Blackburn Museum

Blackburn Museum

A library, museum and art gallery, now used as a museum and art gallery. Built between 1872 and 1874, designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt of the architectural firm Woodzell & Collcutt, with sculpture by C.W. Seale of London. The building was enlarged during the 19th century and altered in the 20th century.

The building is constructed in coursed sandstone rubble with freestone dressings. It has a steeply-pitched slate roof with red ridge tiles, now hipped but formerly featuring gables over the outer bays of both facades.

The building occupies a corner site facing west and is arranged in a broad L-shaped plan with an extension at the east end. It is designed in the Free Gothic style with some Arts-and-Crafts detailing and comprises two storeys.

The main frontage on Museum Street displays a symmetrical design of 1:3:1 bays. It features a plinth, carved foliated impost bands to both floors (which differ from each other), a similarly carved cornice and a plain parapet, all of which continue around the building. The ground floor contains a wide and deeply splayed 2-centred entrance archway, chamfered in 4 orders and furnished with wrought-iron gates with lettered metal banners in Arts-and-Crafts style. This leads to an internal porch with steps up and tiled side walls, including pictorial panels depicting Painting and Poetry on the left and Science and Labour on the right. Above the arch is a stone pentice with a richly foliated carved panel. Flanking the entrance, the inner bays have tall 2-centred arched one-light windows, while the outer bays have windows of 2 similar lights. All of these windows are set in sunk panels. At first floor, the centre and outer bays have large 2-centred arches with double-chamfered surrounds and carved impost bands, containing quatrefoil windows in the heads. Below these, the outer bays have 3-light mullioned windows while the centre bay has a carved panel. The inner bays have square windows of 3 transomed arched lights above the impost band, with carved panels below. The three panels contain bas relief sculpture depicting figures in ancient and medieval costume representing Art (left), Literature (centre) and Science (right).

The left return to Richmond Terrace follows a similar pattern with 1:4:1 bays. At ground floor, the outer bays have 1-light windows and the inner bays have 2-light windows. Beneath the first-floor windows are four relief panels of more interesting detail, representing contemporary Commerce, Textiles, Iron Founding and Agriculture. Extending further east is a short symmetrical 3-window extension in similar style, featuring a large arched window containing a relief panel flanked by enriched blank arches containing carved shields.

The interior features an entrance hall containing a staircase with wrought-iron balustrading. A former library hall to the rear has a 2-centred arcade, now blocked, that formerly separated the reference library from the lending library. The arcade has carved foliated capitals to the piers. The former gallery to the reference library is now partitioned. Three exhibition halls occupy the first floor.

Despite the loss of the gables on the outer bays, the building retains much detailing typical of 1870s Gothic Revival architecture. It forms a group with Richmond Terrace to the north and the old Town Hall to the south, and is included for group value.