Milnrow Carnegie Library and forecourt wall

Milnrow Carnegie Library

This is a public library building of two storeys, constructed in 1907 from sandstone ashlar. It occupies a prominent position set back from the street within a forecourt, and is located between the rear of a former Town Hall office to the left and a former police station to the right.

The front elevation is organised in two bays. The left-hand bay features a large Diocletian window on the ground floor with stone mullions and transoms, topped by a giant keystone and hoodmould. Above this, on the first floor, is a canted oriel window with stone mullions and transom windows. A relief carving of the Milnrow coat of arms (a fleece) sits within a decorative frame of thistles and roses. The right-hand bay contains the main entrance at ground floor level, with a slightly projecting attenuated gable rising above. This gable is flanked by piers that rise to columns above the roofline, clasping a triangular pediment with relief diaper work and recessed panels on the pier columns. The main entrance doorway and an adjacent small casement window are set within a flat-headed opening framed by moulded surrounds with square shoulders and a central segmental arch formed of giant interlocking voussoir stones. Rose and thistle relief carvings ornament the frame, with a thistle carved between the door and window. A plaque bearing Art Nouveau relief lettering reads "CARNEGIE / LIBRARY / 1907". Above the entrance, on the first floor, is a six-light mullioned and transomed window with a moulded cornice incorporating rose and thistle detailing.

The oriel window has a small pyramidal slate roof topped by a copper finial. The main building has a hipped slate roof with red ridge tiles and a tall copper ventilator at the left-hand end of the ridge, serving the lecture hall below. All windows feature leaded lights with sinuous and geometric Art Nouveau patterning in stained glass, concentrated mainly in the upper lights. The main entrance has double timber doors painted green, each fitted with a four-light window displaying continuous free-style Art Nouveau leaded patterning. Beneath each window is a projecting sill supported by blocky, stylised rose corbels. The moulded eaves cornice incorporates relief carvings of roses and thistles throughout.

Interior Plan and Features

The entrance doorway opens into a small lobby with a red-tiled floor and moulded cornice, leading through inner double timber doors to the entrance and staircase hall. The inner doors are panelled below and feature oval upper windows divided into six lights by timber mullions and transoms, with continuous free-style Art Nouveau leaded patterning and green stained-glass side panels. The doors are furnished with Art Nouveau brass plates and handles.

The entrance and staircase hall has a tiled dado of orange-brown brick tiles with narrow green tile lines, dark brown skirting and a dado rail. The open-well staircase sits to the right, beyond a semi-circular ceiling arch with decorative corbels. The staircase has concrete steps and an iron balustrade of diagonally-quartered circles with a swept timber handrail. Beneath the staircase is a water closet with a tiled dado. The staircase opens originally directly into the borrowers' hall, though these spaces are now separated by an inserted partition wall with a wide glazed door, sidelights and overlights.

The borrowers' hall has a coffered ceiling with two central skylights and a single square column panelled at dado level. To the left rear is a small partitioned office with timber-panelled walls incorporating glazed upper lights, with a modern issuing counter positioned where the original issuing desk stood.

To the front left is the former ladies' room, accessed through an original timber door with a rectangular leaded window and lower panel with fielded diamond pattern. The room is lit by the Diocletian window and a mullioned and transomed side window, and features a coffered ceiling, tiled dado matching the entrance and staircase hall, and a picture rail. A small store cupboard in the north corner (originally a water closet) has a narrow three-panelled door.

Adjacent is the boys' room (now children's room), which opens into the borrowers' hall through a wide timber-framed opening with a rectangular leaded glazed overlight. A leaded glazed window connects this room to the adjacent former librarian's room. The boys' room has a tiled dado of green brick tiles with dark brown skirting and dado rail. The former librarian's room is accessed through an original panelled door with rectangular leaded window and leaded glazed overlight.

To the right of the borrowers' hall, two wide openings lead into the reading room (now part of the lending library). These openings have timber frames with rectangular leaded glazed overlights; the left-hand screen incorporates carved brackets. The reading room features a barrel-vaulted ceiling, green-tiled dado, original oak bookshelves against and projecting from the walls, and wooden parquet flooring.

The first-floor lecture hall has a barrel-vaulted ceiling and is lit by the oriel window and a segmental arched mullioned and transomed window to the rear elevation. Double doors open from the stair landing, featuring lower panels and upper cross windows with leaded glazing. A store with a three-panelled door and plain timber architrave adjoins the doorway.

Forecourt and Boundary Walls

The forecourt is enclosed by walls of rock-faced coursed sandstone with ashlar coping. A wide central gateway is flanked by tall square ashlar gate piers with chamfered corners, recessed panels and moulded copings. The walls are topped by reinstated iron railings incorporating a diamond motif, reinstated circa 2000 based on photographic evidence of the original ironwork removed during the war effort. The gateway features a reinstated iron arch with a large central lamp springing from the gate piers, and the iron gates have also been reinstated.