Leith Library

Category

Library Item

Item no

34723

Title

Edinburgh City Libraries: Leith Branch Library

Artist / maker

Inglis, Francis Caird

Date

1932

Size

21 x 16.4 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Although Edinburgh had a great many libraries in late Victorian times, they were subscription libraries not free ones and were beyond the means of most of the population. In 1868 and again in 1881 Edinburgh Town Council rejected the proposition to build a 'Free Library' in order to 'to prevent any unnecessary burden being thrown upon the ratepayers'. Edinburgh was in fact the last of the Scottish cities to adopt the Public Libraries Act and this only happened when Andrew Carnegie in 1886, gifting first of all £25,000, later raised to £50,000. £50,000 is equivalent to a current value of c. £45 million. In order to achieve their innovative new Library the Town Council launched a competition in 1887 - competition rules were issued to Edinburgh architects to design a library valued at £30,000. 32 plans were submitted and on 11 June, the contract was awarded to George Washington Browne, who had entered under the pseudonym 'Bibliotheque' which cheekily reflected the French style of his design. Browne designed the building in the French Renaissance style. Apparently it was inspired by a holiday to the Loire and it bears a striking resemblance to Francois 1er's Chateau Chambord in the Loire valley. Central Library was opened in 1890.

After the amalgamation of Leith with Edinburgh in 1920, the provision of a library service was promised. The grounds of Leith Mount, the manse of North Leith Parish Church, were acquired for the building of Leith Library and Town Hall, opened in 1932. The building was badly damaged in an air raid in April 1941 but was restored and re-opened in 1955.

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