Hornby Library Picton Reading Room

The Hornby Library Picton Reading Room is a library and reading room built between 1875 and 1879 by architect Cornelius Sherlock, with the Hornby Library added by Shelmerdine in 1906. The building is constructed of stone and features a semi-circular front with a rusticated wall surface, small niches, and statues. The entrance is adorned with architraves, consoles, and a cornice. The structure is raised on a base and is surrounded by a peristyle of fluted Corinthian columns, which have an enriched frieze, cornice, and balustrade. The roof is a domed rotunda.

The interior of the reading room has walls lined with shelves, two galleries, and projecting bookcases. It includes iron spiral stair railings and light fittings, as well as a central wooden desk with a lamp. The ceiling features a coffered saucer dome with a top light. The Hornby Library's main hall consists of five bays with Ionic colonnades, a balustraded balcony that sweeps around and ends on Doric columns, and cross arches. An entablature projects over the colonnade, with Diocletian windows above. Outside the corridor, there is a bronze plaque commemorating the opening of the reading room, which is named after Sir James Allanson Picton, the first chairman of the Liverpool Libraries Committee.