Morning journal and courier., 1882-11-28

To the committee it seemed profitable to think I
of this proposed destruction of property and j
addition to our burdens in connection with
our present aggregate town and city debt and
the very large inevitable increase of the same
within the next two or three years and the
two per cent. tax we must all face next year
made necessary by the long neglected west
side trunk sewer, which must cost not far
from $500, OOO
Then the town debt now is about 100000
The city debt 600, 900
The estimates for the next year, now
before the Committee on Finance,
understood to be about 100000
To the committee it seemed undesirable
Just now to destroy any useful city property
OR to take up any and unnecessary bur
dens or even to give any excuse for clamor
for new building that must be paid for if
made and is not likely to be paid for in mere
olamor.
The next argument for the removal of this
building is that it is damp and uaaaoAolesonae
| that it is unsafe, unsightly and useless; an
object of disgust and derision for it's misera
BILE construction, its false pretences, for be-
| ing in fact pretentious lath and plaster
YANKEES court house and stucco caricature
of Greek temple that it will cost 800 OOG |
| to 49, 600 to properly repair. This objec- |
| tion rests upon substantially four allegations
of fact and is also an expression of offended |
| taste. There is way to bring discussion |
resting on taste to a satisfactory end, no way |
| to verify the conclusion. The original from |
l
| BILE, simple and strong, and has received the |
| concurring plaudits of many generations of |
cultivated, art-loving people This copy is,
| in the estimation of many persons fit to
! judge, singularly successful effort of large
| capacity and true feeling for art, working
| under the limitations of small peouniary re-
| sources and adapting to the ends of modern
| utility one of the most simple, manly and
| admirable of the ancient forms and that one
most in keeping with the spirit and character
| of the men of New Haven fifty years ago.
But be that as it may neither this council nor
this generation is responsible for its original
| creation those who came five years after
wards graded this ground and placed around
this building the marble now in decay; of
them their work you not called to be
proud. Of the waste and ruin our neglect
| and inattention have here wrought we need
| to be heartily ashamed. No building
| have erected will endure the neglect this
|, building has met and survive for fifty years
so well as this has done.
Il Mr.. Maher the builder, testified that he
had constructed building entirely free from
, | ddana'zess where it is surrounded at all times
, by two feet deep of water. This stands on
| dry, sandy soil, on high sloping ground that
, | by simple, proper grading is admirably fitted
to cary off surface water, and it is not far
from the Temple street sewer. The present
grading the west side brings the surface
, drainage and the water from the caves, and
! that which is blown against the west side of
S the building, directly into and under the
a j basement IN part this water runs down De-
ell tween the main and the facing walls it froze
= there, rusted and broke the anchors and
: | threw down part of the west facing wall
| Then the water closets are connected with
Q inadequate cesspools and are not ventilated
g into any heated fue.
!. These facts explain the alleged dampness
v and EMBELLISHMENTS of the basement and
q suggest how ge'y cheap and efficient forever
s the remedy really is.
@ But the upper stories also are said to be
TtA Euin<
u in the building for the last five years and the
@ members of the Historical society who have
8 visited their rooms daily for years dc not re-
3 port that the upper stories of this building
/. are damp, but quite the reverse. On the
q walls of the Governors rooms the tinted pa
d per shows no sign of dampness, nor do the
o books and papers of the Historical society
IL nor their pictures hung against the walls
= nor do the polished steel guns and pistols,
q nor the polished surfaces of brass and brass
q fabrics there exhibited for five years show
a signs of dampness or of rust. To the COM
mittee these facts seem decisive.
}, ''UNsATE."
Q The City Engineer, the Committee on
u | Buildings of the Board of Aldermen, a ma
| jority of the Commissioners of Public Build
l. | ings, after careful examination, do not re-
y | gard this building unsafe. It has been
u used by large numbers of people, and no
o one, unless, perhaps, he wished to brighten a
. Legislature into an appropriation for repairs,
'sUsELEss.'
l., The present occupants do not so regard it ;
% this fact IS important if not decisive. Then
" the fundamental notion of our government
!, rests on a free public hall in every town we
J. have none and this building can easily and
1t cheaply furnish one the school district are
D. | this moment embarrassed for want of room
70 for their night schools-particularly for the
N italian children, and that embarrassment is
X fast increasing; the Board of Associated
9. Charities pay over 5000 annual rent. easily
N | saved to the benefciaries by giving them
le rooms in this building; the trade unions, the
IS | various organizations of workingmen, with
IF debating clubs and temperance and Other
70 wholesome organizations, might we'll have
y free meeting rooms here to the manifest ad
at vantage of them and of the peoples
g. It seems to be the nearly unanimous voice
j. | of the whole city that we must Immediately
a. commence free public library. And to al
" but one of the committee Mr.. Barnes] this
r building seems very well situated and very
ID well adapted to use for the first few years in
D. the growth of city library. In this they
10 are sustained by the opinions of some of the
r best professional librarians in this country.
" Mr.. w. I. Fletcher, the accomplished libra
ID rian of the Hartford Watkinson Reference
'. Library, says cts situation is admirable for
al the purpose of public library" 'Admira.
8, bly, situated says Mr.. s. s: Green, the libra
ID rian of Worcester; "placed near the center
% of business and yet where readers can enjoy
,e quiet" Mr.. Poole, the librarian of Chicago,
in almost, if not quite, at the head of his pro
s. fession in this country, says that "a large
a. reference library should be surrounded by g
it wide open space and should be away from
I'd business centers.''
IS Mr. Van Name, of the College library, was
t. understood to agree substantially in the fore
II going views, and Mr.. Barnes, of our com
nittee, considers that the very best available
g. place IN the city for library building is the
IF upper corner of Temple and Chapel streets
ID location only four or five hundred feet from
v this building.
l. If we were now to erect there a library
,e building such as we should certainly build il
ID we built at all, the annual interest and insu-
!, | rance charges will Le more than the whole
10 value of the yearly increase in books. Yet
" we should need q aohoIe building and must
1t bear all the charges for interest and insu
To- rance on the whole building while it could,
lie books. This waste of interest and insurance,
ID before we should need building it seemed
ID desirable to avoid.
ID Again many of the ablest librarians and
N architects-special experts in the real needs
rs of libraries-are not yet agreed as to the
proper form and construction of library
in buildings; they are agreed that radical
re- change is imperatively demanded. Says
a. Fletcher 'This is crisis in the matter of
b library architecture that the barn style
IF with its mows and threshing floor is to be
% abandoned is the unanimous voice of the Ii
,r brarians of the country and at least tacitly,
c. of those of Europe" AVOID says Mr..
Poole, 'sall that pertains to the plan and ar
,e rangement of the conventional American
ID library building" and the set and drift OF
70 the best thought at present seems to be de.
,e cidedy towards such form for the interior
n that of the State House. But by the
ID time the library grows to need building by
% itself some of the questions as to proper
,e form and construction of suitable building
20 will probably be safely settled.
IF sTUCCO
1t is said that this building is wretchedly
/ bad because it is succeed and not marble.
10 Unluckily for this statement it is conspicu-
,. ously the marble and not the stucco that Is
q in decay, and although never once painted in
oil this stucco has remained steadfast for
10 fifty years.
le The argument for the removal did not
"a seem conclusive or unanswered unless the
le expense of the restoration should be dispro-