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A ‘Glorious Building’ Reborn in Sag

The restoration and expansion of the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor should be complete by the end of the year.
The restoration and expansion of the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor should be complete by the end of the year.
Durell Godfrey
John Jermain Library restoration and expansion polishes a 1910 gem
By
Britta Lokting

Behind a Porta--Potty and heaps of rubble, the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor continues to chug through its long, drawn-out construction phase. But with the latest completion date projected for the end of this year, the library’s fervent director, Cathy Creedon, can finally envision the structure, despite its still-skeletal annex in back, as a functioning form.

Several steps above street level, the original 1910 Classical Revival library regally oversees a corner on Main Street across from the Whaling and Historical Museum, which once served as the summer home of the library’s founder, Mrs. Russell Sage. Today, the library appears to have held up nicely, but a decade ago, Ms. Creedon discovered it crumbling with soggy bricks and realized it not only needed an expansion but also preservation. The library received a permit in 2012 and she has since been toiling away with architects, construction workers, village residents, and government entities to both retain the library’s earliest beauty and add a modern wing.

“It’s such a glorious building,” she said, admiring its exterior one recent afternoon before a tour of the site. “The level of support has never wavered.”

A sculpture of five books atop a stone column beside the entrance reveals the funding the project has received. Each book’s spine displays contributions descending from $1 million to $200,000. Throughout the tour Ms. Creedon giddily praised these contributions, which have now reached $14.5 million, including $10 million received in a referendum approved by the Sag Harbor School District in 2009.

Upon beginning construction, numerous surprises, some favorable and others distressing, waited for Ms. Creedon and her team. The echoing interior of the original library sweeps out into a circular foyer. The terrazzo mosaic tiles Ms. Creedon unearthed on this level still lay beneath dust and plastic sheets, but the gift delighted her and she left it as the flooring. This mezzanine will become a digital classroom fitted with a projector, alcoves, and cozy round offices.

On the molding near the ceiling in a corner office, mold resembling ivory fungus still latches onto the plaster. Ms. Creedon plans to scrape it off and seemed more concerned that the necessary overhead sprinkler system is an eyesore. To fix this annoyance, she tracked down four of the original six chandeliersto help distract from the unsightly heads. A few were hiding in the basement of the Whaling Museum, but she refused to disclose the location of the others.

A shaft carved from the left wall on the first floor contains a spiral staircase with wood-varnished handrails and freshly painted slate spinals. It leads one flight up to the octagonal, brick rotunda built by Guastavino, the architect who designed iconic tile arches like the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station.

The stained-glass dome with a petal flower in the center caused a few frustrations after Ms. Creedon found it leaking. Furthermore, the copper encasing had deteriorated from screws twisting into the metal. Workers removed the windowpane, piece by piece, cleaned it, and resorted it. This area will transform into a reading room, and tucked by the fireplace alcove, an area once used as a storeroom, stands the quarter-sawn tiger oak bookcases that will eventually line the perimeter.

“I don’t love oak, but I love this woodwork,” Ms. Creedon said.

Since this project began, Ms. Creedon has turned into a kind of amateur engineer, although she demurs that title. Through a door leading to the new three-story expansion, she talked about the seismic joint connecting the two buildings, a link used so as not to harm the older library.

The 7,000-square-foot addition hugs the back of the original building in a semicircle. It is still a bare-bone framework of concrete and metal rods, but it feels vastly more contemporary than the original library. Ms. Creedon explained the United States Department of the Interior recommends new additions not minimize the characteristics of the original structure so that if they are ever removed, the older building can once again stand on its own. High windows, through which western light will stream in, contrast from the peepholes in the original library. Down a back staircase with rubber flooring, windows look out onto a not-yet-existent garden. On the basement level, a glass tracking door will block off a conference room for about 30 people.

Ms. Creedon painted a vivid picture of the completed library, but the majority of the area still remains a pile of bricks. Only a handful of workers labored away on July 6 and with each day alternating between the glass and steel crews, it has been a slow process.

“They have to step it up,” Ms. Creedon whispered. A sign leaning on the white fence cordoning off the construction zone optimistically reads 2013 as the completion year. Nonetheless, Ms. Creedon excitedly awaits the refurbished library’s debut and ignored the glare and dust cloaking her laptop screen as she showed off photographs and renderings even after the tour ended.

 

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