Library of Birmingham
When I started this website back in 2005, the future of Birmingham's Central Library was unclear. There was talk of the possibility of two replacement libraries, one for lending and the other for reference. Millenium Point was the favoured location for at least one of these.Fast forward to 2011 and all is clear as work is well underway on the new Library of Birmingham in Centenary Square. Combined with the knowledge that the old Central Library failed to obtain listing status and the future plans for Paradise Circus, it is clear that the John Madin designed building, opened in 1974, will almost certainly follow its Victorian predecessor and fall victim to the wrecking ball and bulldozer! I don't think the recent listing on World Monument Fund's list of 'at risk monuments' will help it...
Whatever you think of it, it always looks better in the sunshine!
For someone who works close to the new library site, it has been an interesting thing to watch and record. I've created this page to capture that journey.
Things started getting interesting when the Cambridge Street car park was closed in April 2008 and some test pits were dug. The pictures below show that there was some fascinating archaeology just below the surface. It certainly made me wonder what else was buried just below the surface of the streets of Birmingham...
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Pictures taken April 2008 by sneaking into the cordoned off car park when no one was looking!
A year later and the sign was up to say that the new library would be built on the Cambridge Street car park site. Artworks like 'Spirit & Enterprise' and the much maligned 'Flame of Hope' (you may recall the flame was extinguished due to lack of funds!) would soon lose their place in the city.
Before the work started, though, a thorough dig would be undertaken by Birmingham Archaeology and the site recorded. Below are some pictures I took as the dig progressed. The story of the remains of Winfield's Cambridge Street Works brass foundry can be found on the Birmingham University website, along with details on the earlier history of the site.
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I had read that the area around modern day Centenary Square was once the planned site for a huge civic centre development. The War Memorial, Baskerville House and the Municipal Bank were as far as it got before World War Two came along put a stop to things. At an exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in January 2010, the model of the planned development was on show and is pictured below. I find it interesting that this dream continued throughout the years and the new library will join the Rep, the ICC and Symphony Hall to help create a Civic Centre to be proud of. It's also interesting that the four, nearby blocks of flats are known as the Civic Centre site.
The remainder of the pictures on this page capture the progress of work on the site. It is due for completion in spring 2013 and will cost a projected £188.8m. I have mixed feelings about the design but I don't think you can question that there is a real vision involved in how it looks and how it will function. I am surprised by the scale of it, however. I'm sure early artist's impressions didn't show how much it would dwarf the splendid Baskerville House!
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One final surprise was to discover that the amazing Shakespeare Memorial Room, designed by John Chamberlain and originally contained within the Victorian Central Library on Ratcliff Place/Edmund Street, would once again be dismantled (it is currently housed in the hideous School of Music in Paradise Circus) and be reconstructed in the golden rotunda that will top of the new library building. Hard to believe that there will be a little bit of the old crowning the very new!
The library opened on Tuesday 6 September 2013 and was overrun with visitors, keen to see what it was all about. Here's the finished article:-
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