317 Main Street

According to the Perspectives column in last Sunday's News-Times, 25 years ago this week Nolan Enterprises was in the process of renovating the then-73-year-old Godfrey building on the corner of Main and Crosby streets into "nine new studio-style apartments." Why is it that new Main Street construction hardly ever follows this pattern of street-level shops and housing or offices above?

Here's a closeup of the detail over the front windows.

17-19-21 Library Place

Who needs to go to Boston or New York, when Danbury has its own classy rowhouses like these, just a few steps from Main Street? As you can guess by the address, they have a view of the side of the Old Library. Unfortunately, they also have a view of the construction of the new parking garage. Still, how cool would it be to have an address on Library Place?

Look at the details in the brickwork and the ornamentation. You won't find this kind of construction in a new apartment or condo.

I don't know if the interiors have been maintained as well as the exteriors have been, but I certainly hope so. This trio is a treasure.

Another Rainy Day Book

It's Friday, and it's raining here in Danbury. So what else is new? I'm swamped with the start of the new semester, that's what. But I am also privileged to have a copy of the most beautiful textbook that I have ever had the pleasure to buy. I never had anything like this in any of the math or computer science classes I ever took.

You can search for the Smithsonian Book of Books in Worldcat, which will find you a copy in a library near you. Not all libraries with on-line catalogs participate in WorldCat, so you might want to check your local libraries, too.

September 11 Memorial

The September 11th Memorial occupies an honored position in the smaller of the two Main Street islands that comprise Elmwood Park, directly in front of the old courthouse at 71 Main Street.

The glass monument, designed with approximately the same proportions as the World Trade towers, is etched with the names of the Connecticut victims of the attacks. The memorial was dedicated two years ago today.

Wasted Resources

I'm feeling simultaneously virtuous and suckered. What can induce this state of mind? Why, doing yardwork on a beautiful holiday afternoon, of course. I mowed the lawn today. If ever there was a human activity more wasteful of both human resources and petroleum resources than keeping a lawn, I'd like to know what it is. Next year shall be the year of the edible landscape, and I don't mean for sheep and goats. (I'd have a goat, but city ordinances forbid me to keep even a chicken or two on my quarter acre, so I'm pretty sure goats are ruled out, too.)

Here are two Main Street sites that illustrate another way to waste precious real estate. Neither of these buildings seems to want to be on Main Street, as demonstrated by the vast expanses of asphalt that they have placed between themselves and the sidewalk. Both of them would be more at home in a strip mall. Fortunately for the rest of Main Street, these buildings are almost directly across the street from each other, and so can keep each other company.

The supermarket is within walking distance of several multiple housing units, both rentals and condos, and yet the parking lot was clearly designed for far more automobiles than I have ever seen there. Maybe this is the only way that the big chain supermarkets know how to build, regardless of the location. They could have used some advice from Gristedes in New York City or Caraluzzi's in Bethel, and located it with an entrance, or at least a walkway, from the sidewalk, so as to be more welcoming to pedestrians.

The smaller building, by contrast, seems to have too few parking spaces for its purposes. I wish the building had been sited so that the entrance would be closer to the sidewalk, and with the parking spaces at the rear of the building, as many Main Street commercial buildings have done.

Rainy Day Books, pt. 1

This was never meant to be a book blog, but I am a library student after all. And it's been raining here in Danbury for several days, which can make for some very interesting artistic photography, but not so much when you're trying to represent the architectural highlights of Main Street in their best light.

I just finished reading Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places, by John R. Stilgoe, Orchard Professor of Landscape History at Harvard University. (I'm not making that up; that's what it says on the back cover.) The author's purpose in writing this little (187 pp) book is to open our eyes to the man-made landscape, and in particular to those portions of it that we have been conditioned to ignore: power line, rail, and interstate rights-of-way; the strips of land behind commercial strip malls; all the main roads that immediately became "back roads" when the interstate came through. If you've ever wondered why it takes so long to get a letter from Point A to Point B, when some cities used to have twice-a-day mail delivery; if you've ever wondered about all those faded enameled signs at the town limits, announcing the monthly meetings of various men's service clubs; if the idea of being a modern day explorer, on foot or on a bicycle, appeals to you, then you'll enjoy this book.

170 Main Street, pre-1968

This item appeared yesterday in the “Perspectives” column of the Sunday Danbury News-Times. The caption reads: “An undated postcard, from the collection of Paul Gassner of Danbury, shows Danbury’s City Hall at the corner of Main and West streets and the Methodist Church next to it. Both later were torn down and the Danbury Public Library now occupies the site.”

The Soldiers’ Monument still stands, but the two buildings are long gone. I understand the practical problems of maintaining an old building with outdated plumbing, electrical, and heating systems, but still… Was there no way to save either of these magnificent old buildings that were built to last forever? What a heart-wrenching sight it must have been to see the wrecking ball make that first swing. I guarantee that if I had lived in Danbury in 1968, they would not have gone down without a fight.

170 Main Street

The Danbury Public Library sits at the corner of Main and West Streets, at the heart of CityCenter. This was formerly the site of City Hall, and was known as City Hall Plaza until 1968, when residents approved bond issues for a new City Hall on Deer Hill Avenue, a new public library where City Hall once stood, fire headquarters and additional schools. I like the classic styling with the portico and full-height columns that immediately tell us where the entrance is. This building is proud to be situated on Main Street, as well it should be.

In 1996 a fire destroyed most of the interior of the library. It was closed for renovations for six months and reopened to the public in September of the same year, with new furnishings, a new local history room, and new meeting space. In May of 1998, the Technology Center was added in the space over the adjoining Union Savings Bank branch to house twenty general purpose public computers, ten computers used for free self-directed instruction in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and a conference room. Free computer classes are offered here each month.

Now known as Library Plaza, the plaza was recently renovated with a new fountain, new seating, and new landscaping, and draws the visitor in from every direction. The rear entrance was enhanced by the addition of more parking spaces and a beautiful butterfly garden. If you haven't visited for a while, you're in for a lot of pleasant surprises.

I think it's one of the best libraries in Connecticut, but I'm a little biased. If you'd like a peek at the interior, there are more photos here.

331 Main Street

If all goes according to plan, sometime next year this building will become the Hat Box Theater, a project conceived and nurtured by Danbury native (well, almost a native) David Katz, artistic director of Hat City Music Theater since 2000. Danbury architect Leigh Overland has created a design that will seat about 80 people theater-style, and somewhat fewer when arranged cabaret-style. It will include a business office, box office, dressing rooms, a small garden, and a coffee bar and lobby seating. The wonderful glass block tower will be illuminated, and the art deco tile facade restored. You can read more about it in this article from FairfieldWeekly.

Danbury has not had a regular venue for live theater since D'ART (Danbury Area Repertory Theatre) departed from its home at the St. James' Church auditorium on West Street many years ago, and I am very excited about the possibilities for a permanent venue for performing arts. The worst night of live theater is still better than the best night of television.

Until last year, this was the home of Pride Cleaners, and had been ever since I can remember. It sure looks like it could have been a modern gas station from the 1950s, doesn't it? But the building is too large for a gas station, unless it was later expanded to house the cleaners. I would love to hear from anyone who remembers when Pride Cleaners was new and what, if anything, was there before it.

181-183 Main Street

The F.A. Hull Building, at the corner of Main and Liberty, was built in 1907. I know this not from doing any research, but because the information is carved on the pediment (although you may not be able to see it at this resolution). Mr. Hull must have been very proud of this building.

Note the classic Main Street elements: built to the sidewalk, shops on the ground level, two or three floors of offices and/or affordable apartments above. The building is proportional to the width of the street, giving pedestrians a feeling of a human-sized environment. Note the brickwork and other ornamentation, especially about the third floor. No one decorates buildings like this anymore.

71 Main Street

This is the old Fairfield County Court House, built at the turn of the 20th century. The State of Connecticut Judicial Branch web site has more information on the history of this building, along with images of some postcards of it when it was brand new. You can find them here. It has held up pretty well, don't you think? It is still in use today for Juvenile Matters. If you had to come here, you'd know immediately where the main entrance is. There is no forbidding stretch of asphalt to cross, but the building is set back from the sidewalk more than a block of shops and offices and apartments would be, which is appropriate for an important public building.

I don't yet have a photo of the "new" courthouse over on White Street, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it doesn't have a fraction of the character that this building has. Maybe we just don't care as much about the new courthouse as we do about the old courthouse.

256 Main Street

This is the old library, at the corner of Main Street and Library Place. All of the buildings on Main Street had a good power-washing a few years ago, and they really do look nice. Notice how it was built right out to the sidewalk, which was refurbished a few years ago. The entrance is grand and important...and obvious. The entrance stands tall, as do the windows. It is a building that respects Main Street by showing Main Street its best face. There is no vast stretch of asphalt parking lot to be crossed to get to the entrance. Pedestrians are clearly welcomed here.

This location was originally the site of the White family homestead. Local hat manufacturer and philanthropist Alexander White donated the land and paid for the library’s construction. The library opened in 1879 and was in operation until the new library at Main and West Streets was completed sometime after 1968. This building is now the home of the Danbury Music Centre.

Welcome to Main Street, Danbury, CT

The inspiration for this blog came together from many sources. I have been reading the non-fiction work of James Howard Kunstler on sustainable and livable cities, and in particular the volumes The Geography of Nowhere and Home From Nowhere. I recently acquired a digital camera. I just went to a workshop today on the use of "social software" in libraries.* Last but not least, I needed to develop a program for my local library for my final project in ILS 561, Public Libraries, at Southern Connecticut State University.

I have always been an architecture buff, much preferring the classical lines of the 19th and early 20th century to most of today's utilitarian, but unbeautiful, structures. (Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the few who designed buildings that were both beautiful and functional.) Downtown Danbury has suffered much over the last twenty years since the mall opened in 1986, but many beautiful buildings from the beginning of the 20th century and earlier still survive. It is my hope that this project will become a collaboration of all the people of Danbury and will help to inspire a wave of renewed interest in enjoying and preserving the best of our heritage. Main Street will be our primary focus, but from time to time we will venture out from the center, never more than a five or ten minute walk from Main Street, to see what a livable city looks like in its totality. And occasionally we will look at buildings that just don't fit in, and analyze why they don't.

*The workshop was presented at Darien Public Library by Jenny Levine and Michael Stephens. If you ever get a chance to see their "Roadshow," do not miss it!