A Brief History

Central Library is a Grade II Listed building of special architectural and historic interest, and it originated at the end of the 19th century, a period during which Walthamstow was transformed from a rural community to a bustling suburb of “London over the border”.

It was the Public Libraries Act of 1892 that first permitted local authorities to become library authorities, although at that time expenditure was strictly limited to 1d in the pound rate. The Act however provided the stimulus for Walthamstow Local Board to seek to establish a local public library service, and in 1893 a substantial Victorian house on the High Street called “Rosebank”, which backed onto Selborne Recreation Ground, was acquired for the purpose. A purpose-designed Reading Room lit by oil lamps was subsequently erected in the rear garden which opened on 29th September1894. Initially users of the Library could only read newspapers and magazines, and it was not until after the Reading Room opened that the librarian could make a start on buying books for lending.

The success of the Library however meant that very soon the original house & Reading Room were too small for the expanding service, but the limitations of the penny-rate funding capped the level of investment possible. A subsequent appeal made to the great philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1907 was however successful, and he promised the princely sum of £10,000 towards a new purpose-designed Library building.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was the son of a poor Dunfermline weaver who emigrated with the family to the United States in 1848. A man of enormous talent and ability he created the Carnegie Steel Company and made himself a multi-millionaire. Carnegie held strong beliefs that people of wealth should use their monies for the benefit of social good, and he put these beliefs forward in his “Gospel of Wealth” (1889), the philosophy by which he started the Carnegie Foundation. Carnegie donated over $350 million to good causes during his lifetime, and helped build no fewer than 2,800 libraries across the English-speaking world, including the Central Library Walthamstow. Understandably, a bust of our great benefactor has a prominent position on the High Street elevation of the building which he so generously supported.

The Central Library was designed by J Williams Dunford, a fairly prolific if minor architect, and built by Pettiet & Co. It was officially opened in July 1909 and stands on the site of “Rosebank” but incorporates the Reading Room of 1894. Built of red brick with stone dressings, and with a hipped tiled roof surmounted by a Doric copper-clad cupola, the Library is in a mixed new-Wren style but with obvious Arts & Crafts influences. In the Essex volume of Pevsner's “Buildings of England” it is described as being “in the pretty, somewhat ornate style of the day which was so often and successfully used for small municipal buildings”. Particular features of note included a fine Oak staircase, stained glass windows dedicated to wisdom and knowledge, and a substantial lecture room on the first floor. This latter feature was immensely popular for many years after it was opened. In 1908, for example, thirty one lectures, a concert, and three exhibitions were held there, attracting over 45,000 people.

Somewhat amazingly not all of the £10,000 grant from Carnegie was spent, and the Urban District Council offered to return the residue to Carnegie. He is reported to have said that Walthamstow was the only place to make such an offer, and subsequently donated 5000 trees to be planted in the area.

The beginning of the 20th century had seen the ideals and struggles of Victorian England give birth to the Labour and Trades Union movements, and this is reflected in the history of the man who laid the foundation stone of the new Library, Councillor W V Osborne, Chair if the Libraries Committee, Trades Unionist, and celebrated for the “Osborne Judgment” of 1908.

In the 1920’s the old Reading Room was converted into a lending library, and in the 1930’s following ever-increasing demand a mezzanine floor was built inside it, almost doubling the areas of shelving and the number of books available. The Library survived largely in this form until February 1982 when it suffered extensive damage caused by an arson attack which particularly affected the ground floor of the building, especially the old Reading Room, destroying an irreplaceable collection of Russian books, and causing serious damage to the original oak staircase. Along with extensive cleaning and repairs to decorative plasterwork, the opportunity was then taken to extend the building as part of the Selborne Walk shopping precinct development, creating a new main entrance from the Town Square rather than the High Street.

In 2006/7 the Library underwent further major changes when two striking new extensions in contemporary style were erected and the old building underwent a sensitive refurbishment and rebranding. Designed by Faulkner Browns Architects the works included a new children’s library extension to the side of the original Victorian Reading Room, a striking and spacious glazed entrance lobby from the Town Square featuring decorative terracotta panels, and new internal lifts to make the building fully accessible. These works have now brought the Central Library up to date, as befits its status as the main Library in Waltham Forest, and local residents can continue to benefit from Andrew Carnegie's original generous donations over 100 year later.