Maria Bissell Hotchkiss and Bruce Price are names that will be forever a part of Sharon history and the historic town green. The former, the widow of prominent local industrialist Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss, donated the library to the town in memory of her late husband, who died in France in 1885. The latter was the New York City architect (and, incidentally, father of Emily Post of etiquette fame) whom she chose to design the building, which opened on September 13th, 1893.

Best known today for designing the first dozen or so houses in exclusive Tuxedo Park, New York, one of the first gated communities in the country, Bruce Price was recommended to Mrs. Hotchkiss by Timothy Dwight V, president of Yale, and had designed several buildings for the university. Price also designed the elegant Chateau Frontenac in Quebec, along with several noted Canadian Pacific hotels. While his early work was in the shingle style, in later years he embraced the Romanesque Revival style popularized by Henry Hobson Richardson – which is why architectural historians often refer to The Hotchkiss Library as Richardsonian. 

According to lore, Maria Hotchkiss was involved in every detail of the library’s construction, even choosing the local granite that was used to build it. (She actually rejected the first two samples that were submitted to her.) As a final touch, she donated a fine bust of her late husband, carved by Moses Jacob Ezekiel in 1879, that still gazes benignly down on library patrons from the second floor balcony.

When the library opened more than a century ago, the collection numbered 2,640 books. Today, we have an astonishing 14,000 items, including books, DVDs, videos and periodicals. Even after a massive weeding ably performed by library staff last year, it is not large enough to house future growth – nor does it offer handicap-accessible entrances or other facilities that meet 21st century requirements.

As a result, the Library Board has been studying the feasibility of restoring the existing building – originally created to hold no more than six to eight thousand volumes – and of building an appropriate, handicap-accessible addition that includes a larger children’s area, new study and computer areas, an updated kitchen and a community meeting room that will help ensure our role as a center of activity for the town.

Recently, we applied for and were awarded a matching grant from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and the Connecticut Humanities Council.  Officially known as the Historic Preservation Technical Assistance Grant (HPTAG), this funding has allowed us to retain the Southport-based architectural firm of J.P. Franzen Associates, who will provide preliminary designs for the restoration and addition, and are responsible for obtaining all the necessary town approvals.

Most important, according to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings, any restoration must preserve the essential form and integrity of the original historic structure.

In the near future, a model rendering of this exciting “new” library will be available for viewing, while informational meetings will be held for all interested parties. And, of course, the Board is open to comments from the public at all times.

A new and improved library is truly an essential part of our town’s future. This is not just a library project – it is a Sharon project!