The Old Library (Cardiff)

 museum, tourist information centre/center, art museum / art gallery

Old Library (1882 to 1988)
The Old Library is located at the northern end of The Hayes. Declared a public holiday, it was opened on 31 May 1882 by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Alfred Thomas as the Cardiff Free Library, Museum and Schools for Science and Art, which included an art gallery. A competition was held to choose a design for the Cardiff Free Library, Museum and Schools for Science and Art. The winning design was by architects James, Seward and Thomas, erected for just over £9,000. The Schools of Science and Art were housed in the building until 1890 when it moved to buildings that were part of the University College.

The building was further extended to the south fourteen years later, with a new south frontage designed by James, Seward & Thomas, and was officially re-opened as the Central Library by the Prince of Wales on 27 July 1896.

The entrance to the building featured a corridor lined with ornamental wall tiles, designed to depict the four seasons and night and morning. These tiles were impressed with coloured clay to give the impression of a mosiac. This together with the stained glass installed throughout the building saw it become a Grade II* listed building. The Old Library (as it is now known) still exists, and is used as a museum and tourist information centre, and is the head office of the British Boxing Board of Control, the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom.

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