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Central Library
In 1927 a competition was held
for a new
library and an extension to the town hall. The architect E. Vincent
Harris won the competition. The inspiration for the library was Rome’s
Pantheon. Prime Minister Ramsey McDonald laid the foundation stone in
1930 and the library was completed in 1934. King George came to
Manchester for the official opening.
 Like the Pantheon, it has a
circular plan and
a
central lantern light at the top of the dome. A portico, supported by
six Corinthian columns, looks out onto St. Peter's Square. The library
and the town hall extension were designed at the same time. The
circular library is reflected in a curved wall in the town hall
extension, thus creating a dramatic walkway between the two.
Beneath the dome on the inside is the
circular Reading Room. The building is also home to the Library
Theatre, a café, a reference library and a Local History Unit.
     ********************* Take a Look Inside      The Library Theatre  The Library Theatre Company was
founded
in 1952. Their theatre is located in a former lecture theatre in
the basement of the Central Library. On their web site they say
that, "the company has produced consistently high quality seasons of
drama, musical theatre, plays for families, and comedies. It has both
helped to develop, and adapted to, Manchester’s changing theatre
landscape."
1953 Programme
  ***********************  ********************************* The story of the Reference
Library didn't begin in St. Peter's Square. The first public
lending and reference library was established in 1852 in the Hall
of Science in Campsfield, not far from St. Matthew's Church.
  By 1877 the Hall of Science was
regarded as being unsafe so the collection was transferred to the Old
Town Hall building on King Street. The Town Hall had become
vacant because in September of 1877 the new Town Hall in Albert Square
had opened for business.
 As the library collection grew
the Old Town Hall building didn't have sufficient space to accommodate
it. In 1912 a temporary home was found in Piccadilly and the Old
Town Hall was demolished. Only the colonnade was saved and
re-erected in Heaton Park. The Library moved into a building in
Piccadilly Gardens that had once been the Out-Patients Department of
the old Infirmary and a YMCA hut.
  The white, wood-framed buildings can be seen in the image below behind Queen Victoria's statue and across from the Queen's Hotel.   Although the intention was for
this to be the library's temporary home it actually stayed in the
Piccadilly Gardens buildings until 1934 when the Central Library opened
in St. Peter's Square.
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