16 years between the laying of the foundation stone in 1982 and the opening in 1998. The explains the delay: "The reason it has taken so long to build ... has relatively little to do with the competence, or otherwise, of architect and contractors. The project has been toyed with by successive governments. The building was designed for a different site in Bloomsbury. Time was wasted when it had to be redesigned to fit the eventual site alongside St Pancras Station. Successive governments have trimmed the budget. Each time they have done so, Colin St John Wilson and his team have had to redesign parts of the building."
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
British Library
Commemorated ati
British Library- Foundation Stone
The British Library H.R.H. The Prince of Wales unveiled this stone 7 Decembe...
Opening of the British Library
This inscription is opposite the entrance, below the Shakespeare statue.
This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
British Library
Creations i
British Library - Anne Frank
The tree itself is almost entirely lost, half buried in a modern planting sch...
Other Subjects
J. Duff-Brown
Islington Librarian in 1906.  We believe he also published books on librarianship.
1 memorial
Frederic David Mocatta
Tycoon and philantropist.  Born London into a Jewish family who came to England from Spain in the 1650s.  Married but childless.  Worked in the family gold-dealing business until 1874 when he gave ...
1 memorial
Willesden Library
The newly built up Willesden area was provided with a library, completed in 1894. It was extended at the back in 1907, part funded by Andrew Carnegie. The whole back section was rebuilt with addit...
1 memorial
Joseph William Comyns Carr
Born 47 Devonshire Street. Author, gallery director and theatre manager. In 1877 he became co-director of the Grosvenor Gallery in Bond Street, which promoted the work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brother...
1 memorial
Sir Frederic William Burton
Born County Clare, Ireland. Watercolour painter and art administrator. Appointed director of the National Gallery 1874 and knighted in 1884. Died 43 Argyle Road, Kensington.
1 memorial
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