Birmingham Central Library

Birmingham Central Library was the main public library in Birmingham, England, from 1974 until 2013, replacing a library opened in 1865 and rebuilt in 1882. For a time the largest non-national library in Europe, it closed on 29 June 2013 and was replaced by the Library of Birmingham. The building was demolished in 2016, after 41 years, as part of the redevelopment of Paradise Circus by Argent Group. Designed by architect John Madin in the brutalist style, the library was part of an ambitious development project by Birmingham City Council to create a civic centre on its new Inner Ring Road system; however, for economic reasons significant parts of the master plan were not completed, and quality was reduced on materials as an economic measure. Two previous libraries occupied the adjacent site before Madin's library opened in 1974. The previous library, designed by John Henry Chamberlain, opened in 1883 and featured a tall clerestoried reading room. It was demolished in 1974 after the new library had opened.

Despite the original vision not being fully implemented, the library gained architectural praise as an icon of British brutalism with its stark use of concrete, bold geometry, inverted ziggurat sculptural form and monumental scale. Its style was seen at the time as a symbol of social progressivism. Based on this, English Heritage applied but failed twice for the building to gain listed status. However, due to strong opposition from Birmingham City Council the building gained immunity from listing until 2016.

In 2010–11, Central Library was the second-most visited library in the country, with 1,197,350 visitors.

The first Central Library occupied a site to the south of Edmund Street and west of the Town Hall. The site had been acquired from the Birmingham and Midland Institute (BMI) in 1860 after the construction of their own building in 1857 on the corner of Paradise Street and Ratcliff Place. The BMI building was to include a library, but under the Public Libraries Act 1850 a referendum took place on the creation of a municipal library. After the first vote failed, a second one passed in 1860 causing the BMI and the corporation to cooperate on the joint site.

E. M. Barry was the architect for the BMI building and it was hoped he could be retained as the architect for the adjoining library, but his plans were deemed too expensive for the corporation. Martin & Chamberlain's plans were approved in October 1862 for a tender price of £8,600 with E. M. Barry's classical facade retained in the design. The Lending Library was opened on 6 September 1865 and the Reference Library was opened just over a year later on 26 October 1866. The chief librarian at the time of opening was John Davies Mullins. Initial use of the library was so heavy that the need for an extension was agreed in 1872 but deferred until 1878. On 11 January 1879 a fire broke out behind a wooden partition serving as a temporary wall during building operations. The fire caused extensive damage, with only 1,000 volumes saved from a stock of 50,000.

Plans to rebuild the library after the fire had been approved as early as May 1879. The library was rebuilt on the same site by J. H. Chamberlain in a Lombardic Renaissance style with a tall clerestoried Reading Room. At a cost of £54,975 the second Central Library opened on 1 June 1882.

As the number of books increased, the Council resolved in 1938 that a new library was an "urgent necessity", but the outbreak of World War II meant that it was not until 1960, and the development of a new Inner Ring Road through the site of the old library, that a general specification was agreed. The library and the BMI building were demolished (the BMI moving to premises a short distance to the east), and the site was part of the Birmingham Conservatoire and its gardens (until the Conservatoire was relocated to Birmingham City University's City Centre campus in Eastside in 2017, following the redevelopment of Paradise Circus.) The 1970s Central Library was constructed on a site originally occupied by Mason Science College and Liberal Club.

The new Central Library opened on 12 January 1974. It was designed by John Madin, a Birmingham-based architect. Its inverted ziggurat form was a powerful example of the Brutalist style. With the Rotunda and the Alpha Tower, it became one of Birmingham's key Modernist buildings.