What was here?
Before Paradise and One Chamberlain Square, this ground beside Chamberlain Square held John Madin’s Central Library: a vast concrete reference library shaped like an upside-down stepped pyramid, with a curved lending library alongside. For almost forty years it was the city’s main library.
History
Few buildings in Birmingham have been argued over like this one. To the Twentieth Century Society it was “a building of international merit”. To Birmingham City Council, as Building Design reported in 2008, it was “charmless and decrepit”. In the end the argument was settled by bulldozers.
An upside-down ziggurat
The library was designed by John Madin, working, as the Twentieth Century Society records, “in consultation with J. A. Maudsley, City Architect”, with Ove Arup and Partners as structural engineers. It was completed in 1973 and opened in 1974. It formed part of the Paradise Circus civic scheme, which was never finished as planned.
The reference library was an inverted ziggurat: each floor stepped out over the one below, so the building grew wider as it rose. To the east stood a three-storey curved lending block. Inside, Madin reused two pieces of the Victorian library it replaced: a spiral staircase and the Shakespeare Memorial Room. English Heritage called it “the largest civic (non-national) library in Europe”.
The listing battle
From the early 2000s there were attempts to have it listed. In June 2008 English Heritage, the government’s adviser, recommended Grade II. It argued that the library’s “boldly confident exterior defines an era of Birmingham’s recent history”.
The same spot, then and now
1888–1913
Today
Old map: Ordnance Survey six-inch, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (CC BY 4.0). Today: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Birmingham City Council disagreed and opposed listing. So did CABE, the government’s design watchdog.
In November 2009 the minister, Margaret Hodge, decided against her advisers. A spokesman said: “This decision was finely balanced but the Minister concluded the building did not have sufficient historical or architectural importance to merit listing.” The Twentieth Century Society said it was “tremendously disappointed by the Minister’s decision not to follow the advice of her advisers”, adding that “EH advice on listing is not often overturned and this is a key case.”
The insults outlived the debate. In 2014 Councillor Peter Douglas Osborn was quoted in the Architects’ Journal calling it an “inverted incinerator”.
Closure and demolition
The council had already chosen a different future. A new Library of Birmingham, designed by Mecanoo, was built nearby and opened in 2013, the year the old library closed. In December 2014 the council announced that internal strip-out would start in January 2015 and external demolition the following month.
The work took longer. The Twentieth Century Society’s account says demolition began in December, timed before the library’s protection from listing (a certificate of immunity) ran out; it gives the final demolition as 2016. The building was down by 2016.
What came next
The cleared ground became part of Paradise, a redevelopment led by Argent with a masterplan by Glenn Howells Architects. The first building finished on the old library site was One Chamberlain Square, designed by Eric Parry Architects and built by BAM, completed in December 2019. Chamberlain Square itself was re-landscaped.
The Twentieth Century Society now lists the library among its “Lost Modern” buildings.
That is the lasting point. Madin’s library was not lost by accident, by bombing or by neglect. It was a deliberate choice, made in the open, after a long public argument. Every side put its case on the record. Birmingham chose to start again.
Why it mattered
The Central Library was the flagship of Birmingham’s post-war civic rebuilding and, in English Heritage’s words, “the largest civic (non-national) library in Europe”. Its fate became a national test case for listing post-war architecture: the government’s own advisers recommended protection, and a minister turned them down. Whatever one thinks of the building, the decision shows how the city’s 1970s landmarks were valued, and discarded, within forty years.
Why it disappeared
Redevelopment
Birmingham City Council replaced the library with the new Library of Birmingham (opened 2013) and cleared the site for the Paradise redevelopment. English Heritage recommended listing, but the council and CABE opposed it, and in November 2009 the minister, Margaret Hodge, refused to list the building (Architects’ Journal, 23 November 2009). Demolition followed in 2015–16.
What’s there now
What replaced it
The Paradise redevelopment (Argent; masterplan by Glenn Howells Architects). One Chamberlain Square (Eric Parry Architects; built by BAM) was the first building completed on the old library site, in December 2019. Chamberlain Square was re-landscaped.
What survives
No fabric of Madin’s building is known to survive. The Victorian spiral staircase and Shakespeare Memorial Room, which Madin’s library had reused, are widely reported to have been moved to the new Library of Birmingham.
Today
One Chamberlain Square and the re-landscaped Chamberlain Square stand on and beside the site, between the Town Hall and Centenary Square.
Key dates
- 13 August 1963 — Demolition begins for the new libraryThe City Engineer and Surveyor’s Department photographs demolition beginning in Great Charles Street for the new Central Library at Paradise Circus.
- 1964 — Mason College demolishedThe Edmund Street building of Mason College, opened in 1880 and the forerunner of the University of Birmingham, is demolished for the new Central Library. Fragments still stood in 1969.
- 1974 — Victorian Central Library demolishedAfter Madin’s new library opens, the Victorian library of 1882 in Ratcliff Place is demolished. Its Shakespeare Memorial Room is dismantled and saved.
- 1974 — Madin’s Central Library opensJohn Madin’s Central Library, an inverted ziggurat with a curved lending block, opens on the Paradise Circus civic site.
- November 2009 — Minister refuses to list the Central LibraryMargaret Hodge rejects English Heritage’s advice to list Madin’s Central Library at Grade II, calling the decision “finely balanced”. A certificate of immunity from listing follows in 2011.
- December 2015 — Work begins on ParadiseArgent starts work on the Paradise redevelopment. Madin’s library, Paradise Forum, the Conservatoire and the Adrian Boult Hall are demolished over the following year.
- c. 2015–16 — Central Library demolishedAfter listing was refused in 2009 and the new Library of Birmingham opened in 2013, Madin’s Central Library is demolished for the Paradise redevelopment.
Sources and further reading
Opening: the council’s statement (Architects’ Journal, 2014) says the library opened in 1974; an exact day of 12 January 1974 appears on Wikipedia and has not been confirmed from a contemporary source.
The earliest listing attempt is given as 2003 by the Twentieth Century Society and as 2002 by Wikipedia; the text says “from the early 2000s”.
The certificate of immunity from listing is said to have run until about January 2016. Only the Twentieth Century Society’s book review and a petition support this, and its issue date has not been verified.
Demolition start: the council planned strip-out from January 2015 and external demolition from February 2015 (Architects’ Journal, December 2014); the Twentieth Century Society says it “began in December”; Wikipedia gives external demolition from 6 November 2015. The text says 2015–16.
The 1988 royal remark often quoted about the building is reported mainly via Wikipedia and is not quoted here. The move of the Victorian spiral staircase and Shakespeare Memorial Room to the Library of Birmingham is widely reported but has not been checked with the library.
- Lost Modern: Birmingham Central Library — Twentieth Century Society
- Casework: Birmingham Central Library — Twentieth Century Society, 2013
- Review: Library Story — A History of Birmingham Central Library — Twentieth Century Society
- Hodge refuses to list Birmingham Central Library — Architects’ Journal, Architects’ Journal, 2009
- Demolition of Madin’s Birmingham Central Library set to start — Architects’ Journal, Architects’ Journal, 2014
- Council anger as EH asks for Birmingham library listing — Building Design, Building Design, 2008
- One Chamberlain Square, Birmingham — Eric Parry Architects
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