Honor the Past, Serve the Future
The Donald Everett Axinn '51 Center for
Literary and Cultural Studies at Starr Library
A new era for a historic site ...
For over a century, the graceful Starr Library was the heart of Middlebury's academic life. Now that a new, technologically advanced library serves the College, this beloved Beaux Arts building will be renovated and refreshed for its new role as the home of Middlebury's distinguished literary and cultural studies departments.
Middlebury has always excelled at combining tradition and innovation, and plans for this landmark building and its central site reflect that balance. Thanks to a leadership gift from Donald Everett Axinn '51, the College will build two wings of classrooms, offices, and public spaces onto the original Starr Library, its 1927 wings, and the Shepley Pavilion. The Meredith Wing and several 1970s additions will be removed. The elegant, early 20th century public rooms in Starr Library will then be restored, and four classrooms will be created from Starr's modern marble and glass reading rooms. Two symmetrical wings will be added, their style in keeping with the character of Old Stone Row. These wings will create much-needed office and teaching space for the two College departments and three College programs in the new Axinn Center for Literary and Cultural Studies. The addition of the Axinn Center will also create the Winter Garden, a public lobby, and a film theater.
The Axinn Center at Starr Library, as seen from Old Stone Row
The Axinn Center at Starr Library, as it will be informally known, will furnish the College with centralized faculty offices, technologically "smart" classrooms, a 65-seat public screening room, film production and editing studios, a light-filled Winter Garden running the entire south face of Starr's original exterior walls, and a landscaped, south-facing courtyard. All of these benefits will be located within steps of the McCullough Student Center and the new library. Through the addition of the Axinn Center, an historic campus icon will gain accessible entrances and benefit from energy-saving and other sustainability features. 
The Axinn Center, as seen from the south
Faculty, Teaching, and Collaborative Space
Middlebury's great strength is teaching exceptional students. The renovated Starr Library and the new Axinn Center will further the College's ability to promote its intense and personal style of teaching and learning by creating multiple, flexible teaching spaces in the same building with dozens of faculty offices.
A Home for Film Study
The Axinn Center will give film and media culture students and faculty, in particular, a centralized, cohesive, and technologically advanced home. The main level of Axinn will house this department's faculty next door to potential collaborators in the humanities. The lowest level will feature a professional-level production studio, a 45-seat screening room, and an editing suite with media labs, editing rooms, and a lounge.
 |
| The Axinn Center Winter Garden |
The Winter Garden
Restoration of Starr Library will once more expose the building's original exterior marble walls. These walls will now be incorporated into the Winter Garden, a glass-enclosed, south-facing public space that will extend across the south face of Starr and connect it with the new Axinn wings on either side. This gallery will be warm and bright in winter and shaded in summer, ideal for studying and gathering in all four seasons. It will look out on the landscaped courtyard created by the Axinn Center and will enhance the link between the main campus and the admissions office across the road.
Donald Everett Axinn '51
A retired businessman and recipient of an honorary Doctor of Letters in 1989, Mr. Axinn has endowed a chair in English and Creative Writing, and has written two novels as well eight volumes of poetry.
"Middlebury continues to demonstrate an acuity, acumen and determination that propels the College to the forefront in relation to its peers. It is for these reasons and for its overall excellence that I am proud to participate in the creation of the Center. It is my hope that others will want to join me."
— Donald Everett Axinn '51
Architectural Firm
The Axinn Center at Starr Library project's design and management has been awarded to the Boston firm of Childs Bertman Tseckares ("CBT"). The firm has completed major projects involving renovation and additions to the landmark courthouse of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and to historic buildings at Wellesley and Babson colleges.
Restoration
Andrea Gilmore, regional director of Building Conservation Associates in Dedham, Massachusetts, will direct all historic renovation, most notably the interior spaces of the reading room and Abernethy Room.
Landscape Architecture
Andropogon Associates Ltd. will design the south-facing courtyard and other spaces that surround the Center. Dedicated to natural, sustainable landscapes, the firm has completed projects for Yale, Cornell, and Princeton universities, among others.
For further informationand opportunities to support this project, please contact:
Office of College Advancement
Middlebury College
Munford House
Middlebury VT 05753
1-802-443-5181
Note:As with any construction project, particularly one involving restoration and renovation, it may be necessary to adjust architectural, decorative, and interior plans in progress.
— May 1, 2006