Three Ontario Public Library Buildings before 1900
In the early stage of the public library movement in Ontario after the Free Libraries Act came into force in 1882, there were no standalone public library buildings. The concept of the Canadian public library as a public building—a building type in its own right—was in its infancy. Of course, architects and librarians could refer to purpose-built American or British buildings, but these normally were in metropolitan cities supported by sufficient private philanthropy and ongoing municipal tax support. The four 'large' populated Ontario cities in the census of 1891 were Toronto (181,220), Hamilton (48,980). Ottawa (44,154). and London (31,977). Of these smaller cities, three would undertake to establish a separate building before 1895. These communities would generally follow Anglo-American ideas concerning library purpose, public access, book storage, and user needs (such as separate reading rooms) within a single structure.
The proper arrangement of space for the needs and purposes of library buildings was a challenging opportunity. In the 1890s, Anglo-American library architecture was entering a transitional period. Early public library structures often were divided into small rooms and shared accommodation with other local groups, a legacy of the compartmentalized space afforded by many mechanics' institutes, museums, and cultural groups that proliferated in the 19th century. No clear-cut consensus existed on what constituted conventional library services, uniform administrative practices, public access, and proper staffing. Until the 1890s, nearly all new public libraries, for reasons of security and efficient use of space, operated on the closed access system normally based on a centrally supervised reading room with adjacent rooms often divided on gender distinctions. Book catalogues and a time saving English invention, the ‘indicator,’ permitted users to know what volumes were held and their availability.
Although numerous articles on library architecture appeared before 1900, there were few authoritative publications to aid trustees, librarians, or city officials. An English treatise by Frank J. Burgoyne, Library Construction: Architecture, Fittings and Furniture (1897), advocated assessing local space needs for basic services that he deemed to be reference and lending departments, a reading room, and a staff work area. He felt additional options might include separate rooms for women, a lecture hall, a museum, or an art gallery. On the question of free access, Burgoyne cautioned his readers that,"a large public library should have the bulk of its books shelved on the stack system."
Even so, there was growing support for the open access system in the United States where unrestricted entry to book collections was progressing in cities such as Cleveland in the 1890s. However, it was not until 1902 that Charles Soule, a Boston bookseller and library trustee, authored an introductory architectural booklet published by the American Library Association. He provided careful, practical advice for the erection of new buildings and also briefly discussed adapting older buildings, recommending that "When a library outgrows three rooms, it ought to have a building all its own." Concerning exteriors, a variety of styles were in favour, notably classical revivals, and in the United States, the Richardsonian Romanesque style in the 1880s and 1890s. It was in this general Anglo-American setting that Ontario communities began to construct independent library structures before 1900.
Toronto Free Library opened in 1884
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| Toronto Mechanics' Institute, n.d. |
Toronto, Ontario's capital, was the first separate building to open on March 6, 1884, in the former Mechanics' Institute on the corner of Church and Adelaide Streets. The architectural firm of Cumberland & Storm originally had planned and supervised construction of this handsome Renaissance-style building between 1854 and 1861. When the institute opened to the public in July 1861, the reference library and two reading rooms were located on the main ground floor.
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| TMI plan, 1861 |
To the left are the Reading Rooms (B and C), each 35+24 feet and 24+15 feet, fitted up in the most comfortable and convenient manner, and well supplied with newspapers and other publications. The Library (D), 28+24 feet, contains about five thousand volumes. Both Library and Reading Rooms are expensively fitted up with oak.
The annual membership fees were relatively modest: $2.00 for men and $1.50 for ladies. |
| Free Library plan, 1884 |
The original promoters of the Free Library scheme had no intention of utilizing this building for the new project, but when the people assemble on Thursday next to witness the formal opening there is every probability that they will be both surprised and delighted to find the city in the possession of so beautiful, so extensive, and so convenient a public institution at withal so small an outlay.
In its first decade, the new library system, under the able direction of James Bain, proved to be popular with Toronto citizens. They increasingly used the free lending services, e.g., during 1894 the central library issued more than 350,000 volumes. In July 1884, the first of many book catalogues with a code recording each book was provided to borrowers to aid their selections. As well, the installation of a wood framed 'indicator,' a British innovation with numbered, trays in a framed board, allowed librarians to track books (each insert was coloured, e.g., red-out and blue-in, to reveal a book's status) for patrons who were not permitted to browse shelves. Later, in 1889, a subject catalogue of reference books was published.
However, the condition of the central library was not entirely satisfactory. By 1887, a new roof and enlarged reading room were in place. Still, there were ventilation problems, especially in the warmer summers when staff, six young female assistants who earned between $300–$450 per year, suffered from poor air arising from the reference room. The Toronto Daily Mail reported in July 1889 that, "Pale faces of fair young ladies look through the wire casement that shuts them off from the public whom they are waiting to supply with mental food, and appeal for the chance to breath the cool fresh air that everybody else is rushing off to the lakeside resorts to inhale." But, according to the chief librarian, "the young ladies had the easiest position of any in Toronto." Three years later, in 1892, a Toronto medical health officer reported that the ventilation in the reference room was wholly inadequate when it was crowded and suggested necessary improvements. At this time, extensive renovations took place: the newspaper reading room was moved to the old mechanics' institute music hall above the ground floor, a circulating library was created in the former reading room, and a reading space for unemployed workmen was created in the basement.
These physical alterations, in conjunction with James Bain's development of collections and dedication to improved access for users by opening branch libraries, put Toronto in the forefront of the public library movement in Canada in 1895. By this year, when the Ontario government enacted a new Public Libraries Act that permitted communities to designate older mechanics' institutes as public libraries and become eligible for public funding, there were sixteen free libraries (i.e., library boards eligible for a special maximum rate of one-half mill on the dollar of assessed property) in the province. One, Hamilton, had erected a new building in 1890, and another, London, was under construction.
In Toronto, the realization that the central library was no longer adequate to suit early 20th century library standards led to a decision to seek a Carnegie library grant. In January 1903, the library board received a promise of $275,000 for a new Reference Library. It officially opened on College Street on September 8, 1909, and the reference and circulating collections from the old central library were transferred to it. The old library continued as a branch—the Church St. branch—for two decades until it closed in 1928. Several agencies then occupied the building until it was completely demolished in 1950 to make way for planned urban development of the Church-Adelaide area.
Hamilton Free Library opened in 1890
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| Hamilton library, Main St., n.d. |
When the Hamilton and Gore Mechanics' Institute was forced to close in 1882 due to financial difficulties, its older building on James Street, along with its books and furnishings, were sold at a public auction. The city was without a 'public' library for several years, until January 7, 1889, when voters passed a bylaw to establish one. A library board was formed, and Richard T. Lancefield was appointed Hamilton's first chief librarian. After some controversy, a downtown site at 22 Main Street West was purchased for a new building. Officials laid the cornerstone for the Hamilton public library on October 23rd, 1889, and Lord and Lady Aberdeen opened the library on September 16, 1890. It was the first purpose-built free library to open in Canada. The architect, William Stewart, had the honour of supervising its construction at a cost of about $45,000—more than twice the original estimate that the Ontario Association of Architects had criticized for being unreasonably low.
The library interior was just over 5,000 square feet to serve a city of almost 50,000 people. Its internal plan followed North American experience: a reference room and two reading rooms (one for ladies, 24 ft. x 25 ft., one for general readers, 25 ft. x 78 ft.) flanked by a nine-foot corridor leading to a long counter for borrowing transactions with three indicators, a catalogue area, and a librarian's platform. The general reading room was 25 ft. x 78 ft. Behind the counters was a 33 ft. x 58 ft. stack room, closed to the public and fitted with shelves to hold 50,000 books. The librarian's platform allowed surveillance of the entire ground floor.
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| Hamilton interior, n.d. |
The library's exterior architecture was somewhat eclectic, a late-Victorian Richardsonian Romanesque style, red and black brick facing, a north-west corner tower, and an impressive wheel-window, a feature Stewart often utilized. A staff workroom, storage area, washrooms, and utilities were located in the basement. A ventilation system was designed to remove contaminated air from the upper floors via of an exterior shaft on the east side of the building. To complete the facility, rooms for an Art School and the Hamilton Association occupied the upper floors. The building was heated by steam utilizing radiators throughout.
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| Reading room, c.1905 |
The Hamilton library's first decade was relatively positive. Richard Lancefield published a book catalogue in 1894 and began to catalogue holdings using the Dewey Decimal System, a bold, time-consuming decision for Ontario in the 1890s. The library's second decade was less satisfactory. As the collection grew, more space on the main floor was required, but other developments, such as a section for young children, adequate space for story hours, and the issue of open access to shelves made the prospect of extensive renovations and expansion moot. However, the Art School was quite successful and continued to occupy the upper floors. When Sir John M. Gibson, the future lieutenant governor of Ontario, wrote to the Carnegie Corporation on January 20, 1906, to inquire about the possibility of receiving a grant, he remarked, "we have a public library, which however is scarcely up to what might be expected in a growing city like Hamilton." He was rebuffed, but after a concerted effort in 1909, Hamilton received a Carnegie promise of $75,000 for a new building and was later granted an additional $25,000. A fine Beaux-Arts structure on Main Street West officially opened on May 5, 1913. The property and assets of the old library were transferred to the city in the fall of 1913. The building served as the home for the Hamilton Art Gallery until 1953. It was demolished in July 1955.
London Public Library opened in 1895
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| Sketch of London Public Library with floor plans, 1895 |
Although London ratepayers had approved a bylaw to establish a free library in 1884, it was repealed in 1888, leaving the indebted mechanics' institute as a major source of reading for city residents. Eventually, London city council granted funds to the Mechanics’ Institute on condition that they provide free public access to their library and reading room. After ratepayers again petitioned the city council, on January 2, 1893, London citizens approved a library bylaw by a large majority. After the idea of transferring the older Mechanics' Institute building was rejected due to its unsuitability, in April 1894, the city council issued debentures for $20,000 to build an entirely new library. A competition for building plans was conducted, and Herbert L. Matthews, a local architect, was selected in the fall of 1894. On November 26, 1895, a fine new red brick library building on the southwest corner of Queens and Wellington was opened, with Robert J. Blackwell as the first librarian.
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| London Public Library exterior, n.d. |
The new building cost $14, 818 including furnishings. The library assumed the defunct Mechanics' Institute’s book collection. There were two moderately large reading rooms for reference and browsing on the main floor across from the closed stack area. The west room on the second storey was also used as an Art Gallery. A museum also was planned for the second floor. On June 1, 1897, Robert J. Blackwell, the librarian of the London Public Library who was a former bookseller, issued the library’s first published catalogue using the new Dewey decimal classification system. He was known to be progressive because he supported open access to non-fiction and improved services for children. Crowded conditions in the library necessitated an addition of a separate ladies' reading area on the west side of the main floor, which opened in 1902.
When Blackwell died unexpectedly in 1906, William O. Carson became chief librarian. Under his administration, the open access system was completely implemented in 1908, improved reference space and service began in 1910, and a children's room opened in 1913 to replace the ladies' reading room. During this period, the librarian and trustees realized the library was too small for the growing city and decided to apply for a Carnegie grant. But the unfortunate death of a library representative in New York and the outbreak of the First World War intervened before London could complete its request. When Carnegie funding for new libraries ceased in 1917, there were repeated failed bylaws to fund a new library from municipal sources. The building continued in use as London's main library until 1940. Then, a handsome two-storey limestone central library opened on Queen's Avenue—the Elsie Perrin Williams Memorial Library and Art Museum. Later, in 1954, London's original library was demolished to allow for the expansion of the adjacent YMCA.
Library Building and Design
As Anglo-American library planning developed in the years before 1900, architects often concentrated on exterior styling and interior ornamentation, while librarians relied on functionality and services for purpose-built premises. Library interiors varied in size depending on finances and available locations. A reading room for newspapers and magazines and access to reference resources were popular services, but, increasingly, the lending department was assuming primacy. Many people came to the library to charge out fiction, a somewhat difficult problem that could lead to crowding in smaller areas when free access was permitted. Most libraries did not have children's sections and their presence was an afterthought until Queen's Park enacted a legislation clause in 1909 that effectively removed age restrictions, thus allowing an influx of children and making children's sections a practical necessity.
Library interiors began to be standardized for efficiency, adopting principles like locating main services on a single floor and allowing for future extension. The early adoption of the decimal classification system at Hamilton and London allowed the rearrangement of books so readers could find their own books without frequent reference to the catalogue or an indicator (after some time Toronto adopted the DDC in 1910). Essential utilities such as ventilation and heating often presented problems, with coal powered boilers for radiators and troublesome systems to control humidity and temperature. The transition of lighting from gas lighting to electricity was already underway by the 1890s. There were many challenges to surmount as disagreements about services, functionality, ornamentation, and the need for surveillance of patrons could produce dissimilar results. By the turn of the century, there was an emergent trend in Ontario to more accessible, less restrictive interiors. The Toronto architect William A. Langton, who penned a short paper on "Library Design" in the Canadian Architect and Builder in April 1902 recognized this direction. He felt that "One is inclined to think that there is too much stress laid upon the need of making a sort of policeman of the librarian."
Despite initial enthusiasm and purposeful renovations of varying quality, both the Toronto and Hamilton central libraries were no longer adequate within two decades. Both cities sought Carnegie funding to address their problems. London also realized its smaller building needed to be replaced within fifteen years; however, it was unable to fund a new edifice until a benefactor, Elsie Perrin Wiliams, left the city a significant bequest to construct a sleek Art Deco style, air-conditioned library with an auditorium and art gallery. These three newer central libraries represented a major step forward for each locality and also pointed the way in new directions for library architecture in Canada.
Further resources:
F.J. Burgoyne's Library Construction (London: George Allen, 1897) is available at the Hathi Trust at this link.
Charles Soule's Library Rooms and Buildings (Boston, ALA, 1902) is available at the Internet Archive at this link.
The Toronto Library catalogue of circulating books issued in July 1884 is at this link.
The Toronto subject catalogue published in 1889 is available at this link.
My earlier blog on Victorian and Edwardian libraries in Ontario is at this link.
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