Spring Hill Library

Spring Hill Library

Spring Hill Library, Ladywood, Birmingham
General information
Type Library
Location Ladywood, Birmingham, England
Coordinates 52°29′6.16″N 1°55′10.14″W / 52.4850444°N 1.9194833°W
Completed 7 January 1893
Height 65 feet (20 m)
Design and construction
Architect Frederick Martin, Martin & Chamberlain
Awards and prizes Grade II* listed

Spring Hill Library (grid reference SP055874) is a red brick and terracotta Victorian building in Ladywood, Birmingham, England.

Designed in 1891 by Frederick Martin[1] of Martin & Chamberlain with a 65-foot (20 m) clock tower on the corner of Icknield Street and Spring Hill and opened on 7 January 1893, it now stands next to a roundabout and linked via a glazed atrium to a notably elegant new (2010) Tesco superstore. The site was previously the location for the turnpike gate house for Icknield Street.[2]

Still in use as a Birmingham branch library, it is a grade II* listed building.

As of January 2014, the city council has decided it wishes to close the building down as part of its cuts program, despite being in the most deprived ward in the UK. Birmingham City Council blames lack of funding from the Central government. [3] A campaigning group is being set up to oppose this. The next meeting is at the library Thursday 20 February 2014 at 530-630. See also Facebook page for Friends of Spring Hill Library.

Notes

  1. ↑ Thornton, Roy (2006). Victorian Buildings of Birmingham. Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7509-3857-9.
  2. ↑ John Young Walker MacAlister; Alfred William Pollard (1891). The Library: The Transactions of the Bibliographical Society. Oxford University Press. p. 199.
  3. ↑ Four Birmingham libraries facing closure because of budget cuts

References

Coordinates: 52°29′6.16″N 1°55′10.14″W / 52.4850444°N 1.9194833°W