The Library File Goes to the West Midlands

Part Three - Chester House Library

The library seen from the high street.

A trip to Chester House Library in the village of Knowle, just outside Solihull, was the highlight of my trip to the West Midlands.

As you can see from the picture above, when seen from the high street there is little indication that this wonderful building is actually the local public library. The entrance to the library is at the side of the building by the south wing. It would not be feasible to have the entrance on the high street as the pavement is rather narrow.

I entered the library from the other side as there is a free car park on a parallel road to the high street with a connecting alley which goes right by the library entrance. Accessing the library from behind also gives you the opportunity to visit the recreated, Elizabethan knot garden (commissioned by the council and opened in 1989).

Chester House consists of five different buildings of different dates, styles and construction: the south wing was built  in 1400 or earlier, the north wing dates from 1500 - 1550 and, finally, around 1600 a two-storey  block was built linking the two original buildings to form a substantial house.

Not much is known about the original inhabitants of these early buildings, due to a lack of records, but from 1810  to 1910 the house was owned by the Kimbell family, from 1910 to 1925 it was occupied by H. Blundell (a farmer), in 1925 Mr Pickering took possession of the house and it was from his descendants that the council bought the house. Solihull Council started restoration on the house in 1972, although at that time there were no plans to make the building a library. Thanks to the creative-thinking of some of the council's senior officers, it was eventually decided to use Chester House as a library. Until 1975 - when Chester House officially opened as a library - the library facilities had been housed in a shop in the high street.

Plan of the ground floor and garden.

Even though Chester House is not a purpose built library, the space is used well to make a library which is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. The library is well-lit thanks to the velux windows which were added to the east wing roof. And, it is nicely partitioned with one area for adult fiction, non-fiction and reference material, a separate, cosy room for the children's library which leads through into a separate teen section.

The roof of the east wing with velux windows and lovely wooden beams.

The teen section.

There are stairs in the foyer and the teenage section which lead up to the gallery. The first floor is used for library events and also houses the local archives and a local history display.

The fireplace and filing cabinets containing the local archives.

Display cabinets with local, historical information and the back stairs leading to the teen section.

The Library File Goes to the West Midlands

Part Two: Solihull

Although only 9 miles from Birmingham, the pleasant town of Solihull feels a world away - it feels middle class, calm and small-townish. The large modern shopping mall, in the bustling centre of the town, had the most interesting interior I've seen in such a building. There were art deco style lamp posts with wrap-around leather benches at the bottom for resting on and curved fretwork ceilings with recessed lighting. The interior embellishments were subtle, but once I started to notice them I could see how nicely designed the mall was.

Although there are plenty of older buildings in the town (Solihull escaped the WWII bombing raids which destroyed parts of Birmingham and Coventry), the library, which shares a building with the arts centre, is housed in a utilitarian seventies block.

Solihull Arts Complex and Central Library, opened 1978.

Despite the slightly depressing exterior (not helped by the grey, drizzling day and bare, winter trees), Solihull Central Library is, what I would call, a 'proper' library. When you enter on the ground floor you come across an enquiry desk, and then the room opens out displaying the circulating collection of: fiction, non-fiction, CDs and DVDs, a large sheet music collection and an extensive collection of language learning resources. The children's library is situated in a large area to the right of the main area. The reference library, local history section, national careers library and special resources for the visually impaired are located on the first floor along with plenty of PCs. 

The ground floor lending library.

For a first time visitor, the library is very easy to use and it is also very well stocked. I was pleased to see such a comprehensive reference section, and I went a bit mad photographing encyclopaedias and dictionaries: they had everything from encyclopaedias of military uniforms to reference works on oriental rugs and English goldsmiths.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

The Library File Goes to the West Midlands

Part One - Birmingham

I have just returned from three, library-themed days in the West Midlands. I spent a day in Birmingham visiting the Central Library and I saw the outside of the new Library of Birmingham. As you can see from the pictures, the weather was very bad and during the odd occasion when it wasn't raining, it was really foggy.

The Central Library opened in 1974 and certainly looks of the era! I would describe it as modernist, but I'm sure others might refer to it as 'industrial' or 'depressing'. Despite the somewhat severe exterior, the inside used to be a warm and inviting place to visit. I once spent a memorable afternoon in the children's section reading Michael Morpugo's Private Peaceful and hoping that no one would notice the tears rolling down my cheeks. 

The remains of the lending library: half empty shelves, self-service machines and  not much else.

The services at the Central Library are currently being wound down in preparation for the opening of the new Library of Birmingham in September. The children's section, or Centre for the Child, as it used to be known, is now closed and the lending library is a paltry affair on the first floor. The other four floors of the library (arts, social sciences, sciences, archives, black history) are all closed; however, the IT services remain open and there are still plenty of study places available. The Central Library will close forever at 5pm on 29th June 2013.

The new Library of Birmingham

The new Library of Birmingham building looks a little bit like a huge ship moored in between the existing buildings in Centenary Square. It was designed by the Dutch architectural firm, Mecanoo and it is, by no means, their craziest design for a library building. Mecanoo were also commissioned to design the library at Delft Institute of Technology in the Netherlands, which looks like a cross between a grassy knoll and a strange, new age temple.

The new website for the library is now up and running and provides plenty of information about the building and the services it will offer. It seems that the golden rotunda (I think I'll refer to it as the funnel of the 'ship') is designed to hold the city's Shakespeare collection of 43,000 books and the original Shakespeare Memorial Room (designed 1882) has been moved in its entirety and rebuilt in the rotunda. I hope I get a chance to visit Birmingham again, some time after September, as the Shakespeare Memorial Room sounds marvellous.