Liverpool’s Central Library is a complex set of buildings, some of which are grade II listed and others due for demolition and replacement. The library’s eldest building is the William Brown Library and Museum, which was extended in 1879 to the Picton Reading Room and then the Hornby Library in 1906.
Central Library is part of the William Brown Street conservation area. This area includes the unusual St John’s Gardens and St John’s Church.
St John’s Church was designed by Thomas Litoller and construction started in 1767 in an area which was once used as the general burial ground of a small mortuary chapel. St George’s Hall’s west elevation backs against the Church.
