1937 - Central Library And Art Gallery - Huddersfield, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 38.658 W 001° 46.896
30U E 580543 N 5944637
This foundation stone is at the top of the steps at the entrance of the library and was laid by Councillor Thomas Smailes.
Waymark Code: WMQVFV
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/31/2016
Views: 1
"n 1917 the Carnegie UK Trust offered a grant towards the cost of a new library building. During the next few years several sites for a proposed new library were suggested including Upperhead Row at the bottom of Ramsden Street, Queen Street next to the Parish Churchyard, and later on the site of the demolished Cloth Hall. In 1933 the Ramsden Street Congregational Church finally closed through lack of support and the Council bought the site.
In 1934 the site was finally designated for the Library and Art Gallery. Excavations eventually began in February 1937 and on 29th October that year Councillor Thomas Smailes laid the foundation stone. Local stone cladding from Crosland Moor was used to face the steel framed building which was designed by Edward H Ashburner, architect. The building contractors were J Wimpenny & Co of Linthwaite. San Stefano marble lined the entrance hall and all the furniture and fittings were of solid oak. The carved stone statues and stone decorative panels at the front of the building are the work of James Woodford OBE., RA. He was born in 1893 and educated at Nottingham School of Art and the Royal College of Art. He died on 8th November 1976, aged 83. One statue is intended to symbolise literature and the other art; they stand over six feet high.
The old library in Church Street closed on Saturday 30th March 1940 at 7.30pm. All publications, books and volumes were moved to the new site in two weeks. The official opening of the lending library took place on 15th April 1940 by the Mayor, Alderman Norman Crossley. The Art Gallery was reserved for possible use as an emergency hospital during the war years but finally opened as a gallery in 1943. The lower ground floor was retained as a decontamination post and First Aid centre during the war and eventually opened as a children's library on 19th May 1945. The cost of building the new library and art gallery had amounted to about £103,071."
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