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This spring, the College undertook the first steps in an ambitious, $10 million plan to replace the New England dining commons, which is too small to accommodate the campus’s growing student body. Although officials originally envisioned building an entirely new structure, members of the Board of Governors came up with a better solution: converting the existing library, Dolben Hall, into the dining commons, and moving the College’s wealth of books into the campus’s original library, Bolger Hall.

Built in 1887 as Talcott Library, Bolger Hall is a Romanesque Revival-style building, one of the first constructed by evangelical preacher D. L. Moody, who founded the preparatory school that was the campus’s original occupant. The school expanded the library with a modern brick addition in 1952 and renamed it for alumnus and philanthropist David F. Bolger. In 1984, when the school added Dolben Library, Bolger Hall was repurposed and served as an art center until the campus’s closing in 2005.

Over the last two decades, Bolger has fallen into disrepair, as paint chipped and systems failed. When 91����, New England, opened for its first academic year in 2019, Bolger remained unused, while projects such as classroom buildings and residence halls took priority. Now, as the College begins work to renovate Dolben Library into a new dining commons, Bolger is receiving some long-due care.

The Plan

Working off archival photos, found in collaboration with Northfield Mount Hermon’s archivist, Peter Weiss, College officials devised a plan to restore the building to its original glory.

“The goal is for people to walk in and feel like they’ve arrived back in 1887,” says Tim Cosgrove (’95), New England director of operations. “This is a very exciting project to be working on.”

The original library’s “cathedral room,” a high-ceilinged space that once held the building’s bookstacks, features bright cream walls, dark wood paneling and trim, and tall windows. The intent is to maintain this style and color scheme throughout the building — righting the “teal and aubergine mistake,” as Mr. Cosgrove calls it, made during a bold repaint in 1985 — and reveal the hardwood floors hidden beneath decades-old carpeting. With the $2.2 million project fully funded, renovations are well under way.

The Team

The restoration team is small but mighty, consisting primarily of in-house general contractor and stonemason Richard O’Donnell, carpenter George Krestyn (’03), and a few diligent work-study students, all of whom have been hard at work bringing the building back online and restoring its Romantic-era beauty. Together, they have made significant progress in recreating Bolger’s intricate woodwork.

One of the primary projects has been rebuilding the stacks to match those in archival photos. Working off a small fragment of the original shelf molding, Mr. Krestyn replicated the design to fit on a single piece of wood, which now adorns the top of the bookshelves. He has also renovated doorways, hand-cut glass panels for windows, and rebuilt the main staircase and newel post, all to painstakingly recreate the vision first realized in the late 1800s.

“The project has been meticulous but fun,” shares Will Rosa (’27), who began assisting with sanding and stripping paint over the summer and now aids with some of the woodwork. “It’s been very gratifying to see the work as it’s finished and watch all of our efforts compound into restoring something beautiful.”

The Progress

Since the project began in early 2026, the renovation team has removed the internal walls, the result of mid-20^th-century additions, that made rooms feel cramped. With those spaces now open, the large rooms feel brighter and more welcoming. The building has also been outfitted with a new, energy-efficient heating and cooling system, a major upgrade from the ancient asbestos-filled, leaky steam pipes.

As the Bolger project progresses, plans are in place to build a wooden circulation desk, provide comfortable seating and study areas, and create a cozy, yet elevated, atmosphere where students can fully immerse themselves in the Great Books. The library is expected to be open for student use in Fall 2027.

“The engineering and architecture that have gone into this project so far are remarkable,” says Dr. Sean Cunningham, dean of the New England campus. “Bolger is an architectural gem. It will make for a wonderful place for students to study and socialize. I believe it will become the intellectual heart of campus, inasmuch as any place outside of the classroom can be.”