Darwen Library and Theatre, and attached railings

Darwen Library and Theatre

A Yorkshire stone public library built in 1908 to designs by Raymond Harrison in the Edwardian Baroque style. The building is constructed entirely in rock-faced Yorkshire stone with ashlar dressings. The roof is slated, with a flat section over the former lending library and a copper dome with finial rising over the central cupola.

The library occupies an irregular corner site at the junction of Knott Street and School Street, and the land falls steeply away to the rear and west. The building is three storeys high on its western and northern elevations, where it sits elevated over an undercroft. The plan comprises a series of rectangular rooms arranged about a central octagonal entrance hall, fronted by a quadrant vestibule at the eastern junction of the two streets. The entrance is located over a deep channel formed by a curved stone retaining wall and is accessed by a bridge from street level.

The principal elevations are unequal in length: four bays face Knott Street to the northeast, and ten bays face School Street to the southeast, joined by the quadrant entrance bay at due east, which is topped by the octagonal domed cupola. The entrance bay features two pairs of windows on either side of the principal entrance, each flanked by Ionic columns resting on projecting piers at undercroft level and supporting a plain frieze with cornice and balustrade parapet above. A datestone and commemorative plaque sits to the left of the entrance door. The windows are original timber-framed casements in moulded ashlar reveals with shouldered apron panels. These align directly over larger fixed four-light windows with three-light top casement openers to the undercroft, set in plain rock-faced reveals with stepped ashlar lintels and projecting sills.

The principal entrance itself is round-arched with a moulded archivolt, flanked by wide banded ashlar pilasters rising to an open-bed segmental pediment. The pediment embraces the Darwen Coat of Arms, which features three cotton bolls, festoons of flowers and fruit, and is dated 'AD 1907'. Above this rises the copper-clad dome over a tall octagonal drum. Each facet of the drum is framed by simple pilasters and contains a group of three leaded lattice windows with stained glass top panes. Each set of windows is surmounted by an ashlar panel; the central panel bears the carved letters 'LIBRARY'.

On the southeastern elevation, the easternmost bay lights the stairwell and is slightly set back, containing two simple casements over a Diocletian window. It has a solid rock-faced parapet over an ashlar frieze and cornice. The first floor window bays are divided by plain pilasters resting on a string course between floors. The first floor windows are timber-framed, generally comprising two lights with three top panes and lugged apron panels. The undercroft windows are segmental-headed. At the extreme left of the southeastern elevation is a tall arched opening with replacement doors and Corinthian pilasters and ashlar voussoirs. This originally provided direct access to the lecture theatre but is now used as a fire escape.

The northeastern elevation has similar but more subservient detailing, without dividing pilasters and with simple rectangular openings to the undercroft. Public access to the theatre is now located on the secondary northeastern elevation, within a contemporary porch addition.

Other elevations are plainly detailed with a variety of irregularly spaced openings having simple flush architrave surrounds. The channel is bounded throughout by original cast- and wrought-iron railings on a stone plinth.

The library is contained on the first floor, and the original layout is principally retained with minor alterations. Original detailing and several original furnishings remain intact. Access is via a small porch with original internal glazed timber double doors having decorative brass handles. A narrow vestibule precedes the octagonal entrance hall; original plans show this vestibule was designed to accommodate newspaper advertisements, but it is now partitioned at either side to form stores and a disabled toilet.

The octagonal entrance hall has timber panelling in a simplified linenfold style to dado level and is lit from above. Stucco ornamentation includes round-headed recesses to each facet. The floor is bordered terrazzo with a central panel representing the civic Arms and motto, and an original brass pendant light fitting hangs from the ceiling. All doors are varnished timber with margined geometric leaded glazing to the top panes, moulded architraves and entablatures, and brass furniture.

Directly ahead is an open entrance to the main lending library, articulated by panelled timber piers with a central lozenge motif. Over the entrance is a plaster tympanum detailed with cherubs flanking a bronze plaque acknowledging the gift of Andrew Carnegie and commemorating the opening on 27 May 1908. A respondent plaque over the main entrance commemorates the involvement of other dignitaries.

To the left of the library entrance is a former separate door to the newsroom, now infilled with a notice board but incorporated into the main library. Further left is a door to the basement. To the right is the former juvenile library, which was originally accessed by two doors, one to the juvenile lending area and one to the juvenile reading room. The original partitions have been removed, and the eastern portion is temporarily partitioned to create a separate exhibition space.

Within the main library is the original panelled timber attendant's counter with its glazed overscreen, truncated but remaining in its original location. Part of what may have been the original panelled dividing screen remains along the line of the original partition; an original example is retained between the former newsroom and reference library to the southwest. Although now incorporated, the main library can still be read as two rooms, divided by a lateral beam supported on cast iron columns. The former newsroom has a barrel-vaulted ceiling with plaster ribs sprung from piers between windows, a detail repeated in the former reference library. The former lending library is lit from above by an octagonal lantern also supported on columns.

Within the library, a spiral stair leading to the former book store below is retained within a recent enclosure, and the original polished timber book hoist remains in situ. Original half-glazed multi-panelled timber partition screens inset with bottom-hinged casements are retained between the reference library to the west, the office to the northwest, and the juvenile library to the northeast. Original gilded signage is retained on the glazing of doors to principal areas. Some original shelving and storage is retained within the reference library and office, although furniture has generally been replaced. The juvenile library has a suspended ceiling.

The undercroft has undergone a number of alterations commensurate with its new use as a theatre. The layout comprises the former lecture hall to the southwest and a range of stores and working areas around an octagonal hub at centre, and remains broadly unchanged, although the detailing has been substantially altered throughout. The basement is now accessed via a new public entrance at the northeast.