By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—On Tuesday, September 3, the Brandon Free Public Library (BFPL) welcomed the public back into its historic building on the corner of Park and Franklin Streets after a massive $4-million-plus renovation that added over 2,000 square feet to the structure and redesigned the interior to bring it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“It’s going to serve everybody better,” said BFPL Director Molly Kennedy as she helped put the final touches on the public spaces this weekend. “It’s been a lot of work, but it feels good to be back in here with our team pulling it all together.”
The new design includes 2 ADA-compliant restrooms, an elevator that accesses all four levels, an ADA-compliant main entryway, a revamped kids’ section, a new “teen room,” a new community meeting space, dedicated computer stations, and expanded space for administrative offices.
“There hadn’t been any updates since the 1960s,” Ms. Kennedy added. “We weren’t in compliance with the ADA. We didn’t have accessible bathrooms and the ADA requires two. People with mobility issues couldn’t access the upper floors. This was essentially an accessibility project.”
What began as an “accessibility project” soon became something more: an opportunity to bring the whole building into the 21st century not just in terms of ADA compliance but also in terms of energy efficiency, safety, and usability. Libraries are no longer just repositories of books; they serve multiple community needs and BFPL’s building no longer felt adequate.
“The building has a lot of historic importance and charm, but it wasn’t built as a library and we were struggling to make it do all the things the community needed it to do today,” said BFPL Board President David Roberts.
The building was originally constructed in the 1830s and served over the decades as a furniture manufacturer and a millinery. Its industrial origins are still evident in the large exterior doors on the upper floors used to lower large pieces of furniture to the street. It was known in those years as “the Parmenter Block.”
The building was purchased and donated to BFPL by benefactors in 1910. In 1916, those same benefactors purchased and donated to BFPL the houses adjacent to the library on Park Street, which the library still owns and rents out as apartments. In the 1960s, an addition was built connecting the main library building and the adjacent houses. And, until now, that was the last work that was done to the structure.
The need for the renovation was apparent years ago, but the various elements needed to make it happen didn’t align until more recently.
“We’d been talking about this renovation since 1992,” said Ms. Kennedy. “But it takes a certain board dynamic to make something like this happen,” said Ms. Kennedy. Kennedy added that even though BFPL had had great board members in the past, things fell into place more recently that allowed the project to move forward.
“We’d already interviewed 10 or so architects and chosen VIA [Vermont Integrated Architecture of Middlebury], but I really credit David [Roberts] with taking all our initial work and getting it done.”
Mr. Roberts, whose background was in finance, steered the board through the labyrinth of fundraising, financing, and government regulations that were necessary to see the project to fruition.
“There were a lot of moving parts,” said Mr. Roberts, who joined the board in 2018 and became president in 2020. “Earlier boards had gotten the ball rolling but there were some big bumps we had to get over.”
Fundraising
First, of course, was the funding. Initial estimates proved woefully incorrect when construction costs spiked after COVID. What had been thought to be a $2-million project ballooned to over $4 million when all the bids finally came in. The extra costs also included asbestos abatement, which had not figured into the initial estimates but which turned out to be necessary when the carcinogen was discovered in the 1960s addition.
This was a devastating blow to the board, as they and the Friends of the Brandon Library had successfully raised $2 million from events, auctions, grants, and dozens of private donors—with much help from a private fundraising consulting firm, Demont Associates, whose initial work for the library had been a gift from Chris and Rob Naylor. Now they had to figure out where the rest of the money would come from without asking for local taxpayer support.
The board made the decision to scale back the project, trimming off features they deemed desirable but unnecessary and breaking the project into three phases that will be completed as funding is secured. The first two phases have been completed. Phase 3 will encompass the basement and the attic, which will both be converted into usable space.
The board was able to secure additional money from Brandon’s ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) allocation and through Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS), which are federal grants sponsored by members of Congress. BFPL is currently completing the paperwork to receive the $1 million CDS grant that was sponsored by Sen. Peter Welch.
The construction process
BFPL vacated the historic building in spring of 2023 and, with the help of the OV baseball team, moved most of its books to temporary lodgings in the lower-level room at the Brandon Town Hall, which had been graciously offered by the Brandon Selectboard. Some material was placed in storage around town. Board member Carol Fjeld oversaw that process and Brandon resident and architect Robert Black designed an effective layout for the temporary space that allowed BFPL to function smoothly for the duration of its time there.
The physical construction was overseen and largely executed by Brandon’s own Naylor & Breen. On BFPL’s side, the main supervisor was board member Bruce Ness, whose professional background in mechanical engineering proved invaluable in keeping the project on track.
“Carol and Robert executed the move with military precision,” said Mr. Ness. “And Naylor & Breen was exemplary. But once the structure was laid bare, we saw unanticipated structural deficiencies that couldn’t have been addressed in the design phase.”
“There were a few ‘oh no’ moments along the way,” said David Roberts.
An addition had to be built onto the rear of the building to accommodate the 4-floor elevator shaft, new stairwell, and new community and administrative spaces. But when that rear façade was being prepped, the crew discovered that the wooden sill on which three stories of brick rested was rotted through and the stone foundation was falling apart. The brick had to be removed and the sill replaced. The whole façade had to be reframed.
As was the convention at the time the building was constructed, much of the internal structure was post & beam, and many of those posts and beams had either rotted or been compromised by choices made by previous generations.
“We saw joists that had been cut away,” said Ness. “Some of the posts that supported the exterior structure had been cut into to make room for bookshelves. The tree trunks that supported the building in the basement were rotted and had to be replaced. But my favorite thing is the steel beams that we needed to add in the attic to reinforce the wooden trusses that hold up the entire building. Those trusses were starting to sag and there’s no way to raise them up. We had to add the beams. A lot of the project was just trying to halt any continued deterioration.”
BFPL retained as much of the original material as possible. The wood floors beneath the modern carpet were refinished. The pressed-tin ceiling was preserved. The wooden railing around the central atrium was retained. While the interior has clearly been refurbished, it maintains its historic character.
“Vermont Historic Preservation was adamant about keeping as much as we could,” said Roberts. “And it’s what we would’ve done anyway.”
Trees were logged from Hawk Hill behind Otter Valley Union High School to provide lumber for some of the interior features as well. The new circulation desk is topped by maple from Hawk Hill, as are the half-walls in the stairwell. Len Schmidt and Eric Sanborn oversaw the logging, with Mr. Schmidt also constructing a new bench from the wood for the vestibule. Board member Jeff Haylon, also a professional woodworker, crafted the countertops and some cabinetry.
Legacy
“The reopening is the culmination of countless volunteer hours and generous donations from our community,” said Roberts. “It represents the value we place on our library as one of the cornerstones of our town. I want to thank our staff, our board, the Friends of the Brandon Library, and everyone else who helped us when we needed it.”
“I find it exciting to see what a community does when we share a vision and pool our talents and resources,” said Carol Fjeld, former board member and current President of the Friends of the Brandon Library. “Now we have the space to truly accommodate the needs of folks from Brandon and the surrounding communities.”
Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. sharp, Ms. Kennedy and her staff opened the doors to the public, welcoming patrons to the new space. First in line was Helyn Anderson, a Brandon resident since 1978 who lives right across the street.
“The library is where you go not just to get books,” she said. “It’s also where you go to connect with your community.”
The community now has a library accessible to everyone and ready to serve all.
