Public Library is a Grade II listed building in the Lancaster local planning authority area, England. First listed on 13 March 1995. Library. 9 related planning applications.
Public Library
- WRENN ID
- stranded-rotunda-hawthorn
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Lancaster
- Constituency
- Lancaster and Wyre MP: Cat Smith (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 13 March 1995
- Type
- Library
- Address
- Public Library, Market Street, LA1 1HY
- OS grid reference
- SD 476 617
- Coordinates
- 54.04907, -2.80161
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Public Library in Lancaster, built in 1932, is designed in the Neo-Georgian style for the Borough of Lancaster. It features sandstone ashlar with channelled rustication on the ground floor and entrance bay, topped by a slate roof. The building has a deep rectangular plan that connects at the rear to the Children's Library on New Street. It is two storeys high with three main bays, distinguished by a moulded band between the storeys, a first-floor sill band, and a cornice with a blocking course.
The entrance bay, located towards the left, slightly projects from the main facade. To its left, there is a small ground floor window with a blank wall above. The doorway features a flat arch with a triple keystone, and above it is a panel carved with the words 'PUBLIC LIBRARY' in raised lettering, flanked by fasces. This is set beneath an open segmental pediment supported by engaged Tuscan columns. Above the doorway is a window with a moulded architrave and cornice. The date '1932' is inscribed below the main cornice, and the blocking course rises into a tall panelled die decorated with an urn.
To the right of the entrance, there are two windows on each storey. The ground floor windows have round heads and are slightly recessed under round-headed arches with decorated keystones, while the first-floor windows mirror the style of the window above the doorway. The right end of the facade is slightly recessed and contains a service doorway on the ground floor, which is topped by a flat arch with a panelled keystone.
Inside, the main library hall, located behind the front block, is a single-storey space featuring a barrel-vaulted ceiling and a rooflight.
Local climate
Public Library sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,370 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 97% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 28 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 69% of listed buildings. Of these, 12 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 9 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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