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
William Alfred Westropp Foyle
Founded Foyles Bookshop in 1903.  Born Shoreditch, the 7th child of a 7th child of a 7th child.  William and brother Gilbert opened their first bookshop in Islington, moved to Peckham and then Ceci...
1 memorial
British Empire Exhibition
The exhibition was held in Wembley Park. It was a showcase of aspects of many of the British colonies at the time. It had 18 million visitors in 1924, but failed to break even. The main stadium was...
1 memorial
Great Exhibition
From the V&A website: "The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations was held in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London. It was the first international exhibition of manufacture...
13 memorials
Shepherd's Bush Library
One of a number of libraries founded by the philanthropist John Passmore Edwards. The building fell into disuse after a new library was opened as part of the nearby Westfield London development. It...
1 memorial
King Edward the Seventh's Galleries
An extension to the British Museum by the architect Sir John James Burnett.
1 memorial
Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in to see them