Barry Council Office and Library


Barry Council Office and Library is a local government building and public library located in King Square, Barry, Wales. It is a Grade II listed building.

History

The first lending library in Barry was opened in 1890, at 144 Holton Road. It later moved to a three-storey house on the Square, with the ground floor used as a reading room, the lending library on the second floor and caretaker's rooms on the top floor. In 1903 the Council applied to the Andrew Carnegie Trust for a grant for a purpose-built public library to be established; in response the trust awarded a grant of £8,000. Following a design competition, Charles E. Hutchinson and E. Harding Payne of London, were selected to design the building in the Edwardian Baroque style. After the first stage of construction, the library was opened by the Earl of Plymouth on 1 March 1906 and, following a second stage of construction, the town hall opened in 1908. A further expansion to the rear of the new building was planned, but never executed.
The town hall was originally the meeting place of Barry Urban District Council and, from 1939, of Barry Municipal Borough Council; it ceased to be the local seat of government after Vale of Glamorgan Borough Council was formed in 1974.
After the library moved to temporary facilities at the Leisure Centre in 2001, a major refurbishment of the whole complex was carried out. The work, which included a new wing for the library, was completed in time for an official opening on 4 January 2007. The refurbishment of the complex had cost £371,000, some £124,000 more than had been budgeted, leading to requests for an inquiry in February 2008.