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
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
Pennsylvania Library Association
The Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) is the state's oldest and most diverse professional library organization serving libraries, library employees, library trustees, and Friends of the Libra...
1 memorial
Henry Buxton Forman
Born Camden Place, Southampton Street, Camberwell. Bibliographer and forger. An authority on the lives and works of Shelley and Keats. He also had a lifelong career in the Post Office and was award...
Person, Journalism / Publishing, Literature, Museums / Libraries, Politics & Administration
1 memorial
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
William Alfred Westropp Foyle
Founded Foyles Bookshop in 1903. Born Shoreditch, the 7th child of a 7th child of a 7th child. William and brother Gilbert opened their first bookshop in Islington, moved to Peckham and then Ceci...
1 memorial