Crumpsall And Cheetham District Library, With Attached Railings

Crumpsall and Cheetham District Library, now serving as an office and community centre, was built between 1909 and 1911 by Henry Price, the City Architect. This public library features a red brick and white limestone exterior, with the roof concealed. It has a rectangular plan situated on a corner site and is designed in the Edwardian Baroque style. The building is a high single storey over a basement and has three wide bays that are symmetrical. The design includes projected wings that frame a central entrance lobby with a prominent porch. The basement is constructed of heavily rock-faced masonry, with stone quoins on the wings and a high stepped stone parapet.

The central section, made of limestone ashlar, features a rectangular porch with channelled rustication, a round-headed doorway adorned with a voluted keystone, and an open-pedimented architrave supported by coupled columns topped with a semi-spherical roof. Each wing has modillioned open pediments, broad quoined pilasters with cartouches inscribed with "SCOTT" and "MILTON" on the left wing, and "SHAKESPEARE" and "DICKENS" on the right wing. The wings also feature modillioned friezes and pediments, with a tall round-headed window in the centre of each wing, surrounded by limestone that includes a carved apron and an elongated triple keystone.

The left return wall has a simpler design with five bays and segmental-headed windows. The basement area is protected by wrought-iron railings that include limestone piers, geometrical open-work standards, bar railings with attached swags and festoons, and flaming-urn finials. The interior includes segmental arcades (which are blocked) and a segmental-vaulted ceiling, although it has been otherwise altered.