Central Library 1

"COME AND SEE" LIBRARY PLEA TO MINISTER

18-03-2008

Campaigners fighting for the preservation of Birmingham Central Library have called on a government minister to come and see it for herself. They are demanding protected status for the building.

Alan Clawley, Secretary of the Friends of the Central Library pressure group has written to Margaret Hodge, the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism.

She’ll have the final say on an application from the City Council who want John Madin’s Brutalist classic to be given Immunity From Listing status – that would allow demolition and pave the way for the redevelopment of Paradise Circus.

English Heritage - whose recommendation that it should be listed was previously ignored – will again be advising the government.

Clawley thinks that in any event, Hodge should come and make up her own mind.

His letter, seen by The Stirrer, says, “Birmingham Central Library is increasingly being recognised as one of the finest buildings of its time in Britain.

“It is particularly strong in its handling of internal space. When it was built, in 1974, the Architect’s Journal hailed its qualities and said ‘one glides through the succession of volumes smoothly, sleekly.’

“The Pevsner Architectural Guide to Birmingham, published in 2005, calls it ‘a building of European importance.’

“Those of us who are regular users of Birmingham Central Library find it a wonderful and inspiring building to work in and so apparently did those people who voted it the second most popular library in England with just under 1.5 million visitors a year in a recent CIPFA survey.

“We are also concerned that the proposed replacement Library may be smaller and have less space for books than the present one.

“When it was proposed to replace the Library in 2002, the main argument was that it was now too small to contain the number of books and new media items that a modern city library needed. It now seems likely that a significant part of the library’s holdings will be sold off.

“I appreciate that you must be very busy, but on behalf of the Friends I would like to ask you, if you have any doubt listing the Library, to visit it yourself and walk through it, the only way to fully appreciate the architectural quality of its interior.

“We would be only to pleased to be your host.”

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