Closed Book
There's a campaign up and running to save John Madin's fabulous and appallingly neglected Birmingham Central Library building. You can sign the petition here.
Sad sitting in the reference department looking down into the derelict atrium. Sad passing all of the wilfully bodged alterations. Sad seeing the hairnet of chicken wire over the frontage. Sad seeing McDonalds and Wetherspoons inhabiting what should have been the library's shop windows to the city.
Yes, it's good to see a city investing in libraries, and I'm sure the new building will be terrific, much as Newcastle's central library is a great asset. But Birmingham is always a city in transition, always junking its past for a taste of the new. Recognising a terrific bit of recent history doesn't always have to be beyond the council.
Sad sitting in the reference department looking down into the derelict atrium. Sad passing all of the wilfully bodged alterations. Sad seeing the hairnet of chicken wire over the frontage. Sad seeing McDonalds and Wetherspoons inhabiting what should have been the library's shop windows to the city.
Yes, it's good to see a city investing in libraries, and I'm sure the new building will be terrific, much as Newcastle's central library is a great asset. But Birmingham is always a city in transition, always junking its past for a taste of the new. Recognising a terrific bit of recent history doesn't always have to be beyond the council.
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