Posted by mdp on July 08, 2002 at 11:37:18:draft letter:
Listing Branch, Attn. Samantha Kelly
Department of Culture, Media and Sport
2-4 Cockspur Street
London SW1Y 5DHDear Ms Kelly,
CENTRAL LIBRARY, CHAMBERLAIN SQUARE, BIRMINGHAM.
I would like to support the above building for spot-listing, in order to protect it from imminent redevelopment involving the building’s demolition by Birmingham City Council.
The Central Library was designed in 1971 and completed in 1973. It is a very fine building by the leading local practice John Madin Design Group in association with the city architect J A Maudsley. It is built from reinforced concrete and planned around a central court, with cruciform concrete columns and coffered ceilings. Its inverted ziggurat profile follows the model of Boston City Hall and, more distantly, of Le Corbusier’s La Tourette.
The Library has a powerful presence in Chamberlain Square alongside the Museum & Art Gallery and the Council House. The Reference Library block is eight-storey high, the Central Lending Library wing is four-storey high, and the Administration wing is on two levels.
The site sits at the interchange of three main roads: the architects responded to the demands of the island site and designed the library accordingly. The building was originally built above a pedestrian route, sadly now enclosed and turned into a shopping mall. The main elevation of the library faces Chamberlain Square, with the Town Hall and the Council House extension as neighbours, the group forming an interesting array of civic buildings of different ages and styles. In order to harmonise with its illustrious neighbours, the library was given a strong horizontal emphasis and faced with pre-cast concrete panels with a Hopton Wood stone finish.
Each section of the library has been designed with the needs of the users in mind. The lending library is the most frequented section of the building and is looking towards the outside. In contrast, the reference library is inward facing in order to reduce exterior disturbances.
The interior spaces are free of decoration, with the concrete exposed. Most of the furniture has been purposely designed by the architects in order to fulfil all of the library specifications.
I would like to stress the importance of this building and recommend that it be considered for spot listing, to ensure its survival please.
yours..
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