Public Comment: Protect the Architectural Integrity of the 1928 Jones Library Building
Jones Library entrance. Photo: Hetty Startup
The following public comment was sent to the Amherst Historical Commission in advance of their public hearings on August 22, 2024
My husband and I have lived in Amherst for 35 years and raised our family here. I am writing to express my concern about the adverse historical effects of the proposed expansion plan for the Jones Library. As a student in the Architecture and Law Schools at the University of Virginia, I learned to appreciate the importance of historic preservation legislation in protecting the architectural legacy of our cities and towns.
The Town of Amherst has consistently recognized historic preservation as a fundamental planning principle. In 1991, the Town applied to the federal government to put the Town’s Central Business District, including the Jones Library, on the U.S. Register of Historic Places. The Jones Library was also placed in the Massachusetts Register of Historic Places. Since then, the Town has entered into a Preservation Restriction Agreement with the Library and enacted legislation that incorporates preservation principles set for by the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) and the U.S. Department of the Interior (36 CFR 67-68).
The Town’s 2021 Historic Structure Report (HSR) for the Jones Library included “Guidelines for the Treatment of the 1928 Library”:
- First and foremost, any work affecting the 1928 library should be done in a way that avoids altering or damaging the historic integrity of the building.
- Respect for the original design intent, features, and elements must be considered in the planning, design, and implementation of improvements. Ideally, the use of spaces should be compatible with the original plan and function so as to minimize changes to the layout and volume of the spaces.
- Original materials and character-defining elements should be retained to the greatest extent possible.
- New programs introduced into the original library building should be sympathetic to the historic fabric of the spaces.
- Materials used in the repair of the building should meet or exceed the quality used in its original construction.
- Repairs made to original material should match the workmanship of the original construction in appearance and quality of execution.
The SHR also noted that “as a historic feature, a building’s floor plan is as important as its exterior appearance, for it is the floor plan that explains how a building was used and how it operated; without it, a building becomes stripped of its personality.”
Clearly, the Town has taken these steps to protect our unique downtown from the pressures of modernization that have ruined so many downtowns all over the country. But the current plan to expand the Jones Library building flies in the face of every legislative and advisory measure the Town has adopted with regard to the historic preservation of its buildings.
Executive Director of the MHC Brona Simon’s letters of Dec. 29, 2023 and April 26, 2024 should be of paramount significance to the AHC’s deliberations regarding the demolition permit and the Preservation Restriction Agreement. Simon found that the plan failed to meet five of the ten historic preservation standards established by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior and adopted by the MHC. The “valued engineered” plan will result in even greater adverse effects than the earlier plan that Simon ruled on earlier this year.
As the Historic Structure Report noted, “while change is inevitable, it does not need to occur at the sacrifice of the historic integrity of the structure. Future growth can be achieved successfully; however, accomplishing this requires careful planning and skillful execution.” The town’s historic preservation standards require a more historically sensitive approach that will meet today’s needs while retaining the original character of the building. As they say, It’s time to walk the walk. The Town of Amherst is a New England treasure because of its history and its historic buildings.
As members of the Amherst Historical Commission, you must adhere to the historic preservation standards established by the Town in order to ensure that the historic integrity of the Jones Library is preserved.
Mickey Rathbun is a resident of Amherst
In her public comment presented at the Amherst Historical Commission meetings on August 22, 2024, Mickey Rathbun said the following:
” As a trial lawyer in New York I wrote a lot of jury instructions. The instructions always boil down to a simple proposition: Jurors must apply the relevant legal standards to the facts of the case and determine whether the legal standards have been violated or not. Extraneous facts or personal opinions must be disregarded. As Members of the Commission, you have a similar role. In this case, you must apply the town’s historic preservation goals and standards –that’s equivalent to the relevant law– to the proposed library expansion and demolition plan – that’s equivalent to the facts of the case. You are to determine whether the proposed plan complies with the town’s historic preservation standards. It is NOT your job to consider other aspects of the project such as cost and need and time pressure. ”
Sadly, the Amherst Historical Commission did not heed her instruction to apply the town’s historic preservation standards which are identical to the standards that the state said that the library design had violated. They still have another opportunity to properly execute their duties when the hearing resumes on Wednesday August 28 at 7 p.m.