ELLSWORTH, Maine — The city library is in line for a major facelift, if the project is approved by local voters in November.
If the nearly $5 million project is approved and the work done, however, the Ellsworth Public Library won’t look all that different than it does now — not from the outside, anyway.
The historic front part of the library, known as the Tisdale House, is in need of major systems upgrades, according to city and library officials. The most significant part of the proposed project
would involve the Tisdale House being moved temporarily toward State Street so rock ledge can be blasted away to make room for a finished, concrete-foundation basement. As it is, the Tisdale House, which was built in 1817, has only crawl space underneath it.
Library trustees told the City Council on Monday night that the house then would be moved back and placed on the new foundation and new plumbing, electrical, heating and ventilation systems would be installed. A significant insulation upgrade also would be part of the project, which would maintain the historic appearance of the building.
The renovation, final plans for which have not yet been designed, is expected to cost $4.95 million. City and library officials acknowledged that the projected cost is expensive, but said the historic building is in poor shape and needs to be addressed.
A rear addition to the building, which was completed in 1991, would not be part of the renovation project.
“New construction is less expensive than renovating an old building,” Ron Fortier, president of the library’s board of trustees, said at the council’s meeting Monday night.
Councilor John Moore said the Tisdale House is in a “desperate” situation.
“We don’t want to see the end of the library,” he said.
The city’s deed for the property requires the city to use it as a library or else ownership automatically reverts to the heirs of George Nixon Black, who gave it to the city in 1897, according to city officials.
Library officials have been hoping to raise additional money to add a new wing onto the library, of which only a rough concept has been developed, but the City Council decided not to link that possible expansion to the bond proposal for renovating Tisdale House.
If the library can raise around $1.5 million in private donations by the time the Tisdale House renovation gets under way, it would try to do the two projects at the same time, library officials indicated.
The council voted 5-2 in favor of submitting the bond proposal to city voters in a referendum on Nov. 3, with councilors Marc Blanchette and John Phillips opposed.
