The New Bodleian Library Conservation Plan - Central ...

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2.2 History of the Bodleian GroupThe New Bodleian Library is one part of the Bodleian Library complex, whichconsists of a group of buildings at the east end of Broad Street: the New Bodleian; theClarendon Building; the Old Bodleian; and the Radcliffe Camera. These are alsomany other libraries across Oxford which are part of the Bodleian, such as theRadcliffe Science Library and the Bodleian Law Library.The history of the library begins long before the New Bodleian was constructed. TheOld Bodleian Library was first established by Duke Humphrey in 1488 with theopening of a room above the Divinity School but this had gone into decline by themiddle of the 16 th Century. In 1598 Sir Thomas Bodley funded the reinstatement ofthe library, which was opened in 1602 in the old library building and was calledBodley’s Library. This was located on the south side of Broad Street.Since the establishment of ‘legal deposit’ in 1610, whereby a copy of every bookpublished in England could be installed in the new library, the Bodleian has continuedto suffer from a lack of space. Extensions to the building were made in the 17 thCentury in an attempt to provide more space, including the Arts End and the SeldenEnd of Duke Humphrey’s Library.The Clarendon Building was constructed from 1712 to 1713 for the use of theUniversity Press. Between 1737 and 1748 the Radcliffe Library was constructed to thesouth of the Bodleian with funds from a bequest by Dr John Radcliffe, an eminentphysician of his day. It was designed by James Gibbs. This was initially a separateentity from the Bodleian but by 1860 the two were integrated and the RadcliffeLibrary became known as the Radcliffe Camera.Lack of space remained a problem and by 1834 there were estimated to be around220,000 books and 21,000 manuscripts in the library. Space was gained during the19 th Century by removing some of the collection to the University Galleries (now theAshmolean Museum) and through the integration of the Radcliffe Library. In 1909-12an underground book store was installed beneath Radcliffe Square. After itsconstruction the library was the largest in the world and the first to feature moderncompact shelving.This, however, only solved the problem temporarily and during the early 20 th Centurythe idea of a new, modern library was put forward.2.3 Construction and Subsequent History of the New Bodleian LibraryA general chronology can be found in Appendix 3.In 1925 the then Librarian of the Bodleian, Dr Arthur Ernest Cowley, informed theUniversity that the Library would run out of space in ten years’ time and began toinvestigate options for dealing with this problem. In providing a solution, a key issuewas that the University did not wish to lose the Bodleian’s association with itsbeautiful buildings in central Oxford: the Old Schools and Radcliffe Camera. Radicalalterations to the existing buildings were considered inappropriate, and it wastherefore decided that the construction of a new building, within the city centre, whichNew Bodleian LibraryConservation Plan, April 201210
could easily accommodate the growth of the library’s collections, was the best courseof action.In 1926, the Rockefeller Foundation agreed to provide three-fifths of the cost of a newlibrary, provided that the University would contribute the remainder. This was thecatalyst for the creation of a Commission, under Sir Henry Miers, which was to visitmodern University libraries in Europe and America and to report on these with theintent of informing designs for the New Library. In a report published in 1931, theLibrary Commission determined that the best course of action would be to abandonthoughts of a library and instead build a book-stack. The site chosen was opposite theClarendon Building, on the north of Broad Street.Following the appointment of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott as architect in June 1934, it wasdecided that the new building on the Broad Street site would be a book store andlibrary extension capable of holding approximately five million books which wouldbe connected to the Old Bodleian via a mechanical conveyor belt and pneumatic tubesystem.Construction of the New Bodleian began in December 1936, with the building workbeing conducted by Benfield and Loxley of Oxford. Thirteen 17 th -century terracedhouses on the corner of Broad Street and Parks Road had to be demolished to makeway for the building. Nos. 48 and 49, which were to be retained to the west of the site,became very unstable following the demolition of the adjacent properties and werecompletely reconstructed in 1936.The foundationstone of the NewBodleian was laid byQueen Mary on 25 thJune 1937.Construction wascompleted four yearslater in 1940 to thecost of £379, 000.However, as WorldWar II had begunthe library could notbe opened and thetime was used totransfer 1.5 millionbooks over from theold library.The basement of thebuilding was alsoFigure 3. Plan of the basement use as an air raid shelterused as a militarybase and partiallyconverted into an air raid shelter during the War (though the shelter never actually hadto be put to use).New Bodleian LibraryConservation Plan, April 201211
Page 4: 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY 377 APPENDICES 39App
Page 9: 2 Understanding the Site2.1 History
Page 13 and 14: 3 Significance of the New Bodleian
Page 15 and 16: 3.2 Significance as part of the Bod
Page 17 and 18: Figure 7. Detail from the Ashmole B
Page 19 and 20: 3.5 Architectural Significance3.5.1
Page 21 and 22: Figure 9. Original desks in PPE Rea
Page 23 and 24: 4 Vulnerabilities4.1 The Ability of
Page 25 and 26: 4.3.2 Broad Street VestibuleThis pr
Page 27 and 28: Commonwealths existent at the time
Page 29 and 30: 5 Conservation PolicyHaving establi
Page 31 and 32: line with Section 5.1. It is accept
Page 33 and 34: 5.5.7.3 Retain the furniture, fitti
Page 35 and 36: 5.9.2 The Conservation Plan will be
Page 37 and 38: 6 Bibliography6.1 References from t
Page 39 and 40: 7 APPENDICESAppendix 1: Listed Buil
Page 41 and 42: and six internal staircases, clad i
Page 43 and 44: Appendix 2: Conservation Area Descr
Page 45 and 46: Observatory adjacent to University
Page 47 and 48: Appendix 3: Chronology of the New B
Page 49 and 50: Appendix 4CHECKLIST OF SIGNIFICANT
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