Perry Barr Institute

[Vivienne14]

September 1897. This building on Birchfield Road was once known as the Perry Barr Institute. It became Birchfield Library, a satellite of Handsworth Library in September 1897, when the two front rooms began to be used, one as a reading-room and the other as a lending library. (From Library of Birmingham)


There is a thread about the building when it became Birchfield Library here:

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/threads/birchfield-road-library.62793

 

[Vivienne14]

(Sir) Henry Irving delivered a speech here in 1878 on the dramatic arts. The Perry Barr Institute printed his lecture in pamphlets and sold them for sixpence to help finance the construction of their new institute headquarters. The pamphlet was 32 pages long and is available on Google books.

Source: British Newspaper Archive

 

[A Sparks]

That made me wonder where the Perry Barr Institute was, I found this, apparently the building became the Birchfield Library...

1874, Perry Barr established its own institute based on the model of the Birmingham and Midland Institute. In 1878, Henry Irving became the president of the Perry Barr Institute and addressed members of the institute on 6 March 1878. His speech was reprinted in the 13 March release of Theatre and also reprinted onto pamphlets by the institute's members and sold for sixpence to fund the construction of a new building for the institute. It was converted into a Carnegie-funded library in September 1897. In early 2007, this library, ultimately known as Birchfield Community Library, was demolished due to its dilapidated condition.