Mitcham Public Library, London Road, 28 June 2005 Mitcham Library is a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants. There are five fundamen ...

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It h ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, being one of the libraries of the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Mer ...

. It was built in 1933 on land donated by a local builder, Mr Joseph Owen. In April 1932 he donated £4,025 towards its construction. The original building was wide and long, and was built on the London Road in Mitcham, opposite the Holborn Schools. The reference library itself was by , and the lending library 66 by . Multi-coloured brick with stone facings was used throughout. Over the main entrance are the words, "Mitcham Public Library", neatly carved in the stonework, with stone cornice. Three steps lead to the approach, and a pillar is placed on either side of the entrance. The doors of the library were of Austrian oak. On the left hand side of the vestibule was the newspaper room, by . The initial stock of the library consisted of: lending department, 10,000 volumes costing £2,250; reference department, 1,500 volumes costing £750; junior department, 1,000 volumes costing £200.

References

*Local newspaper, the ''Mitcham News and Mercury'', 21 April 1933.

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Library buildings completed in 1933 Public libraries in London Libraries in the London Borough of Merton