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| SUNDAY, JULY 13, 2014 | NORTH HEMPSTEAD-OYSTER BAY

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BY WILL JAMESwill.james@newsday.com

Once upon a time,East HamptonLibrary’s board ofmanagersdreamed up a newchildren’s addi-

tion. That was 11 years ago,before many of the wing’s even-tual patrons were even born.

After more than a decade ofcourt battles, procedural wran-gling and fundraising, the$6.5 million addition finallyopened on June 21. As childrenburst through the doors, theycame into a 6,800-square-footspace with a nautical theme thathighlights eastern Long Island’spast. It was crafted by Manhat-tan-based Lee H. Skolnick Archi-

tecture + Design Partnership andis supposed to look like no otherlibrary in the country, theproject’s designers said.

Librarians sit behind — or,rather, inside — a desk shaped

like a 16-foot-long dory. A pair of10-foot-tall model lighthouses,complete with blinking lights,marks the entrance to the tod-dlers’ section, where childrencan tap on six iPads pro-

grammed with educational apps.Overhead, lights shaped like

flocking seagulls, or perhapswhite books cracked open at thespine, hang from a ceiling paint-ed like a pale sky at the beach.

On the floor, a sprawlingmap depicts the East End,complete with a sea serpentslithering off the South Forkand American Indians rowing acanoe across Peconic Bay.

“I think it came out beautiful-ly,” said Silke Oellrich ofSprings, who brought her chil-

Librarygoes full sailto enthrall children

The new children's wing opened its doors June 21.

Window seats and building blocks stored within East Hampton’s initials are part of the attractions in the wing’s toddler room.

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ON THE COVER. A book isbetter when it’s being readunder the sails of the giantwindmill at the center of theEast Hampton Library addition.

Nautical touches in new East Hampton wing let kids’ imaginations soarRA

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dren, ages 16 months, 5 and 8, tothe library the week after itopened. “I think they did such agreat job with the architecture,and they tied in the water andthe nautical, and everything thatsymbolizes what the Hamptonsis around us.”

Perhaps the most strikingfeature is a 16-foot-tall wind-mill towering over it all, like anoversized toy. It’s easy to for-get that the addition also maderoom for 10,000 more books.

“We wanted something new,

fresh and different, somethingno other library had,” saidTom Twomey, the chairman ofthe library’s board of manag-ers, as he stood in the additionseveral days after its grandopening.

As Twomey spoke, topiariesshaped like a penguin and adeer could be seen seeminglypeering through windows froma manicured courtyard behindhim. It was formerly a gardenthat was in disarray, he said,but was redesigned by Mar-

ders, a nursery and gardencenter in Bridgehampton.

Downstairs, the BaldwinFamily Lecture Room houses aprojector that will stream liveNew York Public Libraryevents, such as author talks, ona 7-by-12-foot screen. ActorAlec Baldwin, an Amagansettresident, donated $1.375 milliontoward the project.

Contributions by 300 donorsand state grants funded almostthe entire cost of the addition,which was under construction

for two years. The library isstill trying to raise $200,000 indonations to cover some bills.

The donations also coveredimprovements throughout thelibrary, including new air condi-tioning equipment, carpeting,painting and shelves.

Despite a successful fundrais-ing campaign, the additionalmost didn’t happen. EastHampton Village’s zoning boardof appeals refused for years to

See COVER STORY on G6

“We wanted something new,fresh and different,” said thechairman of the library’sboard of managers. Thedesign of the space includestouches such as lighthousemodels, a windmill and awhimsical floor map.] More photos,newsday.com/lilife

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Librarians in the information center sit within a 16-foot desk structure fashioned to resemble a boat.

issue variances for the project. A StateSupreme Court justice eventuallysided with the library and ruled thatthe board had been “irrational, arbi-trary and capricious” in its denial.

Twomey, an attorney, said 10years of tribulations added to thethrill of the grand opening.

“We’re ecstatic,” he said. “We hadno idea when we started 11 years agothat it would take so many years andso many generous donors in thecommunity to put together a smalland beautiful addition to this li-brary.”

The new wing is open to all, andpatrons with a card from a SuffolkCounty library can check out booksor media. The library, at 159 MainSt., is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondaythrough Thursday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Friday and Saturday; and 1 p.m. to 5p.m. on Sunday.

On Friday, children’s entertainerMr. Skip will perform at 11:30 a.m.for children 2 and up. Registration isrequired (call 631-324-0222 ext. 2 oremail childrens@easthamptonli-brary.org and include the child’sname, age, a contact phone numberand hometown).

“We’ve been overwhelmed withthe response that we’ve seen fromthe public when they experience theaddition for the first time,” saidlibrary director Dennis Fabiszak.

He said the new wing started with apush for more space after the library’sstaff and board determined that itschildren’s collection had fewer booksper capita than any other East Endlibrary. Now that the addition iscomplete, 4,000 books so far havebeen added, Fabiszak said.

Twomey said one challenge wasmaking the new addition’s exteriorblend seamlessly with the rest of thebuilding, the oldest section of whichdates to 1912. The library board hiredRobert A.M. Stern Architects, thesame firm that designed a 1997 addi-tion, for the task. East Hampton build-er Ben Krupinski constructed thewing.

Parents of the young patrons likedwhat they saw.

Casey Laytin, of East Hampton,who brought her two children, ages18 months and 4, to the library, saidshe liked how “old-school puzzles”sat alongside iPads in the toddlers’section. “I like how they have theold and the new,” she said.

“It’s just really beautiful,” Laytinadded. “It’s nice to have a place outhere that’s free, that you can bringyour kids to that doesn’t cost afortune.”

COVER STORY from G4

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Kiel Oellrich, 5, of East Hampton, gets assistance from his sister Marlena,8, at a library computer station. A lighthouse model, right, stands guard.

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E ast Hampton Library’snew children’s additionis filled with references

to the East End’s nauticalpast: an information deskshaped like a boat, two glow-ing lighthouse models andmurals that depict whalesducking beneath the waves.

It mirrors a unique featureof the library itself: an exten-sive local history collectionthat houses 19th centurywhaling logs from Sag Har-bor, a scrap of cloth oncecarried by Captain WilliamKidd and the original Don-gan Patent, the royal decreethat created local self-govern-ment among East Hampton’sfishermen and farmers in1686.

It’s all housed in a quiet,softly lit hall, much of whichis encased in a concrete shellmeant to protect the rare

items, said Tom Twomey,chairman of the library’sboard of managers.

Twomey said the LongIsland Collection makes EastHampton Library “one of thefinest small libraries in Amer-ica.” He said he envisionschildren falling in love withthe addition, then exploringthe historical wing as theygrow older.

The library is digitizingthousands of historical docu-ments, including decades’worth of local newspaperslike the East Hampton Star,in a painstaking process thatinvolves photographing eachindividual page.

Twomey said the docu-ments, which come from allover Long Island, will beavailable in a searchableform online.

— WILL JAMES

A child reads ata table in thetoddler room.

Board chairman Tom Twomey says the facility is “one of the finest small libraries in America.”

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History just a wing away

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