44-512: Manchester Central Library is the headquarters of the city's library and information service in Manchester , England. Facing St Peter's Square , it was designed by E. Vincent Harris and constructed between 1930 and 1934. The form of the building, a columned portico attached to a rotunda domed structure, is loosely derived from the Pantheon, Rome . At its opening, one critic wrote, "This
88-482: A band of unrelieved Portland stone . The pitched leaded roof appears from street level to be a dome, but this is only a surrounding roof. The dome that can be seen from within the Great Hall lies within this roof, and cannot be seen from the ground. On the first floor is the Great Hall, a large reading room topped by a dome. Much of the original furniture designed by the architect can be seen on this floor. Around
132-413: A bus lane opened at the junction of Blackfriars Street and Deansgate for southbound buses, taxis and bicycles. From Bridge Street to Quay Street it will be permanently one-way only, in a southbound direction. The 'free bus' services 1, 2 and 3 operate around the city centre and all three routes have stops on Deansgate. Deansgate is a long straight street which has provided a venue for sporting events in
176-696: A central library. E. Vincent Harris was selected to design both buildings. His circular design for the library, reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome, was based on libraries in America. The library's foundation stone was laid on 6 May 1930 by the Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald . The library was officially opened by King George V on 17 July 1934 after he had laid the foundation stone for the Town Hall Extension . In 1934
220-527: A ceremony attended by Charles Dickens . When the Campfield premises were declared to be unsafe in 1877, the library was moved to the old Town Hall in King Street . The library moved again to what is now Piccadilly Gardens , to the former outpatients wing of Manchester Royal Infirmary and an old YMCA hut in 1912. In 1926 the city council held a competition to design an extension to the town hall and
264-880: A major regeneration scheme, including the eco-designed North City Library in Harpurhey . and The Avenue Library and Learning Centre in Higher Blackley . There has been a public library service in Manchester since 1852, when the Manchester Free Library opened in the Hall of Science, Campfield, on the site of what is now the Museum of Science and Industry . Famous figures such as Charles Dickens and William Thackeray attended and spoke at its inauguration. Manchester had taken advantage of powers granted by
308-527: A near straight route through the western part of the city centre and is the longest road in the city centre at over one mile in length. Deansgate is one of the city's oldest thoroughfares. In Roman times its route passed close to the Roman fort of Mamucium and led from the River Medlock where there was a ford and the road to Deva (Chester). Along it were several civilian buildings and a mansio in
352-560: A number of bus routes, including the Metroshuttle services. Deansgate Station was opened at Knott Mill on 20 July 1849 by the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway . It is linked to Deansgate-Castlefield Metrolink station on the Metrolink system. In the first half of the 20th century, Deansgate was a route for trams operated by Manchester Corporation Tramways , and subsequently carried numerous bus services. During
396-809: A reference library, 24 lending libraries, a foreign library, the Henry Watson Music Library and the Thomas Greenwood Library for Librarians. The number of volumes altogether exceeded half a million and the stock of the lending libraries was arranged according to the Dewey Decimal Classification. The library was housed in temporary buildings in Piccadilly on the site of the former Manchester Royal Infirmary . The Moss Side library contained special collections on Thomas de Quincey , Mrs. Gaskell and
440-671: Is a memorial to those from Greater Manchester who fought in the Spanish Civil War as part of the International Brigades . The inscription reads Voluntarios Internacionales de la Libertad dedicated to the men & women from the Greater Manchester area who fought against fascism in Spain. The memorial was designed by Sol Garson, and unveiled by Cllr. H.T. Lee on 12 February 1983. Anthony Burgess ,
484-677: Is the sort of thing which persuades one to believe in the perennial applicability of the Classical canon". The library building is grade II* listed . A four-year project to renovate and refurbish the library commenced in 2010. Central Library re-opened on 22 March 2014. Manchester was the first local authority to provide a public lending and reference library after the passing of the Public Libraries Act 1850 . The Manchester Free Library opened at Campfield in September 1852 at
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#1732780684012528-571: The Construction News Judges Supreme Award in June 2015. It was described as an almost impossibly complex project completed on schedule and within budget. The indoor plan is now very different. What was the theatre in the basement is now part of the library. A wall was knocked through, making an indoor connection between the library and Manchester Town Hall . The Library Theatre Company moved to their new theatre at
572-587: The HOME complex in May 2015. Designed by architect Vincent Harris, the striking rotunda form of the library was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Like its 2nd-century model, the library is a round building fronted by a large two-storey portico which forms the main entrance on St Peter's Square , and is surrounded by five bays of Corinthian columns . Around the second and third floors is a Tuscan colonnade , topped by
616-715: The Manchester Ship Canal , Daniel Adamson . The statue was presented to the library by his grandchildren, the Parkyn family, in 1938. It is the second largest public lending library in Britain, after the Library of Birmingham . Beneath the Great Hall were four floors of steel book stacks providing 35 miles (56 km) of shelving which accommodated one million books: video . Those floors were only accessible to employees and were environmentally controlled to protect
660-408: The Public Libraries Act 1850 ( 13 & 14 Vict. c. 65) to become the first local authority to establish a rate-supported public lending and reference library. Andrea Crestadoro , Chief Librarian of the city 1864–1879, is credited with being the first person to propose that books could be catalogued by using keywords that did not occur in the title of the book. In 1915 the libraries consisted of
704-847: The coats of arms of the City of Manchester, the University of Manchester , and the County and Duchy of Lancaster . The windows were a memorial bequest to the library by Rosa E. Grindon (1848–1923), the widow of Manchester botanist Leo Grindon . The ceiling decorations include the arms and crests of the Duchy of Lancaster, the See of York , the See of Manchester , the City of Manchester, and Lancashire County Council . The walls of Shakespeare Hall are covered with Hopton Wood stone quarried in Derbyshire . On
748-411: The 1970s, many bus routes were diverted or separated into two services terminating in the city centre and adjoining streets such as King Street were pedestrianised. In 2009, there were calls for traffic to be banned on Deansgate and for it to be pedestrianised. The calls were triggered in response to road works that closed parts of Deansgate. Some argued that the disablement of a major traffic route in
792-714: The Blind Collection from Deansgate and the Commercial Library from the Royal Exchange were moved to the library. The Chinese Library Service was set up in 1968. Central Library opened in 1934 to much fanfare. Singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl reminisced on the opening: "The new Central Library which replaced the chicken house was an imposing circular structure with an enormous reading room, a small theatre and carrels where serious students could carry on their research without interruption. The portico of
836-752: The Brontës and the foreign library was temporarily housed at the Cheetham branch. The Henry Watson Music Library contained 30,000 volumes and hundreds of thousands of pieces of music; the Thomas Greenwood Library for Librarians contained about 15,000 volumes. After the vacation of the first town hall in King Street the building was reused for the public lending library. These include libraries in Chorlton-cum-Hardy , Hulme , Withington and Didsbury . The Withington Library (1927), on Wilmslow Road,
880-891: The Deansgate area include the Royal Bank of Scotland , the Beetham Tower and the redeveloped Great Northern Warehouse . Historic buildings include the John Rylands Library and the Barton Arcade shopping mall. The disused Manchester and Salford Junction canal runs underneath Deansgate below the Great Northern Warehouse. Today, the main transport links on Deansgate are the National Rail and Manchester Metrolink stations and
924-490: The Norse gata , meaning way). By the late 19th century Deansgate was an area of varied uses: its northern end had shopping and substantial office buildings while further south were slums and a working-class area around St John's Church (St John Street remaining upper middle class). The Wood Street Mission began to address the social problems in 1869 and its work continues in a very different form. From Peter Street southwards
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#1732780684012968-453: The adult lending stock was 895,000, the adult reference stock 638,200, the junior stock 114,600, a total of nearly 1.65 million volumes. There were about 2,000 reading places and an estimated 10,000 people visited the library each day. There were subscriptions to 3,000 periodicals. Italics denote building under construction Manchester Library %26 Information Service There are 24 public libraries in Manchester , England, including
1012-462: The author who wrote the novel A Clockwork Orange , was a regular visitor to the library during his school days. In a volume of his autobiography, Little Wilson and Big God (1987) he recounted his visit to the index system, then in temporary accommodation in Piccadilly, Manchester, where he met an older woman who took him to her flat in Ardwick where she seduced him. In 1968 it was recorded that
1056-477: The basement of Manchester Central Library and was the home of the Library Theatre Company, a Manchester City Council service. It was built in 1934 as a lecture theatre, and since 1952 had been used by the Library Theatre Company. After the 2011–2014 alterations its area is now part of the library. A new theatre opened on First Street in partnership with Cornerhouse , Manchester in 2015. There
1100-430: The books, many of which are old and fragile. The upper two stack floors occupied all the area under the dome. The fourth level, the archive unit, was in the basement of the building. The lower two stack floors were smaller because the basement theatre took some of that area. In 2011 when the library closed for the alterations, there were 3,600 stack columns supporting approximately 45,000 shelves; those columns were rooted in
1144-614: The city centre could have a damaging economic effect, while others argued that a vehicle-free Deansgate would attract more shoppers. Victoria Street, the short section at the North end of the road by Manchester Cathedral has been pedestrianised. In 2019, Extinction Rebellion occupied a section of the road from St Mary’s Gate to John Dalton Street for four days, with tents and organised talks on climate change, sustainable living and resistance. This reignited calls for it to be pedestrianised. In 2022, widened cycle lanes were put in place, and
1188-466: The city centre on Deansgate has been provided. The community library occupies Elliott House (between Lloyd Street and Jackson's Row). Kenneth W King 1975 - 53°28′45″N 2°14′55″W / 53.479242°N 2.248737°W / 53.479242; -2.248737 Deansgate Deansgate is a main road (part of the A56 ) through Manchester City Centre , England. It runs roughly north–south in
1232-523: The city centre. In 2006, A1 Racing cars visited the city to launch A1 Grand Prix, and used Deansgate as part of the route. In August 2011, thousands packed the street as Jenson Button drove a McLaren MP4-23 along Deansgate as part of the Vodafone Vip Live Manchester festival. In 2001, the inaugural Great City Games took place on Deansgate, which featured a 150-metre sprinting track. The event has become an annual fixture on
1276-542: The closure its collections were stored in the Winsford Rock Salt Mine ; some of the books in the stack joined collections at Greater Manchester County Record Office . A number of its services were available at a temporary location nearby. During renovation, a temporary community library for the city centre was established on Deansgate . Central Library re-opened on 22 March 2014 after a £40 million re-design. The project delivered by Laing O'Rourke won
1320-448: The dome's acoustics caused an echo problem, which repeated several times any short noise made in the room. Adding sound-absorbing material reduced this effect. The Shakespeare Hall is an ornate chamber displaying local heraldry and with large stained glass windows. The central window was designed by Robert Anning Bell and depicts William Shakespeare and scenes from his plays. Two side windows designed by George Kruger Gray depict
1364-708: The eastern side was dominated by the viaducts of the Great Northern and Manchester South Junction Railways , whilst the Rochdale Canal crossed below Deansgate to connect with the other waterways beyond. In the late 20th century Deansgate was home to the head office of the Manchester Evening News newspaper, now replaced by part of the Spinningfields development. In early 2023, the road had cycle lanes and cycle laybys installed on
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1408-664: The famous Central Library in St Peter’s Square . The oldest community library still in use is Levenshulme Library in South Manchester, built in 1903. Levenshulme Library is also a Carnegie library , having been built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie , who funded the building of over 2,500 libraries across the world. Two new multimillion-pound libraries have recently opened in North Manchester as part of
1452-614: The largest public house in Britain . Elliot House was the Manchester Registry Office and before that the offices of the corporation's Education Department. The northern end of the street adjoined the Shambles and was badly damaged in the 1996 Manchester bombing . The area was redeveloped and houses several new buildings, including No. 1 Deansgate and the Manchester branch of Harvey Nichols . Other buildings in
1496-452: The magnificent edifice quickly became a popular rendezvous and "Meet you at the Ref" became a familiar phrase on the lips of students, lovers and unemployed youths. I was there on the opening day and on many days thereafter; the Ref played an important part in my life for I made many friends there." The library was declared open by King George V on 17 July 1934. George V declared to the crowd: "In
1540-528: The rim of the dome is an inscription from the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament : Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour when thou dost embrace her, she shall give of thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory she shall deliver to thee. Proverbs 4:7 In former years
1584-665: The road. Deansgate begins at Victoria Street, a 19th-century creation. Its east side was occupied by the Victoria Buildings built on a triangular site by Manchester Corporation in 1876, but destroyed during a bomb raid in the Manchester Blitz in December 1940. A statue of Oliver Cromwell at the northern corner commemorated Manchester's support for Parliament in the English Civil War . The statue
1628-570: The sandstone rock underneath and supported the Great Hall's reinforced concrete floor. Placed end to end, those shelves would have covered over 35 miles (56 km). The total floor area was about 7,000 square yards (5,850 m). After the 2010–2014 alterations, many of the former stack books (except rare or valuable or fragile books) are on public shelves. The library collections include over 30 incunabula (books published before 1500) and many first and early editions of major works. The special collections include: The Library Theatre occupied much of
1672-666: The shape of the girders used seemed to make little sense. I remember families coming in first to "gawp"... Under the portico became a favourite trysting place. In all, the shape of the building was its best advertisement and it was never necessary to put a notice 'Public Library' on the outside." Reports emerged in 2008 that the Central Library needed essential renovation to repair and modernise its facilities. The library faced asbestos problems and needed work to maintain its 'structural integrity'. The Central Library closed from 2010 to 2014 for refurbishment and expansion. During
1716-733: The south of Peter Street was known as Aldport Street until the end of the 18th century. The street contains many shops including a House of Fraser department store (known as Kendals from the 1830s until 2005), and Waterstones along with many public houses and bars including the Moon Under Water, formerly the Deansgate Cinema (or ABC Deansgate). At 820 square metres (8,800 sq ft), able to accommodate 1,700 customers, and employing 60 staff, it has been listed in The Guinness Book of Records as
1760-516: The splendid building which I am about to open, the largest library in this country provided by a local authority, the Corporation have ensured for the inhabitants of the city magnificent opportunities for further education and for the pleasant use of leisure." An employee at the library who was present on opening day said: "When it was being built the public were very intrigued about its final appearance – they were used to rectangular buildings and
1804-725: The vicinity of the Hilton Hotel . Part of it was called Aldport Lane from Saxon times. (Aldport was the Saxon name for Castlefield .) Until the 1730s the area was rural but became built up after the development of a quay on the river. The road is named after the lost River Dene, which may have flowed along the Hanging Ditch connecting the River Irk to the River Irwell at the street's northern end. (‘Gate’ derives from
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1848-725: The walls are the arms of The Manchester Grammar School , Manchester University, the Manchester Regiment , Humphrey Chetham , the Overseers of the Township, England, St. George, St. Mary (patron saint of Manchester), and over the memorial window, Shakespeare. On the left landing is a white marble statue, the Reading Girl by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Ciniselli. It was bought by the industrialist and promoter of
1892-523: Was a gift to the city by Mrs Abel Heywood in memory of her first husband, Thomas Goadsby and was the first large statue of Cromwell to be raised in the open anywhere in England. At the northern end of Deansgate is Victoria Street, on which lies Manchester Cathedral , and at the southern end is Deansgate railway station . At this point Deansgate connects with Bridgewater Viaduct and Chester Road ( Whitworth Street West meets it at this point). The section to
1936-493: Was designed by Henry Price . In 1971 there were 20 branch libraries and services were provided by four mobile libraries or by caravans to a further 19 areas. The Central Library is closed from 2010 to 2013 for major refurbishment and expansion. During the closure its books are stored in a disused part of the Winsford salt mine . Some of its services will be available at a temporary location nearby. A new community library for
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