In May 1851, a public meeting was held at the Canterbury Association offices where J. R. Godley offered a room for use as a reading room, which would also contain some schoolbooks.
By 30 June, the room was opened to the public and contained some 500 volumes, organised under the guidance of a Mr Calvert. Forty subscribers paid one guinea a year for access to the library’s collection of books and newspapers.
The reading room was taken over by the Colonists Society, which was formed in 1852, and subscriptions were extended to include lectures and discussions.
The library was open daily from 10am to 10pm, with the exception of Wednesday evenings.
In the early 1850s the collection received significant donations to the collection. Mr Godley donated a selection of law books and Captain Simeon also donated 750 volumes.
The library re-opened in the Colonists Hall, Oxford Street on 22 November 1867. The ground floor of this building housed the library and reading rooms. Mr W. Godfrey was appointed librarian at an annual salary of 75 pounds.
In 1887 the Borough Council took possession of the library. In 1902 the library was housed in the building on the corner of Oxford Street and Sumner Road and in July 1978 it was moved to 1 Sumner Road, next to the police station.
In July 1978 the library moved across the road into the former Lyttelton Borough Council Chamber building.
It remained in this building until April 1999, when it moved to the corner of London and Canterbury Streets, the former post office.
The Christchurch earthquake of 2011 resulted in major refurbishment, repair and earthquake strengthening work to be done on the building. The Lyttelton Library re-opened on March 2017 and was expanded to include a Christchurch City Council Service Centre desk.
Source
Press, 1 July 1983, Page 5
Other Lyttelton heritage resources
- Photos of Lyttelton and Banks Peninsula
- If your family arrived at a port, we have a guide to passenger lists
- A local history bibliography, listing books by suburb, including Lyttelton
- The Lyttelton Times - January 11, 1851
- More about the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel
- Māori heritage sites