WHY WE STILL BUILD LIBRARIES

Why do we still build libraries in a digital world? It has very little to do with books. Others quietly become places where curiosity finds a home. There was a time when many people believed the home library would quietly disappear. Yet something rather unexpected happened. The more connected we became, the more people began searching for somewhere to disconnect—not from the world, but from its noise. After nearly fifty years designing and building residential libraries, I have come to believe that the rooms we create are rarely about books alone. They are places to think, learn, reflect and be quietly curious. One client living in a modest apartment believed she had to abandon her dream of owning a library. Together we transformed her living and dining room into a book-lined sanctuary with a small shrine devoted to Kahlil Gibran. Those books were not being stored. They were being honoured. Perhaps the greatest privilege of my working life is that I can write these reflections from my own library. When our boys were young, Rachel and I read them many of the same stories my own mother once read to me. Those evenings were about imagination, curiosity and the quiet ritual of ending a day together. My mind often returns to a tiny antiquarian bookshop in The Shambles beneath the shadow of York Minster. I remember the scent of old leather bindings, worn floorboards and the feeling that time itself had slowed down. It felt like a sanctuary. When I left England, perhaps building libraries became my way of carrying a small part of that world with me - not through nostalgia, but through continuity. 'A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they shall never sit in.' People occasionally ask why Groth & Sons continues to specialise in residential libraries. The answer has very little to do with cabinetry. Libraries slow us down. They reward curiosity. They encourage conversation. They preserve stories. They remind us that learning is one of life's greatest privileges.

A Closing Thought

Perhaps that is why we still build libraries. Not because people need somewhere to keep books, but because every now and then someone builds a room that quietly helps us understand ourselves.

Beyond the Drawing Board Reflections from Groth & Sons