SELLY OAK LIBRARY

SELLY OAK LIBRARY, 669, BRISTOL ROAD

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1396466
Date first listed:: 18-Feb-2011
List Entry Name:: SELLY OAK LIBRARY
Statutory Address:: SELLY OAK LIBRARY, 669, BRISTOL ROAD

User submitted image — Uploaded by Wendy Pearson This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1396466
Date first listed:: 18-Feb-2011
List Entry Name:: SELLY OAK LIBRARY
Statutory Address 1:: SELLY OAK LIBRARY, 669, BRISTOL ROAD

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: SELLY OAK LIBRARY, 669, BRISTOL ROAD

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Birmingham (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: SP 04400 82841

Reasons for Designation

Selly Oak Library, Bristol Road, Birmingham is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architectural quality; the building is a good example of a Carnegie library, built at the start of the C20 which has a street frontage with strong architectural presence * Intact survival: the layout of the plan, fenestration and many external and internal details survive in their original condition * Group Value: The library is grouped with other buildings along the Bristol Road, which form the civic nucleus of Selly Oak.

Details

997/0/10537 BRISTOL ROAD 18-FEB-11 669 Selly Oak Library

GV II A Carnegie Library of red brick with terracotta and stone dressings and a plain tile roof, built in 1905 to the designs of the Birmingham architect, John P Osborne. The building has two storeys with a basement. The front range, facing south-east onto Bristol Road is of two storeys and behind it is a single-storey range at ground floor level, which is top lit. EXTERIOR: The frontage to Bristol Street is symmetrical with a central wide bay containing a doorway, set above steps and a ramp. The walling to this central bay is predominantly of terracotta which is moulded as panels with a combination of Renaissance motifs and the letters 'AD' and the date'1905' at right and left, set above small paired windows with leaded glazing. Immediately above is a cambered arch with alternating voussoirs of terracotta and brick, and above this is a terracotta panel bearing the words 'FREE LIBRARY' in large, relief letters. Above this, again are three sash windows with cambered heads and there are brackets to the eaves. At either side are gabled bays which project slightly and have octagonal buttresses to their corners, flush bands to their bodies and a shaped outline to the gable. At ground floor level, each of these wings has two three-light windows with cambered head and triple-keystone. At first floor level there are four windows, set in pairs. To the centre of the ridge is a louvered, wooden, ventilation turret with a square body, ogee lead roof and finial. Both lateral gable ends are blank with flush bands of terracotta. To the rear, the projecting ground floor has mullioned and transomed windows with cambered heads and a series of gabled roof-lights. INTERIOR: Behind the doors on the Bristol Street front is an entrance hall with an open-well staircase. This has panelled newels with ball finials and splat balusters. Glass screens divide the ground floor rooms and there are terrazzo floors beneath floor tiles. Wall tiles of mustard colour with bands of blue tiles are set below the dado line in the entrance lobby, where the present issue desk is positioned. The skylights have panelled sides and dentiled decoration.

HISTORY: The library was built to the designs of John P Osborne FRIBA of Birmingham, with George Webb as contractor, and opened on 1 August 1905. Details are recorded on the foundation stone to the left of the Bristol Street front, which also states that the building was funded by Andrew Carnegie and that the site was given by Thomas Gibbins Esq. Early photographs show that the library had a reading room to the south-west of the entrance lobby and that there was an issue desk and stacks. The reading room was originally furnished with reading slopes for newspapers. Different areas of the interior were divided by glazed screens, some of which survive in situ but others of which have been removed. A children's library is now positioned in the room to the north-east of the lobby. Suspended, secondary glazing has been installed in the later-C20 below some of the original roof lights which survive behind these. A disability ramp has been fitted in the late-C20 to the exterior on the approach to the main entrance from Bristol Road.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Selly Oak Library, Bristol Road, Birmingham is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architectural quality; the building is a good example of a Carnegie library, built at the start of the C20 which has a street frontage with strong architectural presence * Intact survival: the layout of the plan, fenestration and many external and internal details survive in their original condition * Group Value: The library is grouped with other buildings along the Bristol Road, which form the civic nucleus of the borough.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 508448
Legacy System:: LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.