Everton Library - Liverpool - JacobKellyPhotography.co.uk

Everton Library is a disused library building in Everton Brow, Liverpool. Designed by architect and Liverpool City Surveyor Thomas Shelmerdine and constructed in 1896, it remained in use as a library until 1999. It was used by various community groups up until 2006, and has been derelict since. There are plans in progress to convert the building for use as an arts, culture, heritage and enterprise centre. In September 2019, it was named on the Victorian Society’s list of the top ten most endangered buildings in England and Wales. Plans for redeveloping the building as a cultural hub were proposed in 2014 but were put on hold due to finances. Plans were restarted in 2016 with a proposal to turn the building into an arts, culture, heritage and enterprise centre but nothing came to fruition. In November 2018 it was announced that a local property and hotel group were interested in restoring the building for use as a youth centre and community hub, but the plans came to nothing. The council signed off £920,000 worth of essential repairs in December 2021, but local campaigners claim that the building is still suffering from problems with the roof and windows and with water ingress. Preserving the building is still a commitment of the council but they claimed that funding was an issue, with a bid for ‘Levelling Up’ funding to be used towards the project being rejected by the government.