Attercliffe Public Library
Location/Address
8-10 Leeds Road, Attercliffe
Type
Description
Former Attercliffe Public Library - the building has a Lower Don Valley blue plaque that reads "Attercliffe Library, Leeds Road. Attercliffe library opened in 1894 in answer to local public demand and closed in 1986. As well as lending books it was one of the first places in Sheffield to display lists of job vacancies." Converted as part of the Attercliffe Gateway Business Centre project by SPACES, the building now contains offices and the The Library café - the SPACES website (http://www.spacessheffield.co.uk/properties/g1-library/) describes the building as still retaining "Original features like the stunning entrance hall and staircase". Interior not accessed.
Ruth Harman and Roger Harper in their contribution on "The architecture of Sheffield" from the 1993 volume 'The History of the City of Sheffield 1943-1893: Society' note "Sheffield was the first town in Yorkshire to adopt the powers of the Public Libraries Act and opened the Free Library... in Surrey Street in 1856... six new branch libraries were completed between 1870 and 1905." Historic England include libraries in their listing selection guidance for culture and entertainment buildings but provision was as much to do with educational provision for local residents. Their guidance document notes that an 1850 Act permitted local authorities to build libraries but that a further Libraries Act of 1892 was needed to make it easier for urban authorities to raise the necessary funds. This was obviously the spur to the construction of Attercliffe Library.
The building was constructed in a Neo-Jacobean style, with doorway inscribed 'Attercliffe Free Library'. The library closed in 1986. Now operating as a restaurant and offices.
The library was provided by the City of Sheffield; tenders for construction were invited in March 1893 and the new library opened in 1894. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, on 13th August 1894, reported that the buildings had been designed by the City Surveyor, C F Wike. The Mayor opened the library "in the presence of a large company. Before the ceremony visitors had an opportunity of inspecting the new building, and the general opinion was that Attercliffe is now in possession of one of the finest branch libraries in the kingdom". The Chair at the opening ceremony, Mr Alfred Taylor, Vice-Chair of the Free Libraries' Committee is reported as saying that "Free Libraries were no longer what they used to be considered by some people - a luxury; they were today an absolute necessity... Free Libraries formed one of the great agencies of education... working silently for the improvement of the people".
Charles Froggatt Wike was City Surveyor from 1888-1920. His obituary in the Sheffield Independent on 15th August 1929 noted that he was educated at Barnsley Grammar School and added "The extent of Mr Wike's activities may be best appreciated when it is realised... the Surveyor's department carried out the work of five modern Corporation departments... before the appointment of a City Architect, he supervised the building of public baths, destructors, tram sheds, hospitals, libraries and police stations. From this it will be seen that the condition of the centre of Sheffield, today, is largely the result of Mr Wike's energy and foresight". The suburbs had also benefited - as demonstrated by the library building at Attercliffe.
Statement of Significance
Asset type
Public LibraryAge
The building opened in 1894 and is a building of merit, relating to both key infrastructure and municipal provision; it's date of construction relates to the Libraries Act of 1892.Rarity
The building is rare for the local area, being the only public library of this period built in Attercliffe and one of only six branch library buildings in Sheffield built between 1870 and 1905..Architectural and Artistic Interest
An example of the work of C F Wike, City Surveyor, who was responsible for many key elements of the city's 'modernisation' programme in the late 19th/early 20th century; CF Wike was a Fellow of the Sheffield & District Society of Architects and Surveyors. Exterior in two shades of red brick with stone dressings. Stone doorway inscribed 'Attercliffe Free Library'. Elaborate tiled staircase with cast bannister. Glazed timber roofs on top floor.Group Value
The building stands next to another key civic building, the slightly earlier Attercliffe Baths - these buildings are on a block that largely retains its 19th century character, except for a small modern building to the rear, on Beverley Street.Historic Interest
A building with considerable social and communal interest; the library was a significant addition to educational provision on the industrial east side of Sheffield. It was an important source of free learning opportunities for the working-class population. Almost opposite site of Friends' Adult School (1907 – demolished 1980s), centre for adult continuing education and political activity.Archaeological Interest
Photographs of the reading room on opening, in 1894, form part of the collection of Sheffield Archives.Landmark Status
A building with strong communal/ historical associations, indicated by the blue plaque and see, for example, Andy Moffat's 'Memories of an Attercliffe Kid': https://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/articles/2008/12/01/attercliffe_andy_moffatt_feature.shtml, where he says "I remember the old library which was the first place in the area to list the local job vacancies. We would all troop down from Huntsman’s Garden School and pick three books... It was always hard to stay quiet when the zigzag pattern floor would creak so much." Earlier readers' experiences are detailed on the Reading Sheffield website, indicating how important it was to those living in the area. Doreen Gill remembers walking on her own to Attercliffe Library, as a child in the 1940s "I just used to go there and work me way along the shelves... You were only allowed two books at a time then so I used to go to the library two or three times a week and change me books". An earlier reader, John D is also quoted (https://www.readingsheffield.co.uk/tag/attercliffe-library/), saying that he walked the several miles there and back on his own, weekly, at a time when he could only borrow one book at a time. The library is a distinguished nineteenth-century building in a formerly industrial, now redeveloped area.
Date Listed
15 Aug 2022
Last Updated
15 Jun 2022
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