Sparkhill Library, formerly Yardley Council House, is a municipal building in Stratford Road in

Sparkhill Sparkhill is an inner-city area of Birmingham, England, situated between Springfield, Birmingham, Springfield, Hall Green and Sparkbrook. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Worcestershire, Sparkhill once existed as a Yardley ...

, West Midlands, England. The building, which previously served as the offices of Yardley Rural District Council, now operates as a public library administered by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...

History

In the 19th century, Yardley was administered by a parish council. However, following implementation of the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

, Yardley Rural District Council was formed in 1895. The new council immediately decided to commission a council house (town hall) for the area. The site they selected was open land on the southwest side of Stratford Road. Construction of the new building started in 1900. It was designed by Arthur Harrison in the Renaissance Revival style, built in red brick with stone dressings at a cost of £16,000 () and was officially opened on Wednesday 15 January 1902. The design involved a symmetrical main block of seven bays facing onto Stratford Road, with a dominant clock tower at the northern end. The central bay featured semi-circular bay windows on both floors and there was a

lantern A lantern is a source of lighting, often portable. It typically features a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle, a oil lamp, wick in oil, or a thermoluminescence, thermoluminescent Gas mantle, mesh, and often a ...

at roof level. The bays flanking the central bay were fenestrated by

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed and tramsomed windows on both floors. The second bay from each end contained segmental headed doorways on the ground floor and mullioned and transomed windows on the first floor. The end bays contained bay windows on the ground floor and mullioned and transomed windows surmounted by panels sculpted by Benjamin Creswick on the first floor: the panels were flanked by turrets and there were gables above. The clock tower was equipped with an hour-striking clock, manufactured by Evans of Handsworth and donated by William Henry Barber. The building continued to serve as the offices of the council until Yardley was annexed by Birmingham in April 1912. The building was subsequently converted into a public library with a children's section on the ground floor: it re-opened as such on 19 January 2023. In 2014, after local councillors made a plea for the building to be offered for community use, it was saved from being placed on the open market.

References

{{Authority control Libraries in Birmingham, West Midlands

Library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

Clock towers in the United Kingdom Individual clocks in England Government buildings completed in 1902 City and town halls in the West Midlands (county)