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Two identical Libraries - How many more of these buildings are in Sheffield

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http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=upperthorpe&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Upperthorpe,+Sheffield,+South+Yorkshire,+United+Kingdom&ll=53.389898,-1.486029&spn=0.002284,0.006539&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=53.389898,-1.486029&panoid=kOhfy2h-vR9HWo-Buism7w&cbp=12,196.37,,0,11.79

 

and Highfield Library (can't get a link on google maps for this, but it is on there) are twins - If there are two of them, there must be more...

 

Does anyone know of where any others are? Or why they built the same building more than once?

 

Just found it odd, as I have never noticed this until today, and I have never seen it anywhere else other than in the Worksop Priory and Durham Cathedral (but even those two had a couple of differences, and these two seem to be identical)

 

Thanks!

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Ha - good spot. I like it.

The same could be said for the high rise flats that appeared on our skylines in the 60's I suppose, but that's not as interesting as your find.

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Or why they built the same building more than once?

 

Thanks!

 

Perhaps it was a BOGOF deal ?

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They've obviously been built to the same blue print - but if there are two, are there more??? Come on! I've obviously got some time on my hands, but not enough to look at all the old libraries :) Not yet anyways!

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I believe Upperthorpe, Burngreave and Highfield were the first 'suburban' libraries in Sheffield. Upperthorpe was built around 1869 but Highfield not until perhaps ten years later as the Corporation didn't purchase the land from the Alderson estate until 1876.

 

Burngreave library is architecturally quite different from the other two and looks more like a chapel than a library so perhaps it was an adaptation of an existing building.

 

http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/picturesheffield.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.refno=u03147

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the library section of Upperthorpe is, indeed, almost identical to Highfield library.

 

There are two slight differences.

 

Upperthorpe has a pretty carving over the door. Highfield library has a beautiful and inspiring quote over the door, Which reads

 

"THAT THERE SHOULD ONE MAN DIE

IGNORANT WHO HAD CAPACITY

FOR KNOWLEDGE, THIS I CALL A

TRAGEDY, WHERE IT TO HAPPEN MORE

THAN TWENTY TIMES IN THE MINUTE,

AS BY SOME COMPUTATIONS IT DOES"

 

Upperthorpe has a laundry and a swimming baths attached to the building. Highfield doesn't.

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the library section of Upperthorpe is, indeed, almost identical to Highfield library.

 

There are two slight differences.

 

Upperthorpe has a pretty carving over the door. Highfield library has a beautiful and inspiring quote over the door, Which reads

 

"THAT THERE SHOULD ONE MAN DIE

IGNORANT WHO HAD CAPACITY

FOR KNOWLEDGE, THIS I CALL A

TRAGEDY, WHERE IT TO HAPPEN MORE

THAN TWENTY TIMES IN THE MINUTE,

AS BY SOME COMPUTATIONS IT DOES"

 

Upperthorpe has a laundry and a swimming baths attached to the building. Highfield doesn't.

Yes I noticed those words over the door of the 'FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY', by Thomas Carlyle

 

photobucket

 

m&p

Edited by me-and-pippo
'Free' public library

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I believe Upperthorpe, Burngreave and Highfield were the first 'suburban' libraries in Sheffield. Upperthorpe was built around 1869 but Highfield not until perhaps ten years later as the Corporation didn't purchase the land from the Alderson estate until 1876.

 

Burngreave library is architecturally quite different from the other two and looks more like a chapel than a library so perhaps it was an adaptation of an existing building.

 

http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/picturesheffield.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.refno=u03147

 

According to this both libraries were opened in 1876, Upperthorpe on 8th May and Highfield on 1st August.

 

m&p

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That's fascinating M & P, thank you for finding that information out.

 

I love the inscription over the doorway of Highfield branch library. I find it touching and inspiring. I spent many happy hours in Highfield library as a child/ young woman. I love books and love reading.

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You-and-pippo and Lady Star postulate the theory that the libraries mentioned are the brainchildren of the same architect. I agree. What I would like to know is where did the money come from to build the libraries? Was it money from local philanthropists or from farther afield? When I say local p's I mean the local industrialists, farther afield I'm thinking people like Andrew Carnegie. I know he was splashing the cash around about the time the libraries in question were built.

Good spot though, noticing the similarities.It's interesting to think that architects, even back then, had a kind of set design for certain contracts. Regarding high rise 123456A, boxes are about the only thing architects are good at nowadays. Boxes and big sheds.

I'd love it if Andrew Carnegie had put some money into Sheffield though. After all, he made all his loot from a visit to Sheffield and the blast furnaces at that time.

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According to this both libraries were opened in 1876, Upperthorpe on 8th May and Highfield on 1st August.

 

m&p

 

 

Just shows you can't trust books; they should keep them locked up in libraries. :D

 

"The next step was for the free library committee to recommend the opening of branch libraries in the suburbs. Upperthorpe was the first area chosen (1869), followed later by Burngreave and Highfield."

 

The History of the City of Sheffield, Vol.2 page 434.

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