Central Library, Blackpool

In 1908, a site was picked for a new library and art gallery on Queen Street.[1] It was partly financed by Bury artists Cuthbert and John Grundy. Construction started on the building in 1909, and it was completed in 1911.[2] It was designed by Scottish architecture firm Cullen, Lochhead and Brown, who had won a competition for the project.[1] In August 2010, the library closed to the public to undergo a year-long renovation that cost £3 million. It reopened on 26 September 2011.[3][4] The Library celebrated its centenary on 26 October 2011.

The library is in the Edwardian Baroque style.[5] It is on two storeys and is constructed of red brick with stone dressings and striped pilasters.[2][5] The library occupies the corner part of the building; the west and south walls have flanking pylons on plinths made of stone.[2] The corner entrance is flanked by three ionic columns on each side.[2] Over the doorway is a large, rectangular window, and above that, a frieze carved with the words "Central Public Library". At the top, there is an octagonal leaded dome, which has a finial shaped like an urn.[2][5]

On 20 October 1983 the building that contains the library, and the adjacent Grundy Art Gallery, was designated a Grade II listed building by Historic England. The Grade II listing—the lowest of the three grades—is for buildings that are "nationally important and of special interest".[6]

As part of the centenary renovation of the building in 2011, 8 new stained glass windows were commissioned. Designed by Nick Robertson[7] with a brief from the staff of the Library and input from Library users which were made by Rainbow Glass Studios based in London.

• Listed buildings in Blackpool

Footnotes

Sources

• Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], Lancashire: North, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-12667-0
• Morris, Edward (2001), Public Art Collections in North-west England: A History and Guide, Liverpool University Press, ISBN 0-85323-527-9