Bradford Library And Literary Society Building - Bradford, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 47.755 W 001° 45.292
30U E 582014 N 5961535
This blue plaque, slightly hidden away in a doorway gives some history of the building.
Waymark Code: WMJXGX
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/12/2014
Views: 3
The text on the plaque is as follows...
The Bradford Library
and Literary Society
took over this building in 1854.
It had been built in 1827 as
The Bradford Dispensary.
Bradford City Heritage
This Google digitized book with the snappy title of
The History and Topography of Bradford, (in the County of York,) with topographical notices of its parishes tells us that The dispensary was a charity set up to treat residents of Bradford. It was a not for profit organisation for which members had to pay a small annual subscription. By 1833 the charity had enough funds to install 12 beds in the building to treat in patients. When they moved out of this building they moved to new purpose built premises in Westgate.
This
Heritage Trail leaflet has the following additional information.
“On the left hand corner of Duke Street stands the Bradford
Library and Literary Institute (19). It was originally built in 1827
as a two storey house (the Bradford Dispensary) but acquired
by the Bradford Literary Society in 1854, as a subscription
library, and raised in height and enlarged in 1905. The
industrial growth of Bradford in the 18th and 19th centuries
was mirrored by a proliferation of charitable and educational
societies which still remain part of Bradford’s tradition.”
These days the building houses the Nationwide Building Society. The plaque is in a doorway to the left of the Nationwide on Darley Street.