Report content as inappropriate
Original Text (Annotation: EPW061079 / 1050305)
'
Former Blackheath Public Library, Sandwell B65 8BS
Grade 2 listed - Building ID: 1405927
A former public library, built in 1909 for Rowley Regis Urban District Council, to the designs of Wills and Anderson.
A gift towards this and two other libraries was made by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation with Blackheath being offered £1,696 with the usual stipulation that the local council should provide the land on which it was to be built and pay for the future maintenance of the building.
Opened on 15 September 1909, Blackheath Public Library originally comprised a reading room with lending library, a news room, a ladies' room and a librarian's office.
In c.1949 the interior of the library was remodelled with the addition of a children's section whilst the ladies' room became a reading room and the news room a reference room.
Further internal remodelling took place in c.1959
The library closed in 2011 following the opening of a new library in the town centre.
The original reading room has a square lower stage and an octagonal upper stage. The roof is topped by an octagonal lantern with wooden louvers and a domed roof with lead capping.
'