Buildings
“We shape our buildings,
and afterwards our buildings shape us.”
Winston Churchill, 20 October 1943
The Leeds Library has occupied three different buildings always at first-floor level and always on an east-west line running through the very heart of Leeds. The first two buildings were rented whilst the institution found its feet. It is easy to forget what an exciting but speculative venture the foundation of a subscription library was back in the 18th century. Then in 1806, the library more confidently purchased a plot in the newly developed Commercial Street where its present purpose-built accommodation was opened on 4 July 1808. Crucially the library was extended in the second-half of the 19th century rather than moving from what was to become one of the most fashionable and high rental shopping streets in Leeds.
Further reading: Beckwith, Frank – The Leeds Library (2nd edition, Leeds: 1993)
