Central Library, Birmingham (must see)

The Brutalist Central Library of Birmingham is no more. The building closed in 2013 and was demolished in 2016, after being replaced by the new Library of Birmingham. The inverted ziggurat of the Central Library ended its 39-year career much as it began. Some cheered; some were horrified by its looks. The Central Library was designed by architect John Madin in the Brutalist style. It was part of an ambitious project by the City Council to build a new civic center around the Inner Ring Road.

All hail the Library of Birmingham. The architectural design is by Mecanoo, led by Francine Houben, with structural engineering by Buro Happold. The new Library has been described as the largest regional library in Europe. The Library stands beside the Birmingham Rep and Baskerville House on Centenary Square and is physically connected to the Rep.

The Shakespeare Memorial Room, designed by John Henry Chamberlain in 1882, has survived each successive redevelopment. It was dismantled when the Victorian library was demolished in 1974, reassembled beside the Central Library in 1986, and moved again to the new Library of Birmingham in 2013. It is designed in a richly decorated Victorian style, with carved woodwork featuring flowers, foliage, and birds. The Shakespeare Collection itself is no longer housed in the room, as the historic space cannot provide the climate-controlled conditions the material requires. The wider collection contains more than 40,000 volumes and includes a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio of 1623.

The Library was opened on September 3, 2013, by Malala Yousafzai, who had been shot by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan the previous year for speaking out in support of girls' education. At the opening she said, "And let us not forget that even one book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world."