The English coastal city of

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

has a long and varied history of libraries going back over 250 years. Subscription libraries were among the earliest buildings in the resort of Brighton, which developed in the late 18th century; by the 1780s these facilities, which were more like social clubs than conventional book-borrowing venues, were at the heart of the town's social scene. The Brighton Literary Society, its successor the Brighton Royal Literary and Scientific Institution and its rival the Sussex Scientific Institution between them established a "very fine collection" of publications by the mid-19th century, and these books were donated to the town when a public library was founded in 1871. Neighbouring Hove, originally a separate village, established its own public library in 1890. Public libraries in the city are run by the Royal Pavilion, Museums and Libraries department of Brighton and Hove City Council. Branch libraries operate in the outlying villages and suburbs of

Coldean Coldean is a suburb of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Located in the northeast corner of the urban area, it was developed by Brighton Corporation in the 1950s as one of several postwar council estates necessitated by the acute housin ...

Hangleton Hangleton is a residential suburb of Hove, part of the English city and coastal resort of Brighton and Hove. The area was developed in the 1930s after it was incorporated into the borough of Hove, but has ancient origins: its parish church was ...

Hollingbury Hollingbury is an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. The area sits high on a hillside across the north of the city, east of Patcham which lies in a valley to the west, Coldean in a valley to the east, and the A27 bypass forming ...

, Mile Oak,

Moulsecoomb Moulsecoomb () is a suburb of Brighton, Sussex, England, on the northeast side around Lewes Road, between Coldean and Bevendean, north of the seafront. The eastern edge adjoins Falmer Hill on the South Downs. It is often divided into smalle ...

Patcham Patcham () is an area of the city of Brighton & Hove, about north of the city centre. It is bounded by the A27 (Brighton bypass) to the north, Hollingbury to the east and southeast, Withdean to the south and the Brighton Main Line to the west. ...

Portslade Portslade is a western suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, England. Portslade Village, the original settlement a mile inland to the north, was built up in the 16th century. The arrival of the railway from Brighton in 1840 encouraged rapid de ...

Rottingdean Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards. Name The name Rotting ...

Saltdean Saltdean is a coastal village in the city of Brighton and Hove, with part (known as East Saltdean) outside the city boundary in Lewes district. Saltdean is approximately east of central Brighton, west of Newhaven, and south of Lewes. It is ...

Westdene Westdene is an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. It is an affluent northern suburb of the city, west of Patcham, the A23 (London Road) and the London to Brighton railway line, north of Withdean and northeast of West Blat ...

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was original ...

and

Woodingdean Woodingdean is an eastern suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, separated from the main part of the city by downland and the Brighton Racecourse. The name Woodingdean came from Woodendean (i.e. wooded valley) Farm which was situ ...

. The Brighton and Hove Toy Library is at the Whitehawk Library, rebuilt and reopened in 2011. The city council also operated a

mobile library A bookmobile or mobile library is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookm ...

until 2013. Library membership is not limited to residents of the city, and gives borrowing rights at libraries throughout the city. Free internet access was introduced in 2001. Nationally, libraries have experienced declining usage and funding cuts in recent decades, but Brighton and Hove's libraries have seen significant investment in the 21st century. Jubilee Library in central Brighton was opened in March 2005 to replace outdated split-site facilities nearby, which included a separate music library. It is England's sixth busiest: about 1 million people visited in 2009. New branch libraries have been built in the

, Mile Oak,

and

suburbs, either as standalone buildings or as part of other community facilities.

Private and subscription libraries

Brighthelmstone on the Sussex coast in southeast England developed from a farming and fishing village into the fashionable leisure destination of Brighton from the mid-18th century. The town quickly attracted "all of the facilities that would have been expected" of a resort of that era. Among those were the proprietary libraries, also known as circulating libraries. In Brighton's earliest days as a resort, these privately owned facilities functioned as multi-purpose "informal meeting places" where visitors could "read, chat, listen to music, buy fripperies or gamble". Visitors would pay a subscription to become a member of the library for the season, and would write their names in a visitors' book. By doing so they would inform other visitors of their presence in Brighton, the length of their stay and where they were staying, facilitating social interaction. By the 1760s, Brighton's Master of Ceremonies also consulted the visitors' books from the various libraries to find out who was staying in the town and make contact with them. From the 1770s, when speculators built permanent theatres in the town, the libraries also sold tickets for performances, for which they received a commission. The first true library in Brighton opened in or before 1760 on the Steine (now

Old Steine The Old Steine () is a thoroughfare in central Brighton, East Sussex, and is the southern terminus of the A23. The southern end leads to Marine Parade, the Brighton seafront and the Palace Pier. The Old Steine is also the site of a number of Cit ...

), although a bookshop existed from 1759 on East Street. Baker's Library was the first building erected on the east side of the Steine: it stood on the south corner of the present St James's Street, where St James's Mansions stand now. Its proprietor was Mr E. Baker of Tunbridge Wells, another 18th-century resort town. A small wooden building with a

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''vera ...

and an attached rotunda for musicians to perform in, "it was more like a club" than a modern library: its other features included

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions ...

tables. It was enlarged in 1806, necessitating the demolition of the original building. By the end of the 1760s a second library had opened, also named after its proprietor. Originally called Thomas's Library after its proprietor R. Thomas, it was also known as Brighthelmston Circulating Library. Later, following a change of proprietor, it was known as Miss Widgett's Library and was described by author

Fanny Burney Frances Burney (13 June 1752 – 6 January 1840), also known as Fanny Burney and later Madame d'Arblay, was an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright. In 1786–1790 she held the post as "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Mecklen ...

, a regular visitor to Brighton in the late 18th century: her journals made reference to "Widget the

milliner Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of ...

and librarywoman". Also a timber building, it rose to two storeys and was fronted with a

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...

Doric columns The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

. Brighton's

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

was here for about 20 years until 1803. Both libraries are shown in an engraving produced in 1778, in which Baker's Library stands alone on the east side of the open ground of the Steine. Thomas's Library was on the southwest side of the Steine near the present Royal York Hotel. Neither library survived beyond the 1820s. Development soon spread eastwards along the East Cliff, and one of the first buildings there was Donaldson and Wilkes' Library (1798). This later took the name Tuppen and Walkers' Library. It occupied a site between Charles Street and Manchester Street. Donaldson became the Prince of Wales's official librarian and bookseller in 1806. Other contemporary libraries situated along the East Cliff were the New Steine Library, Pollard's on Marine Parade and Parsons' on the same road. The Royal Marine Library, meanwhile, faced the Chain Pier and kept telescopes for visitors to look out to sea. The focal point for these early libraries, though, remained the Steine, North Street and the square that linked them, Castle Square. In this area were the Castle Square Circulating Library; Eber's; Minerva; Folthorp's; Large's; Loder's; and Wright and Son's Royal Colonnade Library, Music Saloon and Reading Rooms. Loder's Library specialised in scientific publications and had 20,000 volumes, and Wright and Son stocked 8,000. It also kept national newspapers and British and foreign journals and periodicals. Raggett's Subscription House stood opposite Baker's Library on the north side of St James's Street and was a similar institution. Several of these libraries struggled financially in the 1780s, and some proprietors diversified into other activities to try to keep them open. As Brighton grew beyond its historic centre in the 19th century, small subscription libraries (many of them short-lived) opened elsewhere: on East Street, Middle Street and Ship Street in

The Lanes The Lanes are a collection of narrow lanes in Brighton, in the city of Brighton and Hove famous for their small shops (including several antique shops) and narrow alleyways. The Lanes are commonly taken to be bounded by North Street to the no ...

; St James's Street and High Street in the Kemptown area; Queen's Road and Gardner Street in the

North Laine North Laine is a shopping and residential district of Brighton, on the English south coast. Once a slum area, it is now seen as Brighton's bohemian and cultural quarter, with many pubs, cafés, theatres and museums. History "Laine" is a ...

area near

Brighton railway station Brighton railway station is the southern terminus of the Brighton Main Line in England, and the principal station serving the city of Brighton, East Sussex. It is from via . The station is managed by Govia Thameslink Railway, which operat ...

; Preston Street, Norfolk Square, Western Road and King's Road on the West Cliff to the west of the Steine; and in the poor Carlton Hill area. Subscription libraries declined in popularity in the 20th century, but one survived until 1975 on Lewes Road.

Societies and institutions

In terms of the breadth and quality of its content, Brighton's "first important library" was that belonging to the Brighton Literary Society. It was founded 1812 by influential residents including George Wagner, brother of the Vicar of Brighton Henry Michell Wagner. The society gained new strength in the mid-1830s when John Cordy Burrows (later to be Mayor of Brighton and a Freeman of the Borough) and Dr Henry Turrell (proprietor of a "famous" early-19th-century private school in the town) joined. Around the same time, geologist and palaeontologist

Gideon Mantell Gideon Algernon Mantell MRCS FRS (3 February 1790 – 10 November 1852) was a British obstetrician, geologist and palaeontologist. His attempts to reconstruct the structure and life of ''Iguanodon'' began the scientific study of dinosaurs: in ...

moved to Brighton and founded the Mantellian Institution, which also had its own library at South Parade (now part of Old Steine). Later known as the Sussex Scientific Institution and Mantellian Museum, and partly funded by

George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

, its library contained mostly scientific books. The institute also offered lectures, a reading room and a museum dedicated to Mantell's research. The Brighton Literary Society became defunct in the early 1840s but a new body was soon set up by its leading members. The Brighton Royal Literary and Scientific Institution was based in an annexe of the

Royal Albion Hotel The Royal Albion Hotel (originally the Albion Hotel) is a 3-star hotel in the seaside resort of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built on the site of a house belonging to Richard Russell, a local doctor whose advocacy ...

and had "a useful existence of 28 years". Its library collection gradually built up over this time: in 1842 it acquired the Mantellian Institution's collection, and it raised money to buy other works by holding popular lectures on scientific and historical subjects and by organising

soirées A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

and exhibitions at the

Royal Pavilion The Royal Pavilion, and surrounding gardens, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a Grade I listed former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Princ ...

. The Institution's extensive and "very fine collection" of books formed the basis of Brighton's first public library.

Public libraries

An attempt to found a public library in Brighton after the passing of the

Public Libraries Act 1850 The Public Libraries Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict c.65) was an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament which first gave local boroughs the power to establish free public libraries. The Act was the first legislative step in the creation of an enduring natio ...

failed, and no more was done until 1869. In that year, Brighton Corporation established the town's first public library in rooms at the

. It was an adjunct to a small museum created in the Pavilion seven years earlier, which consisted of various artworks and objects collected by the Corporation since it was formed. This was only a temporary facility, though, because in 1871 the Corporation converted the former Royal Stables on Church Street near the Pavilion into a library, museum and art gallery. P.C. Lockwood, the Borough Surveyor, undertook the work; he maintained the opulent Moorish/ Indo-Saracenic Revival style of architecture employed when the stables were built in 1804–08 by

William Porden William Porden (c. 1755 – 1822) was a versatile English architect who worked for the 1st Earl Grosvenor and the Prince Regent. Life Born in Kingston upon Hull, (Subscription required) he trained under James Wyatt and Samuel Pepys Cock ...

. The library's book collection grew rapidly through donations: many "local worthies

ave ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...

or bequeathed their ersonallibraries to the town", perhaps motivated by the impressive building which now served as the library. More room was needed—although the library, museum and art gallery complex was large, the library was confined to two upper rooms—and in 1894 the building was altered to provide a large lending library and reading rooms on the ground floor and a reference library, containing rare material, at first-floor level. The extended library opened in November 1901. Brighton Library thrived in the early 20th century as the Corporation received a series of donations and bequests of national importance. Wealthy

Withdean Withdean is a former village, now part of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. Overview The area was originally named in the 12th century, when it was called Wictedene. The area was historically farm land but has been developed, mainly in the 1920s ...

resident L.M. Bloomfield's collection of 13,000 works included some of the earliest printed works in existence, ancient illuminated manuscripts and original editions of many books. In 1918 J.G. Lewis's vast collection of foreign works came to the library, and money from his estate was invested in a fund to be used for the purchase of further works. Another financial bequest in 1930 was to be reserved for the purchase of rare works "of special character". By the mid-20th century, Brighton's reference library contained "one of the richest collections in the whole country". In its present form, the "rare books and special collections" of Brighton & Hove Libraries runs to 45,000 volumes and is housed in Jubilee Library. During World War II, Brighton Council converted the basement of the library, art gallery and museum complex into an air-raid shelter. Books were moved out of the library and taken to the

Booth Museum of Natural History Booth Museum of Natural History is a charitable trust managed, municipally-owned museum of natural history in the city of Brighton and Hove in the South East of England. Its focus is on Victorian taxidermy, especially of British birds, as well ...

in suburban Prestonville, where they lay in piles on the floor until the war ended. In the postwar period, several schemes were put forward for a new purpose-built library. Many would have involved mixed-use developments: a combined car park, exhibition centre and library in 1964, a building incorporating a swimming pool in 1973, and in 1986 a commercial and residential development with a library set below an ice rink. The most likely site in the late 1980s and early 1990s became the Music Library building and the adjacent former courthouse, on the opposite side of Church Street to the main library, but funding was not forthcoming. Meanwhile, a large site behind Church Street, centred on Jubilee Street, had stood derelict since various building including the former Central National Voluntary School were demolished in 1971. Soon after Brighton and Hove Council was formed in 1997, it sought funding for a new library on this site through a private finance initiative (PFI). A contract to design and build what became Jubilee Library was signed in March 2001. The borough of Hove established a public library in 1890 in a house on Grand Avenue which was adapted for the purpose. By 1892 it stocked nearly 5,000 books and a range of newspapers in its "newsroom". The library moved to another house in nearby Third Avenue in 1900. Three years later,

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

's endowment of £10,000 allowed the borough to provide a permanent library in purpose-built premises. Architects Percy Robinson and W. Alban Jones won the commission in competition. Branch libraries were established from the 1930s onwards in the suburbs and housing estates around Hove and Brighton. In many cases temporary facilities were used at first: for example, a shop was used in

, a temporary facility was set up in

during its rapid development in the 1930s, and a church hall in

doubled as a library. Most permanent libraries date from the 1960s and 1970s: examples include Portslade (1961), Hangleton (1962), Moulsecoomb and Westdene (both 1964). Buildings of that vintage in Coldean, Whitehawk and Woodingdean have in turn been replaced by new mixed-use buildings in the 21st century. Not all libraries opened in the postwar era were purpose-built. Hollingbury's library occupies a former pub which was in turn converted out of wartime prefabs; the 18th-century vicarage in Rottingdean became the village's library in the 1950s; and nearby Saltdean's library occupies part of

Saltdean Lido Saltdean Lido at Saltdean Park Road, Saltdean, in the Brighton and Hove district, in the ceremonial county of East Sussex, England, is an Art Deco lido designed by architect R.W.H. Jones. Originally listed at Grade II by English Heritage for it ...

. A branch library was also planned for the northeast of Hove, near St Ann's Well Gardens, in the 1960s. A plan submitted in 1962 proposed a library with residential accommodation above, next to St Thomas's Church on Davigdor Road. The building would have encroached on St Ann's Well Gardens, and public opposition to this meant the ''Davigdor Branch'' never went ahead. Brighton Library, Hove Library and all the branch libraries were run by the respective borough councils until 1 April 1974, when they came under the control of East Sussex County Council and were run from Lewes, the county town. Exactly 23 years later, local control was regained when Brighton and Hove Council, the new entity in charge of the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

of Brighton and Hove, took charge.

Main public libraries

Overview and statistics

Brighton & Hove Libraries, the city's library service, is provided by the city council under the terms of the

Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964c 75 is an act of the United Kingdom Parliament. It created a statutory duty for local authorities in England and Wales "to provide a comprehensive and efficient library A library is a collection o ...

. Jubilee Library is the main facility in central Brighton; there is another central library in Hove; and 12 "community libraries" (branch libraries) are located in suburban areas. Delivery services to housebound people, residential homes and sheltered accommodation are also offered. Three of the city's libraries are in standalone buildings which are not shared with any other facilities or users. One of these is the Grade II-listed Hove Library: in late 2015, it was calculated that more than £1.2 million would be needed in the next five years for running costs and maintenance. As a result, the city council announced a proposal to close the library and move its books and other facilities to an extended

Hove Museum and Art Gallery Hove Museum and Art Gallery is a municipally-owned museum in the town of Hove, which is part of the larger city of Brighton and Hove in the South East of England. The museum is part of "Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton and Hove", and admission ...

. According to the city council, Jubilee Library "delivers around 50% of the total library services for the city". By 2014, it attracted more than a million visitors per year, making it the busiest library in the

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...

region and the second busiest in the country. In the 2014/15 financial year it dropped to fifth place nationally with just over 952,000 visits. Statistics measured in late 2014 state that the city's libraries were used by 47% of residents in the last year—a much higher proportion than nationally (35%). Library service revenue in the 2013/2014

financial year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

was £643,797 and was generated from various sources: fines for overdue books, sales of surplus stock, letting space and hiring equipment to other organisations, and grants.

Brighton (Jubilee)

Jubilee Library is the centrepiece of the Jubilee Square development in the

, an early-21st-century scheme which regenerated a "desolate space" of temporary car parks and wasteland. Construction started in November 2002 and lasted for two years, and the library was opened to the public on 3 March 2005.

The Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been sev ...

officially opened it 16 days earlier. The building cost £14 million, which was in line with its budget. The money was raised through a private finance initiative (PFI), which was authorised in May 1998. The contract was won by Mill Group Consortium jointly with

Norwich Union Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva ...

PPPF in November 2000. Architecture firms

Bennetts Associates Bennetts is a specialist insurance broker for motorcycles headquartered in Peterborough, with a contact centre in Coventry, England, owned by Saga plc. On 17 February 2020 it was announced that The Ardonagh Group had agreed to purchase Benne ...

and LCE Architects, and construction firm Rok plc, were chosen to build the library. The building was designed in line with sustainable principles and has several distinctive architectural features. "Carefully wrought but nonetheless striking", the library is formed of a "slightly austere translucent glass box" with an angled brise soleil and tiled side walls. The "lofty, noble" interior is open-plan, broken up only by white-painted splayed concrete columns. The interior is lit by a two-storey

louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

which forms the transition between the glazed façade and the interior. The extensive use of solar and wind power, natural air circulation, rainwater harvesting and internal lighting which automatically adjusts to the light conditions make it "one of the most energy efficient public buildings in the country".

Hove

The Hove Commissioners formed a committee to investigate the establishment of a "Free Public Library" for the growing town. Residents had the chance to vote on the matter in March 1891, and the majority supported the proposal.

William Willett William Willett (10 August 1856 – 4 March 1915) was a British builder and a promoter of British Summer Time. Biography Willett was born in Farnham, Surrey, and educated at the Philological School. After some commercial experience, he ente ...

offered space at 11 Grand Avenue, and a reading room and reference library was established later that year. Books and other works were donated by wealthy residents. The library moved to 22 Third Avenue in June 1901, but two years later

donated £10,000 "to erect a free Public Library building for Hove, if the

Free Public Libraries Act Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...

be adopted". The site chosen for the library was on Church Road near St Andrew's Church and was occupied by a depot. The buildings were cleared in 1905 and a competition was held to find a suitable design for the library. Of the 71 entries, ten were shortlisted and were scrutinised by

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

president John Belcher. The design submitted by Percy Robinson and W. Alban Jones of Leeds was the winner, the plans were signed off by the council in October 1906, and the foundation stone was laid on 10 June 1907 by the Mayor of Hove. The new library was opened by Margaret Elizabeth Villiers, Countess of Jersey, on 8 July 1908. F.G. Minter was the building contractor, and construction cost £13,500. The "highly inventive"

Doulting stone Doulting Stone Quarry () is a limestone quarry at Doulting, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. At present there are only three quarries quarrying Doulting stone. The largest, The Doulting Stone Quarry, was producing building stone in Rom ...

building has two storeys and has elements of the

Edwardian Baroque Edwardian architecture is a Neo-Baroque architectural style that was popular in the British Empire during the Edwardian era (1901–1910). Architecture up to the year 1914 may also be included in this style. Description Edwardian architecture is ...

and

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

styles. An "impressive glass dome" lights the interior. Lost features of the building include a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

(removed as structurally unsound in 1967), a

roof garden A roof garden is a garden on the roof of a building. Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings may provide food, temperature control, hydrological benefits, architectural enhancement, habitats or corridors for wildlife, recreational opp ...

and a flagpole. The library was

Grade II-listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in November 1992.

Branch libraries

Mobile library

For many years, the council operated a mobile library service. A new vehicle was bought in 2004, and in 2010 it was reported that a replacement would be brought into service the following year. About 800 people used the service annually. The council announced it was withdrawing its funding in January 2013, and the vehicle ran for the last time on 27 April 2013. "A personalised door-to-door delivery service" replaced it at a cost of £37,000 per year, compared to £84,000 for the mobile library. A proposal to stop the service had been made in December 2011, but two months later more funding was secured. Another extension was granted in September 2012, but the service ceased in 2013. Nearly 24,000 users were recorded in the 2012/2013 financial year, its final full year of operation. A small-scale mobile library began operating in July 2013. The Quaker Mobile Library Brighton, run by the Quaker Homeless Action group, is aimed at homeless people and "operate out of suitcases that have shelves built into them" rather than using a vehicle.

Music libraries

Brighton had a separate music library from 1964 until 1999. It occupied a Classical-style building which dated from 1825. Situated on the north side of Church Street opposite the old library and art gallery complex, it had a varied history. Originally the Trinity Independent Presbyterian Chapel (or " Mr Faithfull's Chapel"), it closed 1896 and became successively a bazaar, a warehouse and the Brighton and Hove General Gas Company's showroom. After its closure in 1999, the Local Studies section of the library moved in when the main library collection was moved out of the old building pending the opening of Jubilee Library. It stood empty from 2003 until 2010, when it became a French restaurant. Hove had a separate music library for a time as well: it was opened on 16 March 1966 by the

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

Joseph Ward Sir Joseph George Ward, 1st Baronet, (26 April 1856 – 8 July 1930) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 17th prime minister of New Zealand from 1906 to 1912 and from 1928 to 1930. He was a dominant figure in the Liberal and Unit ...

, and moved to 176 Church Road (close to the main library, which is at 182–186 Church Road) 18 months later. In December 1983, the council decided to close the building and integrate the music collection into the main library. It was sold for £80,000 in 1985 and passed into commercial use.

Coordinates

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Brighton and Hove

Lists of buildings and structures in East Sussex

Libraries A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...