William Brown Library and Museum

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Main entrance to the building and on the right the ground floor entrance to Liverpool Central Library

The William Brown Library and Museum is part of a prestigious ensemble of buildings on William Brown Street in Liverpool . It is on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest and is classified as a particularly significant building of general interest. It currently houses parts of the World Museum Liverpool and the Liverpool Central Library.

The building complex, from left: Technical College, World Museum Liverpool, Central Library, Picton Reading Room

The William Brown Library and Museum building was conceived as the successor to the Derby Museum , which housed the natural history collection of the Earl of Derby , the original core collection of the house. The collection shared these two rooms with a library on Duke Street . The land for the new building, then called Shaw's Brow , as well as much of the funding, was provided by the local MP and merchant Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet of Astrop. The street was then renamed Street in his honor.

Based on the model of St. George's Hall , completed in 1854 on the opposite side of the street , the building was designed by Thomas Allom (1804–1872) in the late Classicism style with a representative portico made of Corinthian columns and rebuilt by the architect John Weightman of the Liverpool Corporation. In 1860 the house was opened in the presence of 400,000 visitors.

Interior of the William Brown Library

During the attacks by the German Air Force on Liverpool in World War II in 1941 , the building was badly damaged except for the facade or largely destroyed by fire. The collection had been brought to safety beforehand. The library was then rebuilt, but became less and less suitable as a modern library and information center due to its inadequate infrastructure and dilapidation.

In 2008 the plan was presented to renovate the William Brown Library and the Picton Reading Room from scratch and adapt them to the requirements of a modern library. Construction began in 2010 and was completed in 2013 at a cost of £ 55m. The historical, self-supporting facade of the library was retained during the renovation, while behind the facade there is a new building complex with atrium, a six-storey library building, administration rooms, café, shop, etc. and a roof terrace. The architects Austin-Smith: Lord , Liverpool , carried out the design, planning and renovation .

Web links

Commons : World Museum Liverpool  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Liverpool Central Library  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Picton Reading Room  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

credentials

  1. ↑ £ 50m rebuild for Liverpool's Central Library . Liverpool echo. Accessed December 31, 2018.
  2. ↑ Anna Edwards: 'It's like going to meet your gran and finding she's turned into Beyoncé': Liverpool spends £ 55million to revamp library Mail online, May 16, 2013, accessed January 1, 2019
  3. ↑ austinsmithlord.com. Retrieved January 1, 2019

Coordinates: 53 ° 24 ′ 35.2 "  N , 2 ° 58 ′ 52.2"  E