'An urgent priority': Library's $1.5 million project starts to replace 125-year-old roof in Fairfield Josh LaBella FacebookTwitterEmail 1of3 The Pequot Library as it undergoes a roof replacement./ The Pequot Library / ContributedShow MoreShow Less 2of3 The Pequot Library was opened to the public in March of 1894./ The Pequot Library / ContributedShow MoreShow Less 3of3 FAIRFIELD — Work has begun to replace Pequot Library’s 125-year-old Ludowici terracotta roof. “This restoration project is long overdue, and the trustees enthusiastically endorsed proceeding with this critical effort despite the current pandemic,” Nelson North, Pequot Library’s Board of Trustees president, said in a news release. The project comes after a comprehensive conditions assessment plan, which was supported by the State Historic Preservation Office and conducted by architecture firm Pirie Associates, of New Haven, in 2019. The study identified repairing the historic roof as “an urgent priority,” not only to preserve the entire structure, but also to protect the library’s special collections of rare books, manuscripts and archives, the library said.