Bookworm Billionaire

I have walked past this specific building on the south eastern corner of Anlaby Road and Walton Street too many times to recount but I am ashamed to admit that I have never really taken any notice of it. 

The location gives a clue as to the most common distractions. 

I have passed it on the way to and from the KCom Stadium to see Hull City home games or other events held in and around West Park. During Hull Fair week in October my face has usually been buried in a bratwurst and relish which requires full concentration. 

The building is the Carnegie Library. 

It was designed by J H Hirst, City Architect and as the name indicates it was wholly paid for by possibly the richest man in the world at the time in 1905- the Scottish born but American made billionaire- Andrew Carnegie. 

The Opening 1905

It is in an interesting style, termed Domestic Revival or a bit Arts and Craftsie utilising brick inserts in a timber frame under a hipped plain tile roof and with something that I cannot visualise but referred to as rendered nogging. 

To the front is an octagonal porch and the eye is caught by a pyramidal roof topped with a weather vane. The revivalist detail also encorporates fancy gutters on wrought iron brackets, leaded lights and a functional but also decorative chimney stack typically found on a cottage home of an artisan. 

It is a unique structure warranting, for its architectural and local historic value, a Grade 2 Listing. 

It ceased operating as a library a few years ago but has remained in public use as a Heritage and Resource Centre for the people of Hull. 

It has an even more interesting back-story that includes the flight of an impoverished family, the trials and troubles of immigrants, a hard work ethic and fabulous self made wealth. 

Andrew Carnegie left Dunfermline in Scotland aged 13 when his family, encountering hard times in the Aulde Country, took passage to the United States. 

They were just one family amongst hundreds of thousands who sought a new and better life overseas. 

Carnegie took his first job as a runner in a Cotton Mill before learning to be a telegraph operator on the railways. Aged 24 he was promoted to Superintendent on the Pennsylvania Railroad and by the age of 30, with shrewd investment, he owned rail interests, iron and steel works and Great Lakes Steamers. 

At his peak wealth he was worth $309 billion US which placed him amongst the elite of the emerging global capitalists of his time. He is actually reputed to have been the richest man on earth.

He did not ever forget his humble beginnings and he took bold measures to ensure that he would give away almost his entire fortune in his lifetime. 

One of his particular philanthropic interest was in public libraries as he had made great use of such resources, although scarce, in his self education and development upon first arriving in the States.. 

The Foundation in his own name funded some 2800 library buildings worldwide including that on Anlaby Road, Hull. 

Carnegie in his generosity must have embarrassed the public library system in England which scandalously had only 30 substantial free libraries before 1850. 

The Education Act of 1870 and the Libraries Act of 1892 set up improved frameworks for public access to books but the actual construction of accessible buildings was only able to forge ahead with the type of private endowment by Carnegie who paid for 660 and other public spirited individuals who ensured that cities and towns could meet the demand from their increasingly literate populations. 

I now make a point of setting aside my tray of chips or pocketing the match programme when I am walking past Hull’s own bit of the Carnegie billions legacy.