Kensington Central Library is a Grade II* listed building on

Hornton Street Hornton Street is a street in Kensington, London W8. It runs north to south from Sheffield Terrace to Kensington High Street. History Some of the road, at least, was originally called Campden House Road. A chapel on the corner of Hornton Stree ...

and Phillimore Walk,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, London. It was built in 1958–60 by the architect E. Vincent Harris on the site of The Abbey, a Gothic house which had been constructed for a Mr Abbot in 1880 and destroyed by bombing in 1944. It was opened by the

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...

on 13 July 1960. The building was designed in a traditional, English, renaissance-style. There were demonstrations against the project by those who advocated for the building to be in a modern style. The public library is within the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (often known by its initialism as RBKC) is an Inner London, Inner London borough with Royal borough, royal status. It is the List of English districts by area, smallest borough in London and the secon ...

and is managed as part of a tri-borough integrated library and archive service, alongside those of

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

and

Hammersmith and Fulham Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

. On the south side of the library, facing Phillimore Walk, are two statues of a lion and a unicorn, both holding the

Royal Arms of the United Kingdom The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, also referred to as the royal arms, are the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently Charles III. They are used by the Government of the United Kingdom and by other The Crown, Crown instit ...

. They were sculpted by William McMillan in order to reflect the "Royal" status of the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

References

External links

* Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Libraries in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Buildings by Vincent Harris Library buildings completed in 1960 Grade II* listed library buildings {{London-struct-stub