A Totally Tubular Story from 1981
Woah … Hold up. I’m not aggressive. I’m a connector, man. I know how to listen, and I like to just hang out. I’ve been doing that for over 40 years now. I’m the ductwork in the Russell Library, and I’ve come to correct the record. The architects who redesigned the library in 1981 described the “aggressive ductwork” that was part of their style… No doubt, you can see me, but I don’t like that label. I actually have a very “live and let live” vibe.
So, come in. Sit down. Let’s talk about it.
OK. So, in 1981 these dudes, Hardy, Holzman, and Pfeiffer came in to connect the library’s 19th century church building with its 1960s bank building. Crazy right? So, they were, like, inspired by the details of the church building. They liked putting different time periods into the same conversation. But they also needed a visual throughline.
That’s me. I run throughout the entire building, bringing together the older and newer. Like I said, it’s made me a good listener. Stanford, the Che Sara Sara window, can talk all day. Smart. Very preoccupied with architecture. Also … Some of the other stained glass windows got separated during the renovations. They like to keep up with each other, and I share their messages from the reading room, through the information area, and into the Virginia Hatch Room. It’s cool. Like keeping a family together.
That was part of the overall vibe of the design, you know? The architects kept a lot of historical elements in their design. Some you may not have even noticed.
You don’t have to tear something down just because it’s old.
Just help it breathe a little.
A big part of the 1981 design was the children’s area. Middletown had reconfigured an old bank building into a separate children’s library in 1973. Less than ten years later, they needed to expand again. Kids liked it that much. The bank vault is still in the basement… he pretty much keeps to himself. There’s also a dumbwaiter that they used to use for book deliveries … he’s actually really smart. He has a lot to say.
I hear a lot.
Don’t worry.
I don’t repeat stuff.
The radiator does, but not me.
Local artists also added some cool stuff to the library in honor of the expansion. Charles Saltsman donated the animal sculptures up by the entrance to the Hubbard Room in the children’s room. Talk about aggressive … Some of those guys are legit terrifying. Saltsman was a Middletown artist who graduated with degrees in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at MIT in 1952. He worked at Raymond Engineering for 37 years. In his spare time, he created a unique art technique using wood mosaics and epoxy to create the animals. Wild, right?
Those animals still freak me out a little.
Especially the owl.
He knows things.
Deborah Farrow was commissioned to create a mural for the new children’s building. Each panel in the mural represents children’s illustrations of different styles and time periods. It goes from A for Alice in Wonderland to M for Mother Goose to Z for Zeely. It took over a year for the artist to select the drawings, get permission from publishers, and scale up the images into the final painting. R.A. Parady and Sons framed the piece, and it was installed at the library in September 1983.
Kids notice way more than adults do.
Adults mostly ask where the restroom is.
If you look in the reading room, you’ll see another cool contribution from the 1980s: Daniel Riccio’s Quest for Enlightenment. It’s this trippy sculpture with tiers of cast-bronze figures—elephants, winged dragons, and other creatures—each carrying symbols connected to branches of knowledge, including art, music, and science. At the top is a brain, which, you know, is not exactly subtle.
The whole piece feels like a tiny monument to curiosity: all these creatures climbing, carrying, reaching, trying to get a little closer to understanding.
For a library, that’s kind of perfect. People come here looking for facts, sure, but also for meaning, connection, and the occasional decent chair near an outlet.
Anyway. Heavy stuff. I’m mostly here for the airflow.
I really am.
Somebody’s got to keep the place comfortable.
Not as big a job as the columns though. Those guys don’t get enough credit. Solid dudes and dudettes … Literally.
A lot of things change. They removed the spiral staircases and the mezzanine level from the children’s Activity Room. They were rad, but dangerous for little dudes I guess. The main desk in the lobby was also removed so that more people could hang out. That desk was built like a tank, and it had all of this wiring and vents going through it. I thought it would be there forever.
People talk about another renovation someday.
Maybe they’ll keep me.
Maybe they won’t.
That’s OK.
Buildings change.
If they build something new, I hope they connect things …
Old stuff.
New stuff.
People.
Ideas.
That’s always been my thing.
I think it’s a good thing for libraries too.
Like Stanford the stained glass window says, “Cheese, Carrot, Carrot.”
Stanford says that’s not right.
I think he worries too much.
What will be. Will be.
References:
- Lobby Photo. Kimberly Spachman, 2026. ↩︎
- Some Interesting Places. Photos for Russell Library. Yelp. Brian S. April 18, 2014. https://m.yelp.com/biz_photos/russell-library-middletown?start=60&select=fDPN1dfLNM9eS8CvMqZbHg ↩︎
- Untitled. Photos for Russell Library. Yelp. Jacob B. May 11, 2026. https://m.yelp.com/biz_photos/russell-library-middletown?start=0&select=cjsFdu9gHKwna4FgjZCfZg ↩︎
- Untitled. Photos for Russell Library. Yelp. Jacob B. May 11, 2026. https://m.yelp.com/biz_photos/russell-library-middletown?start=30&select=h0lEHI0ODget6m1tpIZTOg ↩︎
- Untitled. Photos for Russell Library. Yelp. Jacob B. May 11, 2026. https://m.yelp.com/biz_photos/russell-library-middletown?start=30&select=lc1ypO-_dbgp9KfjKQqO5g ↩︎
- Untitled. Photos for Russell Library. Yelp. Jacob B. May 11, 2026. https://m.yelp.com/biz_photos/russell-library-middletown?start=30&select=DfsFhjUpIGuoJZyBL8RPHw ↩︎
- “The Quest for Knowledge by Daniel J. Riccio.” Kimberly Spachman, 2026. ↩︎
- Detail from “The Quest for Knowledge by Daniel J. Riccio.” Kimberly Spachman, 2026. ↩︎
- “Not Exactly Subtle.” Kimberly Spachman, 2026. ↩︎
- “Solid Dudes.” Kimberly Spachman, 2026. ↩︎
- “Solid Desk.” Russell Library Photo Collection, c. 2018. ↩︎
- “I Hear You, Man.” Kimberly Spachman, 2026. ↩︎
The Library Vault 
Leave a comment