Coordinates: 52°24′53″N 1°58′02″W / 52.414753°N 1.967317°W / 52.414753; -1.967317

Northfield Library

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
File:Northfield Free Library.jpg
Northfield Library

Northfield Library is a Carnegie library in Northfield, Birmingham, England[1] which in 1914 became the first open-access lending library in Birmingham.

History

[edit | edit source]

Northfield Library was opened in 1906. The land was provided by the Cadbury family and the building constructed with funds of £750 (equivalent to £101,898 in 2023)[2] donated by Andrew Carnegie. The foundation stone was laid by Alderman T. R. Bayliss.

On 12 February 1914 the library burnt to the ground. Suspicion fell on local suffragettes.[3]

It was rebuilt in the same year by the Free Libraries Committee and became the first open-access lending library in Birmingham[4] The façade remains the same; however, in 1984, the library building was doubled in size and a project was undertaken to remove asbestos at the same time.[5]

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ The and Municipal and County Engineer, Volume 27, p.125
  2. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ Notes on the history of the Birmingham public libraries: 1861-1961, Birmingham Public Libraries 1962
  4. ^ Books, Buildings and Social Engineering: Early Public Libraries in Britain from Past to Present. Alistair Black, Simon Pepper, Kaye Bagshaw, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 23 Jun 2009
  5. ^ The Library Association record. The Library Association., 1984

Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 153: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).