10 June 1907 saw the laying of the foundation stone by Alderman Bruce Morison. However there had been a public lending library in Hove since 1892 when it was based in a house in Grand Avenue. It soon outgrew these premises, moving to a larger house in Third Avenue in 1901. In 1903 Andrew Carnegie gave £10,000 to build a new library. The current site on Church Road was found in 1905 and, out of over 70 displays, Robinson and Jones, the Architects of Leeds Library, were chosen. Their design was based on a rotunda form with a semi-circular readers roof garden!
In 2005 Hove Library was made fully accessible being extensively and beautifully refurbished in keeping with the building’s heritage to offer a full range of modern and more traditional library services.
Centenary Events
During this centenary year celebratory events are taking place between June and September with a 100th Birthday party bash taking place on Tuesday July 8th. The first major event of this centenary year was the creation of the fantastic Hove Library Children’s Mural launched on May 6.
Children’s Mural
The mural was commissioned in partnership by Brighton & Hove Libraries and Arts and Creative Industries with 30 artists applying. Natalie Gore was awarded the commission based on her idea for the project which details goblins dressed up as characters from well known and loved traditional and modern children's literature - such characters as toad from 'Wind in the Willows', 'Harry Potter' and 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' can be found amongst others in the children's area at Hove Library. Also, as part of this, a children’s art competition was run around “what I love about Hove.” Pictures were done on a circle and Natalie has used the winning entry, transposing it onto a large circle that is displayed on the circular glass in the children’s library. |
