Public voting for the library's multigenerational Winter Cookie Decoration Contest; Norwalk Symphony "Bold and Brassy!" program |
| Dec. 10, 6–7:30 p.m. | "The Muppet Christmas Carol" screening at the library |
Plan around the café hours on December 5. The Farmer's Grind Café is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays, and it is closed on weekends. That means it will be closed for the Saturday cookie voting and symphony program. The Chamber also plans garland, white lights and sponsor tags on more than 75 downtown lampposts, displayed from Thanksgiving through January. If you walk from Elm Street to the library during the Stroll, you'll pass the sealed 1913 building at the western edge of the campus, which is still waiting on the Planning & Zoning applications the library plans to file before the December 15 meeting.
In downtown New Canaan, the 1913 library shows how much preservation decisions can affect what a building costs and how it can be used. If you own a property in the village and want to know how that history affects its value, Dannel Malloy offers a confidential conversation about it by appointment. Request a Confidential Valuation.
