Selly Oak Library

Selly Oak Library

A Carnegie Library of red brick with terracotta and stone dressings and a plain tile roof, built in 1905 to designs by the Birmingham architect John P Osborne. The building comprises two storeys with a basement to the front range facing south-east onto Bristol Road, with a single-storey range extending behind at ground floor level, which is top lit.

The frontage to Bristol Road is symmetrical with a central wide bay containing a doorway set above steps and a ramp. The walling of this central bay is predominantly terracotta, moulded as panels with Renaissance motifs and the letters 'AD' and the date '1905' at right and left, positioned above small paired windows with leaded glazing. Above these is a cambered arch with alternating voussoirs of terracotta and brick, surmounted by a terracotta panel bearing the words 'FREE LIBRARY' in large relief letters. Three sash windows with cambered heads sit above, with brackets to the eaves. At either side are gabled bays projecting slightly, each with octagonal buttresses to the corners, flush bands to the bodies, and shaped outlines to the gables. At ground floor level, each wing has two three-light windows with cambered head and triple keystone. At first floor level there are four windows set in pairs. The roof ridge supports a louvered wooden ventilation turret with 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.

The interior contains an entrance hall behind the Bristol Road doors with an open-well staircase having panelled newels with ball finials and splat balusters. Glass screens divide the ground floor rooms, and terrazzo floors sit beneath floor tiles. The entrance lobby has wall tiles of mustard colour with bands of blue tiles set below the dado line, where the present issue desk is positioned. The skylights have panelled sides and dentiled decoration.

The library was opened on 1 August 1905, with George Webb as contractor. A foundation stone to the left of the Bristol Road front records that the building was funded by Andrew Carnegie and that the site was given by Thomas Gibbins Esq. Early photographs show the library originally had a reading room to the south-west of the entrance lobby with an issue desk and stacks, with reading slopes for newspapers. Different interior areas were divided by glazed screens, some of which survive in situ while others have been removed. A children's library now occupies the room to the north-east of the lobby. Suspended secondary glazing was installed in the later 20th century below some of the original roof lights, which survive behind these additions. A disability ramp was fitted in the late 20th century to the exterior on the approach to the main entrance from Bristol Road.