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
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
Sir Ashton Lever
Natural history collector. Born at the family seat near Manchester where he also died. His museum was at Leicester House on the northern side of Leicester Square and called the Holophusikon, or Hol...
1 memorial
International Exhibition + RHS Garden, South Ken
Under the direction of Prince Albert the profits of the 1851 Great Exhibition were used to purchase land in South Kensington for cultural and educational use. Most of the northern half was, 1861-88...
1 memorial
Crystal Palace
Originally erected in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was on the section south of Rotten Row and east of West Carriage Drive with the mid-point opposite Rutland Gate. Â The cast-...
Building, Architecture, Commerce, Museums / Libraries, Music / songs, TV & Radio
4 memorials
2 memorials
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