Seeley Historical Library - Sidgwick Site, West Road, Cambridge, UK - Architecture Prizes on Waymarking.com

The building accommodates more than 95,000 volumes of books and its architecture is admired. It is hidden between the buildings and the best view is on foot, where the glass can be seen at its best, in the roof. The design is inspirational, but less practical for a library; indeed, inside, the library had to be modified in order to house the books and was nearly demolished in 1984 because of this.

Seeley Library was established in 1807 by John Symonds at the Philosophical Library Gallery. It fell into neglect, became a priority again in 1884, then moved to King's College in 1890. It was in 1897 that is was named the Seeley Library in honour of Sir John Seeley and his service to the British Empire.

This is Cambridge describes the architecture of the library: visit link

'James Stirling, one of Britain’s most influential and innovative 20th century architects, designed the Faculty of History building in 1963.

This post-war modern, utilitarian scheme is one of Stirling’s early works. He combined materials and forms in new ways, such as the red brick and the bold glazing system. The glazing guaranteed even light conditions throughout the reading area in the library, the centre point of the building. The build started in 1964 and was completed in 1968. The Faculty of History is now an English Heritage listed building.

The building’s Seeley Historical Library contains over 95,000 volumes, making it the largest of its kind in the UK.'

Architect: James Stirling Prize received: Pritzker Architecture Prize In what year: 1981 Website about the Architect: [Web Link] Website about the building: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   04/16/2012 pseudoprime visited it