John Hardcastle Dalton Madin was an English architect. His company, known as John H D Madin & Partners from 1962 and the John Madin Design Group from 1968, was active in Birmingham for over 30 years.
Madin in 2011
Birmingham Central Library
Birmingham Central Library was the main public library in Birmingham, England, from 1974 until 2013, replacing a library opened in 1865 and rebuilt in 1882. For a time the largest non-national library in Europe, it closed on 29 June 2013 and was replaced by the Library of Birmingham. The building was demolished in 2016, after 41 years, as part of the redevelopment of Paradise Circus by Argent Group. Designed by architect John Madin in the brutalist style, the library was part of an ambitious development project by Birmingham City Council to create a civic centre on its new Inner Ring Road system; however, for economic reasons significant parts of the master plan were not completed, and quality was reduced on materials as an economic measure. Two previous libraries occupied the adjacent site before Madin's library opened in 1974. The previous library, designed by John Henry Chamberlain, opened in 1883 and featured a tall clerestoried reading room. It was demolished in 1974 after the new library had opened.
Birmingham Central Library in 2013
Central Library after the 1879 fire
J. H. Chamberlain's rebuilt Central Library of 1882, demolished in 1974.
The tall clerestoried reading room of the 1882 library.