Central Library, Borough Road, Birkenhead

BIRKENHEAD NEW LIBRARY - Mr Andrew Prencice FRIBA of London, the adjudicator in the competition for the designing of the new Central Library for Birkenhead, has placed first the designs submitted by Messrs Gray, Evans, and Crossley, architects of Liverpool. The new library is to occupy a site off Borough Road at the foot of Raffles Road and will form one of a series of buildings which include a commercial college and central school, the whole of the buildings to cost about £200,000. The library itself is to cost about £38,000. The competition was open to architects in the Liverpool and Birkenhead areas, the prizes being £250 for the design placed first by the assessor, £175 for the second design and £100 for the third. The architects of the new building also designed the new Alhambra Theatre in Paris, opened recently at a cost of 250,000. [Liverpool Echo 20 October 1931 page 9]

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF NEW LIBRARY – No review of industrial and commercial activities of Merseyside would be complete without a reference to Birkenhead—and something more than a passing reference: In an issue such as the present, considerable space must be devoted to the town which alone with Liverpool of the four Merseyside boroughs has shouldered the financial burden of the new tunnel. In this connection it must not be forgotten that the choice of the site in Chester-street, Birkenhead, foe an entrance to the new tunnel necessitated the demolition of a central building which had been built by the Birkenhead Corporation in 1905, largely out of moneys provided by the late Andrew Carnegie. The Mersey Tunnel Joint Committee paid compensation to the Corporation of Birkenhead for the demolition of the building, and out of thig compensation money the Corporation of Birkenhead has provided a new Central Library to replace the one which has been demolished. The site of the building is about three-quarters of a mile from the tunnel entrance in Chester-street, and is in Borough-road, one of the central thoroughfares of the town. This site was chosen chiefly because it is at the geographical centre or the town. 

Designs for the new building were the subject of a competition open to architects within a 20-mile radius of the Birkenhead Town Hall, and on the nomination of the Royal Institute of British Architects the Corporation appointed Mr. Andrew N. Prentice F. R.I.B.A., as assessor of the designs. Mr. Prentice awarded the first premium to the design submitted by Messrs. Gray, Evans and Crossley of North John-street, Liverpool, and in accordance with the conditions of competition they were in due course appointed architects for the new building. For the erection of  the new building the Corporation accepted the tender of Messrs. E. B. J. Gould, Ltd., of Cromwell-road, Ellesmere Port. The cost thereof is £40,000 and the site has cost about £13,000 and the lay-out £2,000 making a total of about £35,000, exclusive of furnishing. 

The new building will comprise a lending department, a reference library, a children's library, a agazine-room, a lecture-room, and the usual ancillary accommodation. There will be accommodation for 65,000 volumes in the lending department and 50,000 in the reference department. Mr. E. G. Mason, who was an Honorary Freeman of the Borough and the father of the Council, was, until his recent death, chairman of the committee, and the provision of the new building was the last of many important projects in which he took an active part. This new library is a stately and spacious building, an imposing forerunner of a series of buildings proposed by the Birkenhead Corporation; it is impossible to recognise the old fairground beneath The somewhat formal layout of grass and flagged paths which form a suitable setting to the stately architecture of the main facade. This facade, set 70 feet back from the pavement, though not imitating some of the wildest schemes of Continental architects, is modern, while paying at the same time, a graceful tribute to classic architecture. 

The main entrance hall, forming the nucleus of the varying units which compose the building, is entered From Borough Road through a panelled vestibule. The well-proportioned and boldly modelled golden travertine pillars, the carefully selected oak panelling and graceful light travertine staircase make this one of the richest and most important elements in the building. The public will have access from here to every department without passing through another. The lending library, which is, perhaps the raison d'etre of the whole building, is a large and spacious department, 130 feet wide and over 70 feet deep; the 65,000 volumes are set out here in wall and island bookcases which are arranged radially to centre on the staff counter, so that borrowers are constantly under immediate supervision in every part of the library. This design is especially suited to the open access system employed. Some interesting features of this room are the ceiling panel-heating system. the fact that this large room is adequately lit during the day by natural light from the huge ceiling laylights, and by floodlights at night. On the right and left sides are the magazine and lecture rooms, 50 feet by 30 feet and 40 feet by 30 feet respectively. These rooms are panelled in oak and naturally lit by large lateral windows . They are designed to accommodate a maximum number of people; the special projection box for showing slides  and films should be noted in connection with the latter. A special feature of this building is the large children's room, 70 feet by 40 feet, in the lower ground floor. It has a separate entrance, and is entirely disconnected, except for staff and emergency exiting. from the library itself. Perhaps one of the most charming features in the building is the seated figure of a little girl, who keeps watch over the entrance to this room. On the first floor is the reference library, 60 feet by 30 feet, with accommodation for over 100 readers; adjoining this is the stack room, 70 feet by 32 feet housing over 50,000 books, besides a special room for newspapers, files, and extra cases for folios, etc.  On this floor are the librarian's rooms and committee suite. [Supplement to the Journal of Commerce and Shipping Telegraph   Thursday 19 July 1934 Page 15]

Opening        18 July 1934 by King George V

Reference      Liverpool Echo 20 October 1931 page 9 – competition result
Reference      Supplement to the Journal of Commerce and Shipping Telegraph   Thursday 19 July 1934 Page 15