A new library project for Sandwich Town is taking shape.
Plans for the $2.5 million restoration and renovation of the Sandwich Fire Hall and Stable on Mill St. were unveiled.
Architect Jason Grossi says the building will enhance and restore the heritage buildings already on the property with a modern "bridge" built between the to structures.
He says the 50-ft between the fire hall and the stable will be that bridge, literally.
Blueprints showing the bridge to be built between heritage structures for the new Sandwich Public Library. (Photo by AM800's Gord Bacon)
"To get from the second floor of the fire-hall to the second floor of the stable, which is really a hay loft right now, you're really going to cross over a bridge to get there and look down into the children's area," Grossi says. "You're going to walk right over the stacks into the historic collections in the stable."
Grossi says the end goal is to create something modern while preserving the classic look of the existing buildings.
"Contemporary library, but at the same time it's a heritage library. It's a heritage library in the fact that there are actually two heritage structures on the site. One is the stable from 1900 and the other is a fire-hall from 1921," he says.
He told AM800 News there are some issues that have been addressed with the final design.
"Both of these buildings are very small, with a very small footprint. Trying to put a contemporary piece in between two of them that doesn't dwarf in scale the size of these existing buildings was the other challenge," Grossi says.
Architect Jason Grassi, says the the Sandwich Library will incorporate the old with new. #cklw pic.twitter.com/xm7XX22vBt
— Gord Bacon (@baconAM800) May 10, 2017
Much of the design is meant to point to the fire-hall's new purpose according to Grossi.
"We aren't really at liberty to change any of the fenestration of the original building other than to restore," he says. "Having the building read, in other words, having people understand what it is by looking at is a real challenge here ... there are little clues through the glass of the building that this is now a library."
Artist rendering of the planned Sandwich Public Library showing the new structure to be built between the existing fire hall and stable. (Photo by AM800's Gord Bacon)
Work is set to begin this year.
Grossi says with restorations it's a hard to tell how long it will take to get the job done properly, but he anticipates the project shouldn't take longer than a year.