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Original central library

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wendy
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Wendy

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This is the old library built in 1866 it was later destroyed by fire and re built it was demolished in 1974. The new monstrosity was then built but it looks like it will be the next building to go as we have been promised a new library.

Old_Birmingham_Library.jpg
 
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Let's hope the new library will be an improvement on the present building.
The staff (6th floor) are wonderful and they deserve to work in an attractive place. I think the lady there that deals with genealogy enquiries has been there since God were a lad (bless 'er).
 
What a lovely building I hadn't seen that before, let's hope that the new library will look something like this.
 
The old Birmingham Library was a real gem. We have talked about it before here. Why it had to go to be replaced with such an ugly building in a totally heritage area has always been a question that has never been successfully answered for me.

Thanks for posting the photo Wendy. We need to be reminded.
 
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The old Birmingham Library was a real gem. We have talked about it before here. Why it had to go to be replaced with such an ugly building in a totally heritage area has always been a question that has never been successfully answered for me.

Thanks for posting the photo Moma P. We need to be reminded.

I can't justify the demolition of the old library. It was a terrible loss to the city and I'm sure the planners of the time would be looking back now and would be nothing but apologetic.

Douglas Hickman wrote in his book Birmingham that the reason for the construction of a new library was primarily to do with space. The old library had very little room for any more books and already historic texts were being stored in libraries in other parts of the city. Another reason, which was given by Manzoni, was that the Inner Ring Road had to pass here. The library was not demolished for the new library, but to make way for the Inner Ring Road.

The library we have at the moment is far from what the architect actually wanted. John Madin, the architect, had actually proposed the building to have more windows and to be built out of Portland Stone as opposed to reinforced concrete. The main feature, the upturned ziggurat, was going to be wider and shorter. But due to financial reasons, the plans were redrawn and we ended up with our current library.

Despite this, there is something about our current library that I feel should be kept. Whilst it symbolises everything that Birmingham was detested for following the postwar construction boom, it's architecture is outlandish and rare. The conservation culture we live in only seems to protect the buildings before World War II and I feel that in demolishing this library building, we'll just be repeating the mistakes that the planners made in the 60s and 70s. The problem is, we don't know how the people in the future will react to whatever decisions we make over this building now.

The new library should be much better but I fear that they chose the wrong site. It is too tight, although, incorporating the library with The Rep theatre would open up more space. It's going to be another year before we see the shortlisted designs for the library and probably longer to actually get a winner. As for Paradise Forum, I can see it being demolished and replaced with a major office scheme incorporating two skyscrapers. This probably won't break ground for another 5 years at least considering that construction of the new library will take a few years and the transfer of books would take a year too.


PS. Don't expect the new library to be called the Library of Birmingham or Central Library - it'll be named after a person.:Aah:
 
It's quite a sad story about the lifts in the Central Library, but it's to be replaced by another more 'modern' building in a few years, so even the leaks in the flat roof don't get repaired - when it rains, you have to do a slalom to avoid the buckets catching the drips - and that's with all the archive material immediately below, on the top floor!
Even so, do you remember the old Reference Library with a heroic staircase rising about 25 feet, without lifts or escalators? That was a smashing building, but it got in the way of Sir Herbert's road plans, so it had to go.
Peter
I remember the Central Library very well. Every Saturday afternoon.

Anyone who knows me well will confirm that I'm always looking for an opportunity to say, "The squall's clearing", or "Prepare to go about" or "Bring her round two points Mr. Bush if you please." "The squall's clearing," I learnt these and some other nautical terms forty years ago on a wet Saturday afternoon in Birmingham's Central Library.Saturdays where always the day to look foward to, even wet ones.
The Central Library had a lot of things going for it. It was dry, you didn't have to be over 16 to get in, it didn't cost anything and you might find something of interest. Christopher D, my constant companion and I would ritually start by going to Needleless Alley off Corporation Street to look at a penny black stamp.
Sometimes we would pop in to New Street railway station to look at the trains.
We would then normally make our way to the Art Gallery and Museum. But this Saturday afternoon for some reason we didn"t. Just across the road from the Art Gallery through the gloom, was the dim outline of the Central Library. It had an imposing entrance and an even more imposing staircase, which lead to the reference library.
We entered the ground floor which housed the main public library.
As you would expect the Central Library contained more books than anyone our age, we were 9, ever invisaged exhisted.
There were aisles of books, racks of books, rows of books, piles of books, walls of books, stacks of books to be sorted and placed back on their shelves.There were books of every dimension. Some so big it took both of us to manhandle one of them to a table. Books with pictures , books without.
Green books with brown leather spines, black books with bold gold titling. The choice was bewildering.
We were only allowed two books each and that would have to last us a fortnight.
For the past month our interest had been with the sea and ships. Any sea, any ship.
Like two young midshipmen we painstakingly worked our way along the shelves looking for anything that smelt of the sea. The covers of the books didn't give much away, the books were bound in plain colours, bottle green, black, dark blue.
I came across "A ship of the line." I'd never heard of C. S. Forrester. Authors at this early stage were unimportant, this was plainly a book about ships. I found a chair on the corner of a large table that was empty, took of my damp raincoat, eased my foot out of my leaky right shoe and started to read.
What little noise and movement there was faded away, soon there was a deck gently moving under my feet. I watched a victualing boat like a water beetle make its way back towards a grey smudge that was Plymouth. The tide was now on the full and the wind was backing to the Nor'east.
The weather had eased for the first time in three days and here and there bright spring green patches of headland were visable. With a clanking that came from the dipping bows a dripping anchor was retrieved. Slowly the Hotspur, sails unfurling eased her way to sea.On the stern of the Hotspur stood a young naval captain, dressed in a heavy navy blue coat edged with gold eppulettes. His breeches were white and behind his back, his hands firmly clasped his hat. He looked from his position in the stern to the sailors in the yard arms, talking occasionally to his coxswain he brought the 64 gunner underway.
I had just met Horatio Hornblower

ladywood
 
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hi folks..i know we already have one or two pics of the old library scattered on different threads but i thought it would be nice to have one totally dedicated to a splendid building that in my opinion should still be standing...the following pics track the library from its days of glory until its unfortunate demise..

lyn

BirminghamCentralLibrary1-1.jpg
 
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Re: original centra library

the books were wheeled across from the old library on the right to the new one. dated 1973.to think that 38 years later they will be wheeling out the books again soon...

oldpics008.jpg
 
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the end...dated 1973..you can just see the new library to the left of this pic...makes me want to weep..

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well i wont say too much more froth expect that i do get it that maybe the building was no longer practical for use as a library but surely a use could have been found for it given a bit of thought...
 
Re: original centra library

Surely in this day and age the old library could have been modernised to suit modern requirements internally and left the outside facade as it is (or should I say was. I have visited the Louvre in Paris a few times and there have been a number of internal modiifications, but the only external one is the new glass pyramid entrance. Can you imagine the uproar if they demolished the Louvre and replaced it with some glass and concrete monstrosity, but we seem to allow it hence some beuatiful (and irreplacable) buildings destroyed. Birmingham City council has a lot to answer for. Incidently I preferred the pre 1960's bullring to the modern bull ring (bull ring or bullring ??) when Saint Martins was the predominant building - it certainly isn't now. Eric
 
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Re: original centra library

well said eric...i agree with every word you say...

lyn
 
Re: original centra library

Surely in this day and age the old library could have been modernised to suit modern requirements internally and left the outside facade as it is (or should I say was. I have visited the Louvre in Paris a few times and there have been a number of internal modiifications, but the only external one is the new glass pyramid entrance. Can you imagine the uproar if they demolished the Louvre and replaced it with some glass and concrete monstrosity, but we seem to allow it hence some beuatiful (and irreplacable) buildings destroyed. Birmingham City council has a lot to answer for. Eric

I think that as been done a few times in Town and it's a very good idea too.
 
[I have merged the newer thread with the "Old library" thread from 2007 to avoid duplication and confusion]
 
Re: original centra library

Yes, the sad fact is that whoever is running the council thinks that Birmingham is leading the future. That is why we have lost all our gorgeous old buildings from 100 years ago. Was it Gladstone's brilliant idea to raze our gorgeous city to the ground? Does anyone remember the outstandingly beautiful theatre in Corporation Street? My first job was at JH Martins who had offices right on the end of it, next door to the Kings Hall Market. Does anyone also know what the Kings Hall Market was originally?JH Martins.jpg
 
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No Date with this again, but I know someone who may tell us when J.D Mullins was Chief Librarian.
 
This is an article from the Illustrated London News Jan 1879 on the fire at the old library. Mr Mullins, the head librarian, was at his home ill at the time of the fire. Hope you can enlarge the article. Viv.


ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335338662.988447.jpg
 
800px-BCL.jpg

I don't know if this has been posted before but attached is an old pic of Bham Central Library.

What a spectacular building ! This was knocked down to make way for a road ?!
 
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