16 years between the laying of the foundation stone in 1982 and the opening in 1998. The Independent 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.
Other Subjects
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
Sir Hans Sloane
Physician, benefactor of the British Museum and an early benefactor to the Chelsea Physic Garden. Responsible for the addition of milk to chocolate to produce a palatable drink. Born Killyleagh, Ir...
Person, Benefactor, Medicine, Museums / Libraries, Race Issues, Science, Ireland
7 memorials
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
William Ralston Shedden-Ralston
Born York Terrace, Regent’s Park. His strange name seems to be the result of his father's near-illegitimacy and subsequent extensive litigation. Librarian, folklorist and Russian scholar. He gra...
1 memorial