Hartford Public Library President and CEO Bridget E. Quinn and Gregory Davis, chairman of the Hartford Public Library Board of Directors, stand outside the new Park Street Library @ The Lyric on Sept. 16.
Hartford Public Library President and CEO Bridget E. Quinn and library
leaders on Sept. 16 celebrated the installation of a sign will hang on the Park Street side of
the new Park Street Library @ The Lyric.
The $12.5 million project, which broke ground in the summer of 2019, is nearly
complete. The two-story, 13,000-square-foot location will be the largest of Hartford
Public Library’s six community libraries, replacing a 2,000-square-foot storefront
location just up the street. A ribbon-cutting will be held at the end of the month and the
library will open its doors for a community celebration Oct. 2.
“Decades of planning and advocacy led to the construction of a beautiful and welcoming new center for literacy, education, community, culture, history and civics,” said Bridget E. Quinn, president and CEO of Hartford Public Library.
“It is obviously in my opinion going to be a beacon in the community,” said Gregory
Davis, chairman of the Hartford Public Library Board of Directors. “I think it will change
the whole perspective and look of Park Street. I can’t wait to see that building bustling
with young and old.”
Construction on the Park Street Library @ The Lyric began in the summer of 2019. The
project, at the corner of Broad and Park streets in Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood,
received $11.1 million in funding from the State Bond Commission and a $1 million
grant from the Connecticut State Library. Additional funding was provided by the City of
Hartford.
Downes Construction Company led the construction of the new library and it was
designed by the architectural firm TSKP Studio. Features of the building, including the
sign, which resembles a marquee, pay homage to the Lyric Theater that was located
there before it was demolished after a fire and decades of neglect.