Passmore Edwards Public Library | |
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![]() Passmore Edwards Library, Shepherds Bush | |
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General information | |
Type | Former Library, now a theatre |
Architectural style | Victorian. |
Location | Shepherd's Bush |
Address | Uxbridge Road, London W12 |
Town or city | London |
Country | England |
Current tenants | The Bush Theatre Co |
Construction started | 1895 |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Timber frame, brick. |
Design and construction | |
Architect | Maurice Bingham Adams |
The Passmore Edwards Public Library on the Uxbridge Road, Shepherd's Bush, London, was built in 1895 and funded by the journalist and philanthropist Passmore Edwards. It is one of a number of public libraries that still bear his name today. [1] In 2008 a new library was built in Shepherd's Bush, part of the substantial Westfield London development, and the Passmore Edwards library fell into disuse. In October 2011 it re-opened as the new home of the Bush Theatre.
Designed by Maurice Bingham Adams, and originally known as the Passmore Edwards Free Library Hammersmith, [2] the project was one of many public libraries built around the end of the nineteenth century by John Passmore Edwards (1823 – 1911). [3] [4] Edwards was a British journalist, newspaper owner and philanthropist. The son of a carpenter, he was born in Blackwater, a small village between Redruth and Truro in Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Maurice Bingham Adams designed five of the Libraries funded by Passmore Edwards. He and Edwards shared a belief in self-help and the importance of good architecture, which would provide the educational institutions required to educate the British working man and help give Britain a competitive edge. [5]
The library was built in 1895, when Shepherd's Bush was still largely open land, but in the process of being developed to house London's expanding suburbs. A foundation stone, laid by Passmore Edwards, bears the date 4 July 1895.
Many of Shepherd's Bush's new inhabitants were poor and badly educated. In the early 20th century Irish labourers sought work and opportunities in London; their arrival in the capital created fears of urban slums and the spread of disease. [6] At the turn of the century Hammersmith MP Sir William Bull was appalled to see Shepherd's Bush Green become home to destitute unemployed sleeping rough, gambling, and playing pitch and toss. [7]
In October 2011 the library re-opened as the new home of the Bush Theatre. [8] The building is currently included on the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham's list of Buildings of Merit, deserving of protection. [9]
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borough borders Brent to the north, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the east, Wandsworth to the south, Richmond upon Thames to the south west, and Hounslow and Ealing to the west.
Sir William Molesworth, 8th Baronet, was a Radical British politician, who served in the coalition cabinet of The Earl of Aberdeen from 1853 until his death in 1855 as First Commissioner of Works and then Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Wood Lane is a street in London. It runs north from Shepherd's Bush, under the Westway (A40) past Wormwood Scrubs where it meets Scrubs Lane. The road is wholly in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It is probably best known as the former home of the BBC Television Centre, also BBC White City and formerly BBC Woodlands the offices of BBC Worldwide.
Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was originally built in 1903 as a music hall for impresario Oswald Stoll, designed by theatre architect Frank Matcham; among its early performers was Charlie Chaplin. In 1953 it became the BBC Television Theatre. Since 1994, it has operated as a music venue. It is a Grade II listed building.
John Passmore Edwards M.P. was a British journalist, newspaper owner and philanthropist, and briefly a Member of Parliament.
Hammersmith is a parliamentary constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It is currently represented by Andy Slaughter, a member of the Labour Party, who has represented the seat since its recreation in 2010.
Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and is associated with the Imperial College Faculty of Medicine. Confusingly the hospital is not in Hammersmith but is located in White City adjacent to Wormwood Scrubs and East Acton.
Westfield London is a large shopping centre in White City, west London, England, developed by the Westfield Group at a cost of £1.6bn, on a brownfield site formerly the home of the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition. The site is bounded by the West Cross Route (A3220), the Westway (A40) and Wood Lane (A219). It opened on 30 October 2008 and became the largest covered shopping development in the capital; originally a retail floor area of 1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m2), further investment and expansion led to it becoming the largest shopping centre in Europe by March 2018, an area of 2,600,000 sq ft (240,000 m2).
Shepherds Bush Green is an approximately 8-acre (3.2 ha) triangular area of open grass surrounded by trees and roads with shops in Shepherd's Bush, an area of west London which takes its name from the Green. The Green is also a ward of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 12,175.
Shepherd's Bush Market is a street market in Shepherd's Bush, London. The market is located on the east side of the railway viaduct for the Hammersmith and City Tube line, and is bordered on the north side by the Uxbridge Road, and on the south by the Goldhawk Road.
Shepherd's Bush is a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham centred on Shepherd's Bush Green. Originally a pasture for shepherds on their way to Smithfield market, it was largely developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1844 the West London Railway officially opened, followed in 1864 by the Metropolitan Railway who built the original Shepherd's Bush station, opening up the area to residential development. Businesses soon followed, and in 1903 the west side of Shepherd's Bush Green became the home of the Shepherd's Bush Empire, a music hall whose early performers included Charlie Chaplin.
The Shepherd's Bush Pavilion is a Grade II listed building, currently a hotel, formerly a cinema and bingo hall, in Shepherd's Bush, London. Built in 1923 as a cinema, it was badly damaged by a flying bomb in 1944. In 1955, it was restored and re-opened, but it changed ownership a number of times, and eventually in 1983 became a bingo hall. The Pavilion closed its doors for good in 2001, and remained empty and disused for much of the next decade. In 2009, planning permission was granted for conversion into a luxury hotel. Demolition work began in 2012, with only a part of the building's façade retained. The re-built hotel, the Dorsett Shepherd's Bush, London, opened in 2014.
The Shepherd's Bush Palladium was an historic building in Shepherd's Bush, London, originally built in 1910 as the Shepherd's Bush Cinematograph Theatre. The building had a number of owners over the years and finally stopped showing films in 1981. After standing empty for some time, it was eventually converted into a pub and for many years was owned and operated by the Walkabout chain of Australasian-themed bars. In October 2013 the building was sold to a property developer and in 2019 it was largely demolished, replaced in 2021 with a 16-storey block of flats, retaining the original 1920s facade.
The Church of St Stephen and St Thomas is a Church of England parish church in Shepherd's Bush, London. It was built circa 1849–50, designed by architect Anthony Salvin in the Gothic Revival style and is now Grade II listed. The church is located on the South side of Uxbridge Road on the corner of Coverdale Road, to the west of Shepherd's Bush tube station.
Goldhawk Road is a road in west London, which starts at Shepherd's Bush and travels west. There are numerous shops, restaurants and businesses lining the road, which forms the southern boundary of Shepherd's Bush Green. It is designated part of the A402 road.
Christabel Annie Cockerell was a British painter of children, portraits and landscapes. She married the sculptor Sir George Frampton, becoming Lady Frampton, but continued to exhibit her art using her maiden name.
Hammersmith Park, known to many locals as "The BBC Park" is a public park in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It includes a Japanese Garden, a gated children's play area, tennis courts and football pitches run by Play Football. Despite its name, it is located in Shepherd's Bush, not Hammersmith.
King Street, Hammersmith is the main shopping street in Hammersmith, London. It runs west–east, and forms part of the A315, and is the eastern continuation of Chiswick High Road, where it meets Goldhawk Road, close to Stamford Brook tube station. At the eastern end it meets Hammersmith Broadway and continues east as Hammersmith Road where it forms a crossroads with the A219, the Shepherd's Bush Road running northwards, and the Fulham Palace Road running south.
Maurice Bingham Adams FRIBA (1849–1933) was a British architect in the Arts and Crafts style.
The Church of St Simon is a Church of England parish church in Shepherd's Bush, London. It was built circa 1879 - 1886, designed by architect Sir Arthur Blomfield in the Gothic Revival style with a tower. The church is located on the south side of Shepherd's Bush Green on Rockley Road.