Liverpool Central Library | |
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53°24′35.28″N02°58′50.52″W / 53.4098000°N 2.9807000°W | |
Location | United Kingdom |
Established | 1860 |
Other information | |
Website | http://liverpool.gov.uk/libraries/find-a-library/central-library |
Liverpool Central Library is the largest of the 22 libraries in Liverpool, England, situated in the centre of the city.
The library is located in several adjoining historic buildings on William Brown Street. Its first building was the William Brown Library and Museum building which was completed in 1860 to the designs of John Weightman Surveyor to Liverpool Corporation, (not to be confused with his near contemporary John Grey Weightman) [1] and which it has always shared with the city's museum, now known as World Museum Liverpool. The library was then extended further to the right with the addition in 1879 of the Picton Reading Room [2] and to the rear with the Hornby Library in 1906. All three of these are Grade II* listed buildings and are built in a classical style similar to other buildings on the street.
Previous to the creation of this public library was England's first subscription library (1758–1942), latterly known as The Lyceum, Liverpool, but often referred to as the Liverpool Library.
750,000 people visited the museum in 2017. In 2018, the library won The Bookseller’s Library of the Year Award. [3]
In May 2008 it was announced that some of the complex of buildings that hold the Central Library were to be demolished and replaced with modern buildings suitable for use with modern IT services. The historic buildings in the complex would be refurbished to provide modern facilities and was designed by the Architects Austin-Smith:Lord. [4] In October 2009 the proposed rebuild was shown to the public. [5]
The main library building on William Brown Street closed on 23 July 2010, while closed, a temporary service operated from next door, on the second floor of Liverpool World Museum. [6] The refurbished building features a central atrium, with a series of open-plan floors. The atrium is topped with a glass dome, and the building has a roof terrace, with views out over the city centre. It re-opened to the public on Friday 17 May 2013. [7] At the entrance to the library is a 72 foot granite walkway, inlaid with the titles of literary classics. The titles contain a riddle, a series of letters picked out in red which spell out the title of a small but eye-catching item in the library's collection. The riddle was included to provoke the interest of visitors, and was presented as a competition at the museum's re-opening. 500 people took part, with 200 solving the riddle, and three winners were chosen in October 2013, five months after opening. The library has not revealed the answer to the riddle, in order to preserve the puzzle for future visitors. [8] [9]
It is a member of the Libraries Together: Liverpool Learning Partnership (evolved from Liverpool Libraries Group) which formed in 1990. Under which, a registered reader at any of the member libraries can have access rights to the other libraries within the partnership. [10]
Alfred Waterhouse was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his designs for Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum in London, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the country. Besides his most famous public buildings he designed other town halls, the Manchester Assize buildings—bombed in World War II—and the adjacent Strangeways Prison. He also designed several hospitals, the most architecturally interesting being the Royal Infirmary Liverpool and University College Hospital London. He was particularly active in designing buildings for universities, including both Oxford and Cambridge but also what became Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds universities. He designed many country houses, the most important being Eaton Hall in Cheshire, largely demolished in 1961-63. He designed several bank buildings and offices for insurance companies, most notably the Prudential Assurance Company. Although not a major church designer he produced several notable churches and chapels. He was both a member of The Royal Institute of British Architects, of which he served a term as President, and a Royal Academician, acting as Treasurer for the Royal Academy.
St George's Hall is a building on St George's Place, opposite Lime Street railway station in the centre of Liverpool, England. Opened in 1854, it is a Neoclassical building which contains concert halls and law courts, and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. On the east side of the hall, between it and the railway station, is St George's Plateau and on the west side are St John's Gardens. The hall is included in the William Brown Street conservation area.
The William Brown Library and Museum is a Grade II* listed building situated on the historic William Brown Street in Liverpool, England. The building currently houses part of the World Museum Liverpool and Liverpool Central Library.
The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten.
The Lyceum is a Neoclassical Grade II* listed building located on Bold Street, Liverpool. It was constructed in 1802 as a news-room and England's first subscription library (1758–1942) and later became a gentleman's club. After the club relocated in 1952 the building was left unoccupied for many years, eventually falling into a state of disrepair. Calls were made for its demolition in the late 1970s, sparking a campaign to save the building. It reopened as a post office, and then a branch of the Co-operative Bank. As of May 2024, its tenants are a Chinese restaurant and a miniature golf and bar venue called One Below.
The Victoria Building of the University of Liverpool, is on the corner of Brownlow Hill and Ashton Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. It was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and completed in 1892. It was the first purpose-built building for what was to become the University of Liverpool, with accommodation for administration, teaching, common rooms and a library. The building was the inspiration for the term "red brick university" which was coined by Professor Edgar Allison Peers. In 2008 it was converted into the Victoria Gallery & Museum.
The Brisbane Showgrounds is a multi-purpose venue located in Bowen Hills, Brisbane. Established in 1875, it hosts more than 250 events each year, the largest being the Royal Queensland Show (Ekka).
Grade I, Grade II* and notable Grade IIlisted buildings in the metropolitan boroughs of Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral in Merseyside.
The Picton Reading Room and Hornby Library are two grade II* listed buildings on William Brown Street, Liverpool, England, which now form part of the Liverpool Central Library.
William Brown Street in Liverpool, England, is a road that is remarkable for its concentration of public buildings. It is sometimes referred to as the "Cultural Quarter".
Hornby Castle is a country house, developed from a medieval castle, standing to the east of the village of Hornby in the Lune Valley, Lancashire, England. It occupies a position overlooking the village in a curve of the River Wenning. The house is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
Woburn Public Library, previously known as the Winn Memorial Library (1876–79) is a National Historic Landmark in Woburn, Massachusetts. Designed by architect H. H. Richardson, the Romanesque Revival building was a bequest of the Winn family. It houses the Woburn Public Library, an institution that was established in 1856. The library is also home to the Dr. Thomas J. Glennon Archives. The Glennon Archives holds many important records dating back to Woburn's early history in the 1600s. The Archives maintains more than two hundred separate manuscript collections relating to Woburn's history, several special collections of books including a rare book collection, tens of thousands of photographs, published genealogies, broadsides, maps, ephemera, and museum objects. Many of the Archives' museum objects can be viewed in the Historical Artifacts Room, located in the Octagon Room of the Richardson Building.
The Suntop Homes, also known under the early name of The Ardmore Experiment, were quadruple residences located in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and based largely upon the 1935 conceptual Broadacre City model of the minimum houses. The design was commissioned by Otto Tod Mallery of the Tod Company in 1938 in an attempt to set a new standard for the entry-level housing market in the United States and to increase single-family dwelling density in the suburbs. In cooperation with Frank Lloyd Wright, the Tod Company secured a patent for the unique design, intending to sell development rights for Suntops across the country.
The Carnegie Library is in Egerton Street, Runcorn, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building and "possesses special architectural and historic interest within a national context". It was built in 1906 as an extension to Waterloo House and the existing library with a grant from Andrew Carnegie, and closed in 2012.
Sir James Allanson Picton was an English antiquary and architect who played a large part in the public life of Liverpool. He took a particular interest in the establishment of public libraries.
The architecture of Liverpool is rooted in the city's development into a major port of the British Empire. It encompasses a variety of architectural styles of the past 300 years, while next to nothing remains of its medieval structures which would have dated back as far as the 13th century. Erected 1716–18, Bluecoat Chambers is supposed to be the oldest surviving building in central Liverpool.
Leeds Central Library is a public library in Leeds. Situated in the city centre, on Calverley Street, it houses the city library service's single largest general lending and reference collection and hosts the Leeds Art Gallery.
There are over 2500 listed buildings in Liverpool, England. A listed building is one considered to be of special architectural, historical or cultural significance, which is protected from being demolished, extended or altered, unless special permission is granted by the relevant planning authorities. Of the listed buildings in Liverpool, 105 are classified as Grade II* listed and are recognised as being particularly important with more than special architectural or historic interest. Of these, 46 are located within the L1, L2 and L3 postcodes, which cover the city centre of Liverpool. The following list provides information on all the Grade II* listed buildings within these postcodes.
University of Queensland Mayne Medical School is a heritage-listed university building at 288 Herston Road, Herston, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Raymond Clare Nowland and built from 1938 to 1939. It is also known as University of Queensland Medical School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 June 1999.