Minet Library
Minet Library
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| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Type | Public library |
| Established | 1890 |
| Location | Knatchbull Road London, SE5 |
| Branches | 1 |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | Books, public records, photographs Lambeth Archives |
| Access and use | |
| Access requirements | Open - Lambeth Archives Closed - public library |
| Website | www.lambeth.gov.uk/places/minet-library |
The Minet Library is a public library in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London. The library opened in 1890 and closed as a public lending library in 2016 as a result of cuts to funding.
The building is home to Lambeth Archives, which remains open to users.
The Minet Library was built by William Minet and opened in 1890. Minet was a descendant of French Huguenots who immigrated to London in the 1700s, and 1889 he also gave 14½ acres of land to the London County Council to create Myatt's Fields Park.
The library was designed to be a church hall for St. James The Apostle on Knatchbull Road and to be used by the tenants of the local estate. When Minet's first wife, Alice Evans, died in 1887 before the building was completed, he decided to turn it into a public library in her memory.
The library might have been completed before the nearby Durning Library and South Lambeth Tate Library, but was interrupted when the contractor went bankrupt, Minet was interested in the co-operative movement and decided to form a private company on co-operative lines. The experiment was successful and the library, which was designed by George Hubbard who also designed nearby Longfield Hall, was finished and opened in 1890.
Hubbard's octagonal library building, in the Gothic Revival style, was partially destroyed by an incendiary bomb on 8 December 1940 during The Blitz. The fire destroyed 18,585 books. Around 6,700 books were salvaged, and half of those were moved to Longfield Hall were a temporary library was established. The Surrey Collection, a collection of archive records established by William Minet, survived the fire because they were housed in a strong room.
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