Quoting from the Manchester Evening news in 2010: Lord Norman, 73, who was educated at Burnage Grammar School, has designed some of the world’s most iconic buildings. His portfolio includes London’s famous ‘Gherkin’, the new Wembley stadium, the Berlin Reichstag and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Lord Foster, who moved to Levenshulme as a child, said he was indebted to his local library. “The pictures [of Levenshulme library]are to remind myself of the debt I owe to the library. If it hadn’t been for the library, I probably wouldn’t have gone to university. I discovered a whole world of literature and also a world of architecture, like the original books of Corbusier.”

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/architects-levenshulme-inpsiration-971719

The building fell into dis-use in early 2016, and remained empty for 2 years until LOLCIO was finally able to re-open it as a new arts and culture centre. We researched the original endowment and that has provided us with our inspiration. In our letter to the council  requesting an asset transfer we said:

“LOLCIO have consulted widely on our vision for a centre that can serve not only residents of Levenshulme but the whole of Manchester can be proud of. With a strong focus on community based arts, culture, wellbeing and in particular raising the aspirations and opportunities of young people. We feel our vision is wholeheartedly in keeping with the spirit of the original endowment of the building to Levenshulme by Andrew Carnegie.”

As said in a newspaper report in 1904, when the building was first gifted to Levenshulme Urban District Council:

“There is no more useful and generous means of distributing wealth than bearing the expense of providing and disseminating knowledge…One of the latest additions to his wonderful scheme of providing these ‘storehouses of knowledge’ is at Levenshulme.”