Passmore Edwards Limehouse Library, London

Architect	Messrs Clarkson Architects
Date Built	1901
Location	Commercial Road
Description
The Limehouse District Public Library is one of a number of public buildings that were built in London's East End with the support of the philanthropist Passmore Edwards.  As you can see, the building was boarded up in 2014 when I took these images and had been closed and vacant since 2006.  The building and the land around it has been the subject of a number of redevelopment projects but for now it sits abandoned.  The most recent of these in May of 2014 requesting, "... Listed Building Consent for the conversion and extension of existing vacant library to provide part 3-5 storey building with a kitchen, laundry and gymnasium facilities at basement level; study/lecture rooms at ground floor; 64 self-contained student accommodation units at ground and upper floors and 73 bicycle spaces." The Grade II Listed building is clad in yellow brick dressed with white stone and a prominent feature of the front is the Flemish gables.  The building was extended several times during the inter-war period in what has been described as, " a stripped-down Art Deco style".  The additions allowed for the creation of a new larger Library Hall, a Juvenile Library and a Lecture Hall.

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