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.
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
Victoria & Albert Museum
The South Kensington Museum opened on this site in 1857. It expanded and was renamed the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1899. A further expansion by Aston Webb opened in 1909. Also see Francis Fow...
4 memorials
Dr Walther Model von Thunen
Pastor and philatelist. He had been a collector of stamps for most of his life, but his collections and library were lost when his house was looted by members of the occupying Russian army. His col...
1 memorial
Thomas Park F.S.A.
"The poetical antiquary", bibliographer and engraver. He published his own verse but mainly he edited historical and literary works. Father of John James Park.
1 memorial
Major Ernest Edward Austen, DSO
Ernest Edward Austen was born in 1867 in Dalston, Middlesex (now Greater London), the eldest of the five children of Ambrose Austen (1838-1924) and Eliza Burnet Austen née Smith (1839-1916). His bi...
War served, Other war
1 memorial
Vestry House Museum
Located in Walthamstow. It was originally a workhouse and then a police station. It contains various items from the Victorian era to the 20th century. Its most famous exhibit is the first British m...
1 memorial
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