Sydney Architecture Images- Former Public Library

	Sydney Architecture Images- Gone but not forgotten Australian Subscription Library
architect	Henry Ginn
location	Macquarie and Bridge Streets
date	c. 1840
style	Victorian Regency
construction	Sandstone
type	Government


	Nineteenth Century images- State Library of New South Wales


	Image from the book "Sydney in 1848"
As opposed to Melbourne, Sydney then had only the private Australian Subscription Library erected in the 1840s at the corner of Bridge and Macquarie Streets (by Henry Ginn). Culture and learning of any sort were in short supply in early Sydney and the means of acquiring such were even harder to find. In 1821 a group of gentlemen combined so that they could borrow books from each other. In 1826 a subscription library was founded. For many years it moved around temporary premises in the town until a permanent site was acquired on the corner of Bent and Macquarie Streets. The library ran into debt and was eventually purchased by the government becoming the foundation for a free public library for Sydney.
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