The most noted Renaissance style library in Scotland is the
Ewart Library in Dumfries, which was officially opened in 1904 by the donor of
the site, Miss McKie. Mr and Mrs Carnegie also attended the ceremony, where
Andrew Carnegie was presented with the freedom of the burgh.
Ewart Library, Dumfries.
The library building is an elaborately decorated two-storey red
sandstone structure, with relief carvings of figures personifying Knowledge,
Music, Art and Truth situated over the end windows. It is built in the
Renaissance style with a seven bay frontage finished with polished granite Ionic
columns and pilasters. The architect, Alan. B. Crombie used a style which was
very popular in Scotland at the time, and variations on the same theme can be
seen throughout the country.
In September 2004 the Ewart Library celebrated its centenary.
Local children and library staff, dressed in old-fashioned Edwardian outfits,
marched through the town before returning to the library for a tea party.
When Carnegie offered £10,000 for the Dumfries library building
in 1898, he had suggested that the library be named after William Ewart (left),
the former Member of Parliament for Dumfries. Ewart was responsible for the
introduction of the Free Libraries Acts of 1850 in England, and 1853 in
Scotland, allowing public libraries to be supported by local taxation for the
first time. This led directly to the creation of public libraries in some
enlightened places even before Carnegie began his donations.
Annan Library, Dumfriesshire.
Further along the Solway Firth, the library in Annan was also
built with the familiar Dumfriesshire red sandstone, much of which was
transported to Glasgow in its boom years of construction at the beginning of
the 20th century.
Carnegie Library, Ayr.
One of the earliest libraries of this style was the Carnegie
Library in Ayr, which superseded an earlier subscription library dating from
1870. The trustees of the subscription library had invited Andrew Carnegie to
give a lecture to the members in 1890. Carnegie declined this invitation, but
instead offered £10,000 towards a free library for the town.
The two-storey library is built in local red sandstone to a
lavishly embellished Italian Renaissance design by Campbell Douglas of
Glasgow. The library was officially opened on 2nd September 1893.
Perspective Drawing of Carnegie Library, Ayr.
Burntisland Library, Fife.
Burntisland Library has a much more English feel than other
Carnegie libraries built in Scotland. It would not look out of place amongst the
fastidious conservative architecture seen in the university towns of southern
England.
Motherwell Library, Lanarkshire
Motherwell's Carnegie library is situated in the centre of
town, opposite the town hall. Carnegie had provided £12,000 for the library's
construction. The architects were the Edinburgh based partnership of Greig,
Fairbairn and MacNiven. The library was built with cream sandstone to a
fashionable Edwardian design. The building was officially opened on 5th April 1906 by Dr Hew
Morrison on behalf of Andrew Carnegie. Provost Purdie thanked Dr Morrison and
Andrew Carnegie on behalf of the people of Motherwell.
Carnegie Library, Coatbridge, Lanarkshire
The Carnegie Library in Academy Street, Coatbridge is housed in
a conventional red sandstone building which Andrew Carnegie provided £15,000 to
construct. The façade is enlivened with carved shields on the side wings and a
relief displaying the town's coat of arms over the main entrance. The library was officially opened on 7th June 1906 by Andrew
Carnegie in person. He received the ceremonial freedom of burgh of Coatbridge
from Provost McCosh during the celebrations. Earlier in the day he had visited
the nearby town of Airdrie, which is home to one of the world's first Carnegie
libraries.
Engraving of Carnegie Library, Coatbridge.
West Calder Library, West Lothian
West Calder Library, which opened on 20th November 1904,
features a quite fancy version of Edwardian Renaissance design. The library's
architect, William Baillie, was only 29 years old at the time of its completion
and had not long started business on his own account from offices in Hope
Street, Glasgow. The opening ceremony was performed by Lord Rosebery, who had
been an unpopular British Prime Minister for a short period in 1894 / 1895.
When the library was completed, the plaque (right) was
positioned above the new Ladies Reading Room, commemorating the fact that West
Calder had enjoyed library facilities for many years before the opening of the
Carnegie building in 1904.
Anderston Library, Glasgow.
This was Glasgow's first free standing library. It has a
two-storey façade built to a symmetrical Edwardian Renaissance design which
shows elements of art nouveau. The architects, John Stewart & George
Paterson, gave it a prominent highly decorated central bay with three sets of
contemporary styled windows either side. The library was officially opened on 21st December, 1904 by
Councillor William Bilsland, who was later to become Lord Provost of Glasgow.
Hutchesontown Library, Gorbals, Glasgow. This was the final and the most decorative of James. R. Rhind's
Glasgow libraries, built in the French Renaissance style, completely different
from any of his earlier Baroque buildings. It has an attractive square tower,
crowned with an ornately decorated sandstone dome and surrounded with 3 smaller
domed turrets. The 2-storey frontage and the tower are covered in elaborate
carvings and figures in keeping with the overall theme of the building. The library was officially opened on 17th November, 1906 by
Baillie John Battersby.
Pollokshields Library in Glasgow, like the earlier Kingston
Library, was designed "in-house" rather than by a private architect. The plans
were prepared by Thomas Gilmour of the Office of Public Works, supervised by the
City Engineer & Surveyor, Alexander. B. McDonald (left). The final result is
pleasing to the eye even if it does lack the panache of J.R.Rhind's libraries.
The library was officially opened on 20th February, 1907 by Sir
John Stirling Maxwell, who was an extensive local landowner and donor of the
site.
Pollokshields Library, Glasgow
The regular two-storey red sandstone façade was built to a much
more formal style than the free flowing forms used in some of Glasgow's earlier
libraries. The front has been brightened up by the use of carvings and
motifs. Internally the library is very spacious and is well lit from the two
streets which it faces.
Edwardian view of Pollokshields Library, Glasgow
Possilpark Library, Glasgow. This library was the first to be built with the additional
funds supplied by Carnegie in 1908 to complete the programme of branch libraries
in the city. It was designed by George Simpson of Glasgow. The library was officially opened on 15th March, 1913 by the
Lord Provost, Daniel Macauley Stevenson. Its current use remains as a branch
library.
Langside Library, Glasgow. This was the final Carnegie library of Glasgow, being completed
after the outbreak of the Great War, which marked the end of an era in
architectural as well as in many other respects. The library was officially opened on 3rd February, 1915 by the
Lord Provost, Thomas Dunlop.
The two great
cities of North West England, Manchester and Liverpool, were the first to
benefit from the legislation, with the Campfield Library Manchester opening on
2nd September 1852, followed by the Liverpool library on 18th October in the
same year.
Annan’s Carnegie library was designed by George Washington
Browne who was also responsible for the Central Library in Edinburgh as well as
the new libraries in Kelso, Jedburgh, Bo'ness and Ayr (below). Andrew Carnegie
had provided £4250, which also paid for the library’s fixtures and
fittings.
The library was opened on 11th October 1906 by the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, Lord Loreburn, who originally came from the area. In his speech
to the assembled guests at the grand dinner aterwards, he was quoted as saying
that “the real enemy of the human race is ignorance”.
Lord Loreburn had been
bestowed with the freedom of the burgh of Annan by Provost Thomson. The
centenary celebrations in October 2006 were attended by the Provost’s grandson,
John Thomson.
The seven bay façade features a central entrance leading to a large
stairwell which contains a nine pane stained glass window displaying a portrait
of Andrew Carnegie. The window also contains monograms of Andrew and Louise - AC
& LW, as well as Carnegie's ever present motto "Let there be light".
26 architects entered the competition to design the library which
was won by William Williamson of Kirkcaldy with his Anglified Renaissance
design. The library was then built on a site donated by James Shepherd of
Kirkcaldy.
Burntisland is situated on the north bank of the Firth of Forth,
close to Andrew Carnegie's birthplace in Dunfermline. Carnegie formally opened
the library on 18th September 1907, while he was visiting Scotland to address
the annual meeting of the Library Association. He was presented with the freedom
of the burgh at the ceremony.
The following day, when the library was first
opened to the public, the police had to control the crowds who wished to use
their new library.
It is a larger building than is usual for a town of
Motherwell's size, but it would also have served the expanding Lanarkshire
settlements which were surrounding the town at the beginning of the century.
The
buildings's architect, Alexander Cullen, was very popular in the area and his
works can still be seen throughout Lanarkshire. He did however venture further
afield to design the library and Art Gallery in the English seaside town of
Blackpool.
In his speech to people of Coatbridge, Carnegie mentioned that in
the early days opposition to free libraries was strong: "the charge was brought
that this was Socialism in its worst form. But they had got over that stage
bravely, and now there was not a community in Scotland that had not its public
library and there would not be any in America very soon that had not its public
library."
Unlike many of the similar style libraries in urban locations, the West
Calder building is surrounded by landscaped garden grounds, which add to the
overall charm of the place.
The text reads " In commemoration of West Calder
Public Library instituted about the end of the eighteenth century, resuscitated
in 1841, maintained and managed voluntarily until 1904 when 1200 volumes were
transferred to West Calder Free Library with which it was amalgamated."
Anderston Library was the first of
the city's Carnegie libraries to be demolished when it disappeared in 1969 as
part of the redevelopment of the area.
The modern replacement, which opened
in 1984, is situated within the Mitchell Library extension which was completed
at the beginning of 1980, built on the site of the former St. Andrews Halls.
Local
businessman John Woyka donated a collection of 112 natural history books to the
new library in February 1907. It closed on 31st July, 1964 and was partially
occupied as a day nursery before being occupied as offices by Gorbals Initiative
in 1994.
Its current use is as offices.
Its current use remains as a branch library.
The neat single
storey building occupys a corner site, displaying two distinct frontages. The
Italianate design has an attractive ornamented entrance on the main frontage to
Allander Street.
Internally the library was decorated by four panels by
students of the Glasgow School of Art at a cost of £50. These are still in very
good condition and worth a visit.
Its current use remains as a branch library.
Like Possilpark, it was
designed by George Simpson.
The single storey building has a plain though
agreeable symmetrical frontage in three bays. The city's coat of arms is
featured above the central entrance; otherwise the façade is relatively
unadorned in comparison with the earlier Glasgow libraries.
Its current use remains as a branch library.
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Introduction |
Andrew Carnegie |
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Early Carnegie Libraries |
American Libraries
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Scottish Architecture |
Edwardian Renaissance |
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Baroque Extravagance |
Library Architecture |
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Inside the Libraries |
Carnegie Hero |
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Exhibition |
England, Ireland, USA
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All original artwork, photography and text © Gerald Blaikie
Unauthorised reproduction of any image on this website is not permitted.