Library of the Chathams
Built in 1924, the Library of the Chathams has grown alongside the communities it serves for more than a century. The Library Renovation Project will preserve the character generations know and love while creating a safer, more accessible and flexible Library for the generations ahead.
Two Communities. One Library. A New Chapter.
The Project
Known to the community as A Space for Everyone, the renovation is designed to make significantly better use of the Library's existing footprint while preserving the history, character and sense of place generations of Chatham residents know and love.
Worth a Look
Something new from the Foundation each week.
From author conversations and children's programs to technology, learning and community gatherings, there's something new to discover every week.
Updated weekly
The Campaign
A Space for Everyone is the capital campaign behind this work: an effort to enhance the Library with modernized spaces, including a Teen Center, a STEM room, a business center and expanded community programming areas, ensuring accessibility and collaboration for all.
It did not begin in a single season. It began years earlier with the slow and largely invisible work of asking residents what they needed through surveys and focus groups, assessing a building more than a century old in parts, working with architects on what the spaces could become, and competing for funding under the New Jersey Library Construction Bond Act.
The Teen Center, completed in 2024, was the campaign's first delivered piece. The renovation described on this page is the rest of it.
Opened in 2024, together with the rear entrance improvements, and completed without interrupting Library service.
Building systems, accessibility, and the reorganization of the spaces residents use every day.
Community surveys and focus groups, a professional engineering study, and a long-range Strategic Plan from the Library Board.
Once the renovation is complete, gifts to the Foundation build an endowment to help sustain the Library for years to come.
Watch
Take a look at where the Library has been, what has already changed, and what is envisioned for the next chapter at 214 Main Street.
The Library Renovation Project · Library of the Chathams · Chatham Library Foundation
Why This Matters
Today's Library is the work of more than a hundred years. The 1924 building was added to six times as the Chathams grew, and each addition met the needs of its own decade. Together they created the Library the community knows — and a building whose systems, layouts and spaces were designed for very different eras.
The renovation addresses both halves of that inheritance: the rooms people use every day, and the mechanical, electrical and life-safety infrastructure behind the walls that everything else depends on.
Successive generations built this Library. This project makes it work as one.
Heating, ventilation and cooling; humidity control; electrical; plumbing; and fire protection — replaced as one coordinated system rather than patched room by room.
Accessibility, sightlines and circulation improved so the building is easier and safer to move through for visitors of every age.
Children's spaces, S.T.E.A.M. and hands-on learning, meeting and gathering rooms, flexible programming, business and remote-work resources.
Better protection and better access for the Chathams' historical collections, which need stable conditions to survive.
One building · Six eras of construction
The original 1924 Library, shown in gold, and the six additions built around it as the community grew.
A short film on how one building grew across six eras of construction.
The Vision
The improvements fall into seven areas. Each one works inside the building's existing footprint.
Improved spaces for reading, learning, play and family programming.
Dedicated opportunities for hands-on learning, technology and creative exploration.
Flexible spaces for programs, conversations, meetings and community events.
Improved options for focused work, remote work, meetings and collaboration.
Better circulation, sightlines, access and usability throughout the building.
Improved space for protecting and accessing Chatham's historical collections.
Modernized mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection and related infrastructure.
Proposed · Lower Level
The redesigned lower level unlocks space that already exists within the Library, creating new opportunities for learning, exhibitions, programs and community gathering without significantly expanding the building's footprint.
Room for exhibitions, displays and people to come together.
A purpose-built space for hands-on science, technology and making.
Rooms that can be sized and reconfigured to fit the group using them.
Including archival and preservation space for the local history collection.
Preservation
Renovation does not mean losing the Library people recognize. The elements that give 214 Main Street its sense of place are being kept.
The iconic fireplace stays. So does the original woodwork, along with the architectural details and historic character that generations of Chatham residents have grown up with. Knowing what to leave alone is part of renovating a building of this age well.
The goal is not to create a different Library. It is to ensure that the Library generations have loved can continue serving Chatham for generations to come.
Completed
The renovated Teen Center offers an early glimpse of what thoughtful investment in the Library can accomplish: a welcoming, flexible space designed around the way young people actually read, study, collaborate and gather.
Before
After
The Teen Center and the rear entrance improvements were completed without interrupting Library service. Both will remain as they are; the renovation now turns to the older parts of the building and to the systems throughout it.
Funding
Funding for the renovation brings together state support, the Library's own resources, both municipalities and private philanthropy.
State of New Jersey
$2.45 million
New Jersey Library Construction Bond Act grant, approved by the State Legislature's Joint Budget Oversight Committee in March 2026.
Library Resources
Approximately $3 million
Library reserves, prior fundraising and funds accumulated toward the project over many years.
Chatham Township
Up to $1.25 million
Committed in July 2026 through the Township's 2027 capital budget process.
Chatham Borough
Approximately $1.1 million
Municipal commitment approved in August 2026, from the Borough's 2027 budget.
Private Philanthropy
Chatham Library Foundation
Private fundraising continues to support the renovation and the long-term future of the Library.
Approximately $4.25 million still to raise
toward a project of approximately $12 million
Both municipal commitments are drawn from 2027 budgets that each town still has to adopt through its normal budget process.
With funding commitments now secured from both municipalities, the Library Renovation Project has reached an important milestone.
Public investment establishes a strong foundation for the project. Private philanthropy can help strengthen what is possible within the renovated Library and support the spaces, resources and opportunities that will serve the community for years to come.
Project Status
How the project reached this point, and what is underway today.
A $2.45 million New Jersey Library Construction Bond Act grant was approved for the project.
Project scope, cost and funding strategy were presented publicly to the Chatham Borough Council and the Chatham Township Committee.
The Township committed up to $1.25 million toward the renovation.
HMR Architects presented the renovation plans and answered community questions at the Library.
The Borough committed approximately $1.1 million toward the renovation.
Work continues on design coordination with the project team, private fundraising, and the preparation required before the next stage.
Advancing the design, securing the necessary approvals, and developing construction planning and scheduling.
Estimated at 12 to 15 months once construction begins. Schedule to be announced as project planning advances.
News + Updates
Follow the renovation from community planning and public presentations through funding milestones and the work ahead. The full archive of coverage and announcements lives on the News & Press page.
With the Borough Council's commitment, both governing bodies have now pledged municipal funding toward the renovation of the Library of the Chathams.
Read moreCommunity · Join Us
Celebrating the people who came before us and the Library we are building for those who come next.
On Sunday, September 13, the Library becomes a celebration of grandparents, grandchildren, grandparent figures and neighbors, with activity stations throughout the building.
Date
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Time
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Where
Library of the Chathams
214 Main Street, Chatham
Admission
Free and open to all
No registration required
One Hundred Years of Giving
The Library opened in 1924 through a memorial gift. It has evolved ever since through generations of community investment, and many of its additions were made possible in part through private giving.
Each generation has inherited this Library, improved it, and passed it forward.
Our turn.
This renovation looks toward the people who will use the Library decades from now, in the same spirit as the neighbors who funded the first building and every addition since.
Looking Ahead
Now
Design coordination + fundraising
Next
Design development + approvals
Then
Construction planning + scheduling
Followed by
Construction
The Library and Chatham Library Foundation will continue to share important milestones as project planning advances.
Specific construction timing will be announced once design, approvals and scheduling are sufficiently developed.
Questions
No. The project focuses on making better use of the Library's existing footprint rather than significantly enlarging the building. What changes is how well the space inside works — how it is organized, how people move through it, and what each area is able to do.
The building has been added to six times since 1924, and its heating, cooling, electrical, plumbing and fire-protection systems no longer function well together. Alongside those systems, the renovation addresses accessibility, safety, sightlines and the way the Library is used today — which has changed considerably since most of these spaces were laid out.
Yes. The fireplace and the original woodwork of the 1924 building are being preserved, along with the architectural details and historic character that generations of residents recognize.
The lower level is being reorganized so that space the Library already has becomes substantially more usable. The plan includes gallery and gathering space, a dedicated S.T.E.A.M. room, flexible program and meeting areas, and improved support spaces including archival and preservation space for the local history collection.
Funding brings together a $2.45 million New Jersey Library Construction Bond Act grant, approximately $3 million in Library resources and reserves, commitments from both municipalities, and private philanthropy through the Chatham Library Foundation. Approximately $7.8 million has been identified toward a project estimated at approximately $12 million.
Yes. In July 2026 the Chatham Township Committee committed up to $1.25 million toward the renovation. In August 2026 the Chatham Borough Council committed approximately $1.1 million.
Both commitments are drawn from 2027 budgets, which each municipality still adopts through its normal budget process.
A start date has not been set. Construction timing will be announced as design, approvals and construction planning advance. Once construction begins, the work is estimated to take 12 to 15 months.
Gifts to the Chatham Library Foundation support the renovation and the Library's long-term future. Giving can be one-time or monthly, online or by check, and gifts of stock, donor-advised fund distributions, employer matches, planned gifts and naming opportunities are all available. See how to support the project or explore ways to give.
Presentations, floor plans, renderings, project packets and responses to community questions are gathered in Project Documents & Archive at the foot of this page.
Philanthropy
Public investment makes this important renovation possible. Private philanthropy can help make it exceptional.
Support for the Chatham Library Foundation can help strengthen the spaces, furnishings, technology, collections, programs and opportunities that will define the Library's next chapter.
The Chatham Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, EIN 92-3966499. Gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Checks may be made payable to “The Chatham Library Foundation” and mailed to 214 Main Street, Chatham, NJ 07928.
Reference Materials
For those who would like to explore the project in greater detail, presentations, reports and materials developed during the municipal review and community information process remain available below.
These materials reflect the project information available at the time they were prepared and are retained as part of the public project record. For the most current project information, please refer to the sections above.
Two Communities. One Library. Built in 1924.
A place to read.
A place to learn.
A place to gather.
A place to belong.
And a Library ready for its next century.
