As you wander the staircases of Leeds Central Library you can’t help but notice the lions and dogs carved into the ends of the stair railings. There are various lions and dogs in different poses including one of a lion sitting majestic in a stance reminiscent of the ones guarding the neighbouring Leeds Town Hall…
Tag: Central Library
Read More: The Gunpowder Plot
by Antony Ramm, Leeds Central Library This is an entry in our Read More series. These are ‘long-form’ articles, where staff offer a curated and detailed look at areas of our book collections, usually based around a specific theme or subject. These posts aim to guide the interested reader through to those books that offer a more in-depth…
The Great Leeds Book Crisis of 1966
In October 1966 the Leeds City Engineers determined the structure of the Central Library in the Municipal Buildings, in particular the load-carrying beams, were not strong enough to carry the weight imposed by the Reference stock. Within weeks 80,000 volumes were moved from all stack rooms and gallery and stacked upon the library basement floors…
Take a Heritage Tour of the Central Library
Have you ever wanted to know more about the heritage of our fabulous Central Library building or fancied looking behind the scenes? We are now offering bookable heritage tours around the building showing you how it has changed over the years and letting you see parts not usually accessible to the public. To whet your…
The Leeds Tapestry
During September this year Leeds Central Library had a visit from two year 4 classes from Farsley Springbank Primary School. They came to Central Library to see the Leeds Tapestries, which are housed on the 1st floor in the corridor between the Art Library and the Music Library. The Children’s Librarian spoke to the groups…
George Corson, leaving his mark on Leeds
Today we bring you the architect and designer of our 1884 Municipal Buildings, George Corson. Born in Dumfries, Scotland, George like his older brother William trained under Scottish architect Walter Newall. George followed his brother to Leeds where on the 1851 census aged 21 and 28 they are registered as living at Number 21 Lyddon…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 