John Ericsson
Architect who saw the Brutalist masterpiece Birmingham Central Library to successful completion
JOHN ERICSSON, who has died aged 85, was the job architect and leader of the team of architects and designers responsible for Birmingham Central Library, which was described in the Pevsner Architectural Guide to
Birmingham as “the first Birmingham building of European importance” built since the early 1900s as well as “the finest example of the Brutalist aesthetic” in the city.
The library, inspired by the work of Leslie Martin and Denys Lasdun, was the first in Western Europe to be conceived as a complete cultural centre, with exhibition areas, lecture hall, children’s and music departments under one roof. Its design is usually attributed to John Madin, head of the John Madin Design Group, the major architectural practice for which Ericsson worked, and it was Madin’s name (according to normal practice) which appeared on all the drawings. However it was Ericsson and his team who worked on the design, determined all the practical aspects and saw the library through to successful completion.
Opened in 1974, the library had nearly 40 years of constant public use. Readers found it accessible, light and spacious and its inverted pyramid shape, popularly known as “the ziggurat”, ensured that the building was infused with natural light while avoiding the direct sunlight that would distract readers and damage books.
Among other things, Ericsson and his team pioneered the use of a freestanding wall of toughened glass which flooded the entrance with light and welcomed visitors with views of the Victorian town hall. A particularly forward-looking feature was the provision of abundant electric sockets with cabling built into conduits, equipping the library for use in the computer era. The building was the largest non-national library in Europe and housed 1.5 million books of which 900,000 were readily available to readers on 31 miles of shelving.
The library always polarised opinion. Prince Charles once described it as “looking more like a place for burning books, than keeping them”. For its admirers, however, it was a classic example of the Brutalist design movement, one which had a gravitas which other modern buildings lacked and which was also sympathetic in scale to the surrounding Victorian buildings.
During its development the library suffered from funding shortfalls, and over its lifetime from neglect and poor management.
Original proposals to clad the building in either Portland Stone or Travertine marble were passed over due to funding issues in favour of precast concrete panels which were originally white but became stained because they were never cleaned, and later began to erode. The council never allocated sufficient funds to operate the library’s air conditioning system, with the result that cooling towers became badly rusted. Meanwhile its decision in the 1980s to roof over the central space resulted in natural light being cut off from some parts of the library while nothing was done to compensate with adequate artificial light.
In October 2011 the World Monuments Fund included the Central Library on its watch list of significant buildings at risk.
On several occasions English Heritage recommended the library for listing as a major work in the Brutalist style, but due to opposition from Birmingham City Council, which had announced plans to demolish it in 2001 as part of a scheme to redevelop the Paradise Circus area, the government refused to agree, and in 2011 granted a Certificate of Immunity from listing, allowing the council and its development partners to proceed with demolition plans. Ericsson could never understand or accept the council’s decision and when Friends of the Library held a farewell wake earlier this year he was too distressed to join them.
John Norton Ericsson was born on June 4 1930 and grew up in King’s Norton, Birmingham, where his Swedish father had founded a successful business manufacturing mixing machines for bakeries.
He studied Architecture at the Leicester and Birmingham Schools of Architecture, during which time he explored the art and architecture of Europe, visiting cities and buildings recovering from the ravages of war, and developing lifelong passions for art and history.
After qualifying as an architect in 1954 he joined J Seymour Harris and Partners in Birmingham. Later he became a partner in the John Madin Design Group, which, besides the Central Library, was responsible for many other important post-war buildings in Birmingham.
In 1966 he took a Town Planning diploma and was a member of the town planning teams for Corby New Town Expansion and for Dawley New Town, later incorporated into Telford. He spent a year as the head of John Madin’s office in Lausanne, where he worked on a new radio and television centre for Zagreb.
Ericsson’s work on the Adrian Boult Hall in the Birmingham School of Music, opened in 1986, included an innovative acoustic design that suited all kinds of ensembles, from solo players to symphony orchestras. His renovation of the Express Buildings in Nottingham earned a Europa Nostra Award in 1983.
Ericsson had always loved working in wood and after retiring from architectural practice in 1984, he returned to college in Worcester to train in furniture design and construction and later won the Gordon Russell Gold Award for Furniture Design at the Style 86 exhibition. Among other things he completed a commission for a Senior Warden’s Chair for the Shrewsbury Drapers Company, creating a 20th-century chair for a 15th-century tradition. He continued with some architectural work and in 1993 his Technology Block at Malvern College earned a RIBA Midland Region Award.
Ericsson became a member of the Society of Friends in 1964 and was a Member of the City of London Company of Builders and a Freeman of the City of London. He had a lifelong passion for classical music and was delighted to be commissioned by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to design a brief for a new concert hall, although the work did not come to fruition.
In 1954 he married Dori Shrewsbury, who survives him with their son and two daughters.