An eleventh hour bid is being made to save Birmingham Central Library from demolition – and turn it into an art gallery, hotel or even a museum of Midlands heavy metal.
A supporters group in the second city has been lobbying for the distinctive 1974 library to be spared – and received backing from the Twentieth Century Society, the World Monuments Fund, and writers Jonathan Meades, Catherine O'Flynn, Jonathan Glancey and Owen Hatherley.
On Tuesday, protesters demonstrated against the threatened destruction of the brutalist landmark, then delivered a petition to Birmingham City Council. The council is pressing for the so-called Paradise area to be redeveloped, and maintains that new office blocks and a rejigged road layout could bring economic benefits to the city.
Supporters of the Library argue that surrounding 1980s and 90s buildings could be bulldozed instead and the office blocks erected there, saving the Library while appeasing both council and property developers. The library itself could then be turned into more offices, a department store, flats, an English Assembly or a museum of the 20th Century, say supporters.
Other suggestions have included a climbing wall, a museum of heavy metal (Ozzy Osbourne was born in the city) and a hotel.
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“Breathing new life into the shell of the Central Library will kick-start a different kind of regeneration process in the centre of the city, one that is diametrically opposed to the old slash-and-burn comprehensive redevelopment,” believes Alan Clawley, who authored a biography on the building's architect, John Madin.
“Its inverted ziggurat form is well-known across the world and will draw visitors. Cleared of the clutter of fast food restaurants the grandeur of its central concourse can be restored to make a space that could be as good as London’s Tate Modern for large scale art installations.”
Could it become Birmingham's answer to the Tate Modern? Photo: AP/FOTOLIA
The Central Library became redundant when the controversial new £189m Library of Birmingham opened in 2013. Despite being the 10th most popular UK attraction in 2014, the cash-strapped council has slashed the new library's opening hours.
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But reports of the death of Birmingham Central Library have been greatly exaggerated. It was the main location for the recent BBC spy thriller The Game and so far only the later additions to the building have been removed by council demolition squads. On January 11 the library - considered by many to be of huge architectural importance - will be eligible for listing by the Government. On that day, as well as submitting a bid to Historic England to save it, supporters will be publishing a new book about the building's history.
While Birmingham's civic leaders display a lukewarm attitude to a building that could attract tourists from around the globe, 'brutalist tourism' is growing exponentially. The National Trust led tours of London's Hayward Gallery, Sheffield's Park Hill and Norwich's UEA in October, Frankfurt's Deutsches Arkitecturmuseum recently announced a major exhibition on brutalism for 2017, and Blue Crow have just published a Brutalist Map of London showing visitors where to spot concrete sights.
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The University of East Anglia Photo: ALAMY
And from the Hotel Corbusier at the Unite d'Habitation in Marseilles to the new Standard Hotel coming to Camden's Town Hall Annex next year, travellers are increasingly keen to sleep in brutalist buildings.
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