Letter: Renovation of an Historic Library or a Second Bangs Center?
The architects have yet to specify which original millwork in the Jones Library is to be retained in the renovation and expansion. Plans are to remove and discard about 25% of the original millwork. Photo: amherstma.gov
The following letter was sent to the Amherst Town Council on June 12, 2024.
When I read about the current plans for the renovation of the Jones library, it sounds more like the description of a second Bangs Community Center -a building with only a nod to history (front façade retained), a massed building at the back with minimal landscaping surrounding it, plain interior walls, linoleum flooring, and an asphalt clad roof (which will not be adequate in the long term for solar panels). And indeed, words like “community center” are creeping into the current promotion of the library expansion and renovation.
Unfortunately, this proposed renovated building will be neither fish nor foul – unnecessarily big for our library needs, but inadequate as a badly needed community center. A real community center would have space for seniors, a teen center with a gym, an auditorium, a dining space, and rooms to house other interests of town citizens. We will never get that real community center if the library gets built as planned.
My mother, Winifred Sayer, was the first curator of the Special Collections at the Jones. She said people came from all over the world and never failed to comment on the beauty and specialness of the Jones, the intimate, human centered vibe, its delightful children’s wing, the artistic and mellow woodwork found throughout the building and the historic appeal of the building itself. This is a draw for out-of-towners to come visit Amherst and fits well with the Emily Dickinson/Robert Frost town history.
So, we have a choice: Treasure our historic Jones Library with a thoughtful renovation or pay a very high price for an expanded and stripped down library/community building that will be unsatisfactory for either purpose.
If I had the choice to vote again, I would vote no to the current iteration of the Jones Library expansion.
Mary Sayer
Mary Sayer is a resident of Amherst’s District One
This is a sensible comment. I offered similar points a year or so ago when my wife and I were ‘recruited’ to tour the building and hear a presentation about the project. If this were a library only facility, with books, mixed media, and some display space for art work, the size would be significantly smaller. Historic features could be preserved, and energy efficiency maximized. It’s a pity that functions which could have been located in a more modern community center building were shoehorned into the Jones.