Charles Davis writes “Annoucement from
The New Bodleian Library .
The New Bodleian Library has become a Grade II listed building, having
been judged by English Heritage to be of special architectural interest
which warrants every effort to be preserved.
Charles Davis writes “Annoucement from
The New Bodleian Library .
The New Bodleian Library has become a Grade II listed building, having
been judged by English Heritage to be of special architectural interest
which warrants every effort to be preserved.
Situated at the corner of Broad Street and Parks Road, the New Bodleian
was designed in 1935 by one of Britain’s leading twentieth-century
architects, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, and completed in 1940, opening after
the war in 1946. In the 1960s, an extension was added on the roof of the
library to accommodate the Indian Institute. The New Bodleian contains
administrative and reading rooms, as well as an 11-floor book stack which
is connected to the old library by an underground paternoster book
conveyor.
English Heritage recommended the new Library as ‘a contextually sensitive
work in a highly characteristic idiom’, and ‘a building of immense quality
inside and out that has proved very adaptable to changing needs since its
construction.’
Toby Kirtley, the Libraries Services Estate Projects Officer, said: ‘The New
Bodleian has never undergone a major refurbishment and so the form and
detailing of its internal spaces has survived to a surprising extent. In many
cases, offices and reading rooms have continued to serve their original
purposes for nearly 60 years. Listing will now ensure continued protection
for the building’s design features and perhaps allow us to reinstate some of
the original fittings, where these have been kept.'”
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