Spring Hill Library

Spring Hill Library (grid reference SP055874) is a red brick and terracotta Victorian building in Ladywood, Birmingham, England.

Spring Hill Library
Spring Hill Library, Ladywood, Birmingham
General information
Type	Library
Location	Ladywood, Birmingham, England
Coordinates	52°29′6.16″N 1°55′10.14″W
Completed	7 January 1893
Height	65 feet (20 m)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Frederick Martin, Martin & Chamberlain
Awards and prizes	Grade II* listed

Designed in 1891 by Frederick Martin^[1] of Martin & Chamberlain with a 65-foot (20 m) clock tower on the corner of Icknield Street and Spring Hill and opened on 7 January 1893, it now stands next to a roundabout and linked via a glazed atrium to a new (2010) Tesco superstore. The site was previously the location for the turnpike gate house for Icknield Street.^[2]

Still in use as a Birmingham branch library, it is a Grade II* listed building.^[3][4]

• 
• 
  Arms of Birmingham
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  The ceiling, with curved iron girders concealed (unusual for Martin & Chamberlain)

Notes

1. Thornton, Roy (2006). Victorian Buildings of Birmingham. Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7509-3857-9.
2. John Young Walker MacAlister; Alfred William Pollard (1891). The Library: The Transactions of the Bibliographical Society. Oxford University Press. p. 199.
3. Historic England. "Spring Hill Public Library (Grade II*) (1076161)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
4. Historic England. "Details and photograph (1076161)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 October 2006.

References

• Birmingham Libraries – History of Spring Hill Library
• Spring Hill Architecture – article by Joe Holyoak 1974
• Pictures of Spring Hill Library in context with neighbouring buildings: Search for "Spring Hill Library" from Birmingham Images

52°29′6.16″N 1°55′10.14″W