Keighley Library

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Keighley Library
Keighley Library (5538070067).jpg
Location Keighley, West Yorkshire, England
Coordinates 53°52′5″N1°54′36″W / 53.86806°N 1.91000°W / 53.86806; -1.91000
OS grid reference SE06024131
Built1904
ArchitectArthur McKewan and James Swan
Architectural style(s) Arts and Crafts
Governing body Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated4 December 1986 [1]
Reference no.1134038
West Yorkshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Keighley Library in West Yorkshire

Keighley Library is an early 20th-century public library in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England. Owned by Bradford Metropolitan District Council, it still operates as a library as well as providing access to the local studies and archive service.

Contents

The building is a Grade II listed building and was the first public library in England to be endowed by Andrew Carnegie. [2] Designed by Birmingham architects, Arthur McKewan and James Swan, it is built in the Arts and Crafts style.

History

Keighley's first library was that of the Mechanics Institute which was established in 1825. [3] The establishment of public libraries by local authorities was enabled following the passing of the Public Libraries Act 1850 but nationally take-up was slow until the last two decades of the 19th century. [4] In 1898, the Keighley Mechanics Institute called on Keighley Town Council to establish a free library, recognising that the institute's own library had limitations. [5] The president of the institute, Swire Smith, had become friends with industrialist and phianthropist, Andrew Carnegie, and approached Carnegie seeking funds to build a public library. On 4 August 1899 Carnegie wrote to Smith donating the sum of £10,000 on condition that the town council donated a site for the building. [6] Smith immediately forwarded the offer to the council who unanimously accepted the gift at its meeting on 8 August 1899. [6]

Identifying a potential site did not take the council long as there were plans already in place for work in the North Street area of the town centre. [7] but the council did not call for designs for the library until autumn 1900. [8] By the competition closing date, 30 April 1901, 148 designs had been submitted. The designs were judged by Leonard Stokes, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The winning design was by a Birmingham based partnership, Arthur McKewan and James Swan. [9]

Tenders for the building works totalling £7,358 were awarded in January 1902 ranging from £3,433 for the masonry works to £105 for painting. [10]

The ceremonial laying of the foundation stone took place on 9 August 1902, the same day as the postponed coronation of King Edward VII, and became part of the town's celebrations of the coronation. [11] The foundation stone was laid by Sir Swire Smith. [12]

The library was formally opened on 20 August 1904 by the Duke of Devonshire, while an art exhibition inside the library was separately opened by the duke's niece, Lady Moyra Cavendish, who was accompanying the duke in the absence of the duchess due to illness. [13] The ceremony at the library was followed by another ceremony at which the assets and properties of the Mechanic's Institute were handed over to the council to become part of the town's education system. [13] The 13,000 books from the institute library were transferred to the new library. [12]

A reference library was added in 1912 and a children's library in 1929. [12] The building was expanded in 1961 with the addition of a two-storey extension to the south of the original building. [14]

The library closed for six months in 2007 for refurbishment work costing £1.1 million. [15] The 1961 extension no longer forms part of the library but is still owned and used by Bradford Council. [16]

Architecture

Built of coursed stone, the library is a two-story building. All doorways are arched. The ground floor windows are mullioned and transomed while the first floor windows are set on the diagonal. The building is topped by dome on a wooden frame. [1] Pevsner describes the style as "Free Renaissance at its trickiest", [17] but is generally described as being in the Arts and Crafts style. [18] [1]

The interior of the first floor is vaulted and contains at each end a mural painted in 1948 featuring scenes from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by local artist, Alex Smith. [2] [19]

The extension, which does not form part of the listed building, was built of Huddersfield stone and Burslem bricks. [16]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Keighley Library (1134038)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Keighley Library". Cardiff University AHRC Shelf Life Project.
  3. ↑ Duckett, Bob (November 2007). "Where did the Brontës get their Books?". Brontë Studies. 32 (3): 194. doi:10.1179/147489307X219140.
  4. ↑ Taylor, Simon; Whitfield, Matthew; Barson, Susie (2016) [2014]. Stamper, Paul (ed.). The English Public Library 1850-1939. English Heritage. p. 2.
  5. ↑ "The Future of the Keighley Institute" . Keighley News . No. 1913. 22 October 1898. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. 1 2 "A Free Library For Keighley" . Bingley Chronicle . No. 511. 12 August 1899. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ↑ "Keighley's New Free Library" . Leeds Mercury . No. 19176. 19 September 1899. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ↑ "Keighley Free Library" . Bradford Observer . No. 11, 922. 9 March 1901. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Keighley Free Library. The Accepted Design" . Yorkshire Evening Post . No. 3349. 24 May 1901. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "The Carnegie Library" . Shipley Times . No. 1335. 24 January 1902. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ↑ "Keighley. The Carnegie Library" . Leeds Mercury . No. 20079. 11 August 1902. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. 1 2 3 "Memory Lane: A look to the past as Keighley Library enters its latest chapter". Keighley News . 3 November 2019.
  13. 1 2 "Keighley's Day. Carnegie Library Opened" . Leeds Mercury . No. 20713. 22 August 1904. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ↑ "History of Keighley Library will be focus of presentation". Keighley News. 31 July 2024. Archived from the original on 31 July 2024.
  15. ↑ "A new £1.1m chapter opens!". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. 18 August 2007.
  16. 1 2 "Saturday 16th May 1959 – KEIGHLEY & DISTRICT LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY". Keighley and District Local History Society. 16 May 2022.
  17. ↑ Leach, Peter E.; Pevsner, Nikolaus; Minnis, John; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009). Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (updated ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 63. ISBN   9780300126655.
  18. ↑ Black, Alistair; Pepper, Simon; Bagshaw, Kaye (2009). Books, buildings and social engineering: early public libraries in Britain from past to present. Farnham, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub. p. 1829. ISBN   978-0754672074.
  19. ↑ "Artists make their mark with murals in Keighley and Silsden". Keighley News. 5 July 2022.
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