ABSTRACT
As both the richest man in the world and the nephew of a Scottish Chartist, Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropic distribution of over 2800 grants to build public libraries across Britain and America remains singular. Moreover, the repetitive interest of a single client body across both nations was unprecedented in the design of any building type. Ambitions to conserve energy and use space efficiently in these early public library buildings progressively perfected what was to become a common component of public space in towns. It has been noted that their modest appearance has caused their innovative architectural significance to be overlooked. However, predating Hitchcock’s (1963) definition of “International Style” by over 40 years, their performance rather than their appearance demonstrates an increasing ability to establish international standards. That the standards were only communicated by telegram and by sea-mail makes them considerably more impressive.
