District Central Library

The District Central Library, also known as No. 254 Carnegie Library, is a public library located on Clifton Drive South in St Annes. It was built between 1904 and 1906, with the date 1904 inscribed on the east gable. The building features red brick in stretcher bond, sandstone dressings, a Cumbrian slate roof, and a copper-clad dome. Its approximately rectangular plan includes a tall open hall with an octagonal vestibule at the north-west corner, surrounded by single-storey reading rooms and offices, including a porch in the splayed north-west corner.

The library is designed in an eclectic style with Edwardian Baroque influences. It has a plain frieze, a moulded cornice, and a brick parapet on both levels. The corner entrance features a round-headed doorway with a banded head and a stone architrave, which includes a pair of engaged columns with tall plinths and debased Ionic capitals, a pulvinated frieze, a moulded cornice, and an ogival-headed panel in the parapet with raised lettering that reads "CARNEGIE FREE LIBRARY." This entrance is flanked by keyed oculi.

Above the entrance is an octagonal lantern for the vestibule, which has 2-light mullioned windows with small pediments on the cornice above, alternating between segmental and triangular shapes. The parapet ramps up at the angles, topped with a green copper dome featuring a finely detailed apex lantern and finial. The west side of the building has one transomed 6-light window and five canted bay windows, all in a similar stone style. Above these, the hall has a clerestory with three 4-light windows that match those of the octagon, along with a ridge ventilator on the roof. The north side is stepped and terminates in a tall gable with a pedimental apex that contains a plaque inscribed "AD 1904."

Inside, the library features a tiled dado in the porch and vestibule, double doors with Art Nouveau stained glass, and a 3-bay aisle on the east side of the hall, which is arcaded with fluted pilasters and keyed elliptical arches. There is also an office on the south side that includes an octagonal skylight.