Description:Birmingham Public Library, seen from Edmund Street and looking along the Ratcliff Place frontage, from a tinted postcard. The far end of the building beyond the entrance portico is the Birmingham and Midland Institute; to the left, just off the picture, is the Town Hall. The straight facade is the work of E.M. Barry, dating from 1863/65, while the curved end is by Martin & Chamberlain and was built in 1880/82 after the library was gutted by fire in 1879. The building was demolished after the new building was opened in 1973. On the site now is the garden below the Birmingham Conservatoire.