| Coatbridge Public Library | |
|---|---|
 Coatbridge Public Library in 2009 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Beaux Arts |
| Town or city | Coatbridge |
| Country | Scotland |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Alexander Cullen |
Coatbridge Library is a public library in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland.
The building was designed by Alexander Cullen and built in 1905. [1] It is a Carnegie library; its construction was financed by money donated by the Scottish-American entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie officially opened the library on 7 June 1906 in person; he received the ceremonial freedom of burgh of Coatbridge in return. [2]
The building was category B listed by Historic Scotland in 1993. It is a large, two-storey building of pink Corsehill sandstone, in the Beaux-Arts style. [3] The design was chosen by competition. [4] Built on a steep hill on Academy Street, it has an imposing looming presence. The rear of the building can be seen on the Coatbridge skyline when approached from the west via the A89 road.
In 2016, and after the relocation of the library services in 2010, permission was granted to the Clyde Valley Housing Association to convert the former Carnegie library into residential accommodation. Grant funded assistance came from Historic Environment Scotland, after the library was identified by the Coatbridge Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme as a funding priority. [5]
Airdrie is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on a plateau 400 ft above sea level, 12 miles (19 km) east of Glasgow. As of 2012, it had a population of 37,130. Airdrie developed as a market town in the late 17th century following an Act of Parliament allowing it to hold a weekly market. It later grew in prominence as a centre for weaving and manufacturing, as well as being the settlement near several coalmines. In the mid 19th century, the town expanded greatly as a result of immigration and the development of iron works and railway links. This led to the town building the first public library in Scotland in 1853. During the 20th century, industrial decline took place in Airdrie, with heavy industry closing down across much of the town. In the 21st century, Airdrie has continued as a regional centre for services and retail, as well as being a commuter settlement within the Central Belt. Historically part of Lanarkshire, Airdrie forms a conurbation with its neighbour Coatbridge, in what was formerly the Monklands district, with a population of approximately 90,000.
Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark, is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no longer used for local government purposes, but gives its name to the two modern council areas of North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire.
Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about 8+1⁄2 miles east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands, often considered to be part of the Greater Glasgow urban area – although officially they have not been included in population figures since 2016 due to small gaps between the Monklands and Glasgow built-up areas.
The Monkland Canal was a 12+1⁄4-mile-long (19.7 km) canal designed to bring coal from the mining areas of Monklands to Glasgow in Scotland. In the course of a long and difficult construction process, it was opened progressively as short sections were completed, from 1771. It reached Gartcraig in 1782, and in 1794 it reached its full originally planned extent, from pits at Calderbank to a basin at Townhead in Glasgow; at first this was in two sections with a 96-foot (29 m) vertical interval between them at Blackhill; coal was unloaded and carted to the lower section and loaded onto a fresh barge. Locks were later constructed linking the two sections, and the canal was also connected to the Forth and Clyde Canal, giving additional business potential.
Easterhouse is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, six miles east of the city centre on land gained from the county of Lanarkshire as part of an expansion of Glasgow before the Second World War. The area is on high ground north of the River Clyde and south of the River Kelvin and Campsie Fells.
Monklands was, between 1975 and 1996, one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland.
The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway was an early mineral railway running from a colliery at Monklands to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, Scotland. It was the first railway to use a rail ferry, the first public railway in Scotland, and the first in Scotland to use locomotive power successfully, and it had a great influence on the successful development of the Lanarkshire iron industry. It opened in 1826.
Airdrie Library is a public library in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The library has been housed in a number of buildings since its founding.
The Coatbridge Branch of the North British Railway was a railway built to connect the important coal and iron industrial districts of Coatbridge and Airdrie directly to Glasgow for the North British Railway.
The history of Coatbridge, Scotland, is one of dramatic change. The town transformed from an obscure group of 18th century Lanarkshire hamlets strung out on the road between Glasgow and Airdrie to a world leading centre of iron production in the 19th century. Development took off at an incredible rate in the 19th century and led to massive changes to the landscape and an explosion in the population.
Though Coatbridge is a most interesting seat of industry, it is anything but beautiful. Dense clouds of smoke roll over it incessantly, and impart to all the buildings a peculiarly dingy aspect. A coat of black dust overlies everything, and in a few hours the visitor finds his complexion considerably deteriorated by the flakes of soot which fill the air, and settle on his face. To experience Coatbridge it must be visited at night when it presents a most extraordinary spectacle.... From the steeple of the parish church the flames of no fewer than fifty blast furnaces may be seen.... The flames have a positively fascinating effect. Now they shoot far upward, and breaking off short, expire among the smoke; again spreading outward, they curl over the lips of the furnace, and dart through the doorways, as if determined to annihilate the bounds within which they are confined; then they sink low into the crater, and come forth with renewed strength in the shape of great tongues of fire, which sway backward and forward, as if seeking with a fierce eagerness something to devour. The Scotsman, 1869
Drumpellier Country Park is a country park situated to the west of Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The park was formerly a private estate. The land was given over to the Burgh of Coatbridge for use as a public park in 1919, and was designated as a country park in 1984 by the then Monklands council, part of Strathclyde. The park covers an area of 500 acres and comprises two natural lochs, lowland heath, mixed woodlands and open grassland. The Monkland Canal lies towards the southern perimeter of the park. The lochs and the canal attract many water birds, both resident and over-wintering migrants, and the loch shores and woodland floor provides an abundance of wild flora. The woodlands are also rich in bird life, small wild animals and many types of fungi.
Peter Womersley was a British architect, best known for his work in the modernist style. He lived in the Scottish Borders, where a number of his buildings are located, although he worked on projects throughout the UK. Influenced principally by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, and by the American Case Study Houses, Womersley's buildings employ such typical modernist elements as in-situ concrete and strong geometric forms, although he introduced a wider palette of materials than was typically used by Le Corbusier and his followers.
The Kelvin Valley Railway was an independent railway designed to connect Kilsyth, an important mining town in central Scotland, with the railway network. It connected Kilsyth to Kirkintilloch and thence over other railways to the ironworks of Coatbridge, and to Maryhill, connecting onwards to the Queen's Dock at Stobcross.
James Davidson, JP FRIBA was a Scottish architect. He also served as a Provost of Coatbridge and a President of Airdrie Savings Bank.
The Seven Lochs Wetland Park is an urban park in Scotland. It comprises nearly 20 km2 of land and water between Glasgow and Coatbridge.
Broomhouse is a residential area in Glasgow, Scotland. It is about six miles east of the city centre. Historically a small mining village and later the site of the Glasgow Zoo, in the early 21st century it grew substantially as an affluent commuter suburb.
Hawick Library is housed in the building built in 1904 in Hawick and it was one of the many libraries funded by Andrew Carnegie. The library is a Category B listed building. The library, designed by J N Scott and Alexander Lorne Campbell, is a 2-storey, rectangular-plan Free Style library with a prominent corner entrance tower and round-arched gables. The library is described as "a good example of early-20th-century civic architecture."
Coatbridge Municipal Buildings, formerly Coatbridge Town Hall, is a municipal building in Dunbeth Road, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The building, which was the headquarters of Coatbridge Burgh Council, is a Category B listed building.
Airdie Town House is a municipal building in Bank Street, Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The town house, which was the headquarters of Airdrie Burgh Council, is a Category B listed building.
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