Carnegie Building And No. 72

The Carnegie Building and No. 72 form a library and former librarian’s house, all now in library use. Built in 1903, as indicated by the foundation stone between the third and fourth bay, the design is by H.C. Crummack, the Borough Engineer. The building is constructed of brick in Flemish bond, with simulated stone dressings, and has a Welsh slate roof. It is designed in a Northern Renaissance style, with a wedge-shaped plan.

The principal (southwest) front is two storeys high, with six bays, the first and sixth bays being wider and projecting slightly. The left bay features a round-headed opening to a porch, flanked by paired consoles supporting pilasters and a scrolled, swan-neck pediment. Carved ornamentation is present in the spandrels below an inscribed frieze. Octagonal bartizans, capped with domes, are located at the angles of the bay. The round-headed first-floor window has timber mullions and transoms with quasi-classical motifs. A blind oculus, bearing the seal of Hartlepool, is positioned in the gable, flanked by octagonal lesenes supporting urn finials. The apex of the gable features molded-diaper pattern brickwork. The sixth bay incorporates a tripartite casement window on each floor, with glazing bars to the top lights. A scrolled, swan-neck pediment sits over the ground-floor windows, with a shaped, pedimented gable above the first floor, showcasing a dated cartouche in an ornamented panel beneath the cornice. The remaining bays are defined by pilasters and feature a cross window on each floor, with glazing bars to the top lights; library subject titles are inscribed in the frieze above each window. Continuous entablatures run between the floors and below a straight parapet with pyramidal finials. The roof is hipped and gabled.

The narrow eastern return features a square projecting bay under a shaped, pedimented gable, flanked by recessed quadrant bays in the angles, all with cross windows; those to the square bay are flanked by pilasters. The adjacent librarian’s house to the northwest is two storeys high with two bays. A doorway is located to the left, featuring a mullioned overlight and a serpentine pediment. Cross windows have glazing bars to the upper lights, with narrow molded string courses continued from the heads and sills of the windows. A molded eaves cornice is also present. A two-bay left wing contains an octagonal tower to the first floor, topped with an ogee dome and a timber ball finial on a stem. A brick stack is located to the rear. Ornamental cast iron area railings are found to the rear of the library and the front of the librarian’s house. A mid/late 20th century single-storey extension to the left of the librarian's house is not considered to be of significant interest.