Front Entrance

The Linen Hall Library is a unique institution, founded in 1788 by a group of artisans as the Belfast Reading Society (later renamed the Belfast Society for Promoting Knowledge).  It adopted a resolution in 1795 "that the object of this Society is the collection of an extensive Library, philosophical apparatus and such products of nature and art as tend to improve the mind and excite a spirit of general enquiry".

It began to acquire books, with a particular focus on those relating to Irish topics, and other items which could be used to advance knowledge.  In 1802 the collections were moved into the White Linen Hall; that building was demolished to make way for Belfast’s new City Hall. The collections then moved into this building you see now, which was originally built in 1864 as Moore & Weinberg’s Linen Warehouse. The conversion into a library was carried out by Young & Mackenzie. 

Young & Mackenzie were also responsible for the Scottish Provident Building, Robinson & Cleaver’s, the Presbyterian Assembly Buildings and Belfast’s Ocean Building.  Robert Young (1822-1917) was descended from a “Scotch Border” family and, in the late 1860s, formed an architectural partnership with his former pupil, John Mackenzie, son of the minister of Malone Presbyterian Church.  The partnership went on to become the most successful in Belfast’s history.  

Today, The Linen Hall Library is the oldest library in Belfast, the last subscribing library in Northern Ireland, and an independent and charitable body.