Garston Library

Garston Library

Garston Library is a single-storey public library with a sophisticated internal arrangement of three parallel halls aligned north-east to south-west, with private staff areas to the rear left. The building employs a distinctive architectural language featuring canted bays, half-timbered gables, and decorative finials. All windows are original timber sashes with some replaced glazing. The original stone slate roof was replaced in 2002.

The south-west elevation facing Bowden Road and St Mary's Road is nine bays and symmetrical in composition. Three central bays are set beneath a large gable rising above the roofline, with a small half-timbered gablet at the apex surmounted by a gilded finial. The ground floor of these central bays is red sandstone and projects forward with battered buttresses at the corners. The main entrance occupies the centre bay, projecting slightly forward, and consists of partly-glazed panelled double doors with a flat hood above. To each side of the entrance are three small four-light windows. Although the building is single-storey, first-floor windows lighting the internal halls and central mezzanine galleries create the visual impression of two storeys. Above the main entrance is a large multipaned segmental-headed window flanked by small paired four-light square windows on each side. Canted outer bays flanking the three central bays rise through the eaves and are identically styled with paired four-over-four sash windows to the centre face and single windows in the same style to the flanks. Deep roofed dormer windows with multipaned lights sit above, each with a small half-timbered gablet breaking through and surmounted by small spear finials. Further battered buttresses occupy each corner of the elevation.

The north-west elevation facing Stormont Road comprises five bays with a central canted bay in the same style as those to the front, featuring paired six-over-six windows to the front face and narrower four-over-four windows to the side lights. Two sets of paired four-over-four sash windows set within shared surrounds flank this central bay. To the far left is an additional bay forming part of the original rear staff annexe, which has a lean-to roof and incorporates a doorway with partly-glazed panelled door in the same style as the main entrance, with a flat hood above, now accessed by a modern ramp. An adjacent sash window lights this entrance. A tall rendered chimneystack rises from the far left corner of the annexe, which also features a battered buttress.

The south-east elevation facing Lumley Street is identically styled to the north-west elevation but without the additional lean-to and doorway.

The rear north-east gable end of the three central bays has a bow window to the ground floor and a large multipaned segmental-headed window to first-floor level above. Smaller windows light both floors to the left, and the gable apex is half-timbered. Projecting from the right side is the staff annexe, lower in height with a lean-to roof, lit by a series of multipaned sash windows to the north-east side. A tall rendered chimneystack and battered buttress occupy the annexe's east corner, matching those fronting Stormont Road. A later doorway has been inserted into the annexe's south-east wall. A canted bay in the same style as those to other elevations, flanked by single windows, occupies the far left of the rear elevation. A flat-roofed dormer window with a half-timbered gablet above sits at roof level. A small rear yard exists behind the rear elevation.

Interior

The library comprises a central entrance hall leading into three large parallel rooms: originally a lending library flanked by two reading rooms. All interior timberwork is oak, and original cast-iron radiators remain, though disconnected.

The entrance hall features exposed ceiling beams, timber mullion windows to the north-east wall, and a Connemara marble floor. The original glazed-tile dado has been removed and replaced by applied timberwork. A beaten copper plaque recording the library's opening and Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy is attached to the south-east wall. A dentil cornice incorporating pilaster strips wraps around the room at three-quarter height. Originally T-shaped with entrances to each side leading into the reading room halls, the two arms have been partitioned off as offices, with a central doorway now leading into the lending library. Original door architraves surmounted by dentil cornices survive in the reading rooms.

The three large parallel rooms all have parquet floors (those in the former reading rooms are hidden under later coverings), segmental-vaulted ceilings with exposed timberwork and timber dentil cornices, and are separated by arcades with timber dressings and square piers clad with brown and orange glazed tiles. At each end of the vaulted ceilings in the former reading rooms is a segmental-arched window divided into four lights with leaded glazing. The central hall is double-height with galleries to four sides supported at ground and first-floor level by Tuscan-style antae. Gallery balustrades incorporate Tuscan-style column balusters, and built-in bookcases with Tuscan-style pilasters line the walls of the two side galleries, which also incorporate some leaded-glazed skylights. A narrow timber stair flight originally at the rear left of the central hall, leading to the galleries, has been removed and replaced by a modern stair to the rear right, with a disabled toilet occupying the space underneath. This has resulted in the blocking-up of two arcade openings, though they remain visible in the south-east reading room. The galleries are now also accessible via a modern lift inserted into part of the rear left staff annexe. The north-east end of the north-west reading room is now used as a One Stop Shop and contains an early 21st-century removable office pod. An original dwarf partly-glazed timber screen, depicted in a historic photograph dating to 1909, has been removed, as have the original counters in the central hall. A former librarian's office in the rear staff annexe has been converted into a toilet and its fireplace removed.

The basement lies underneath the staff annexe and is accessed by a stair with stick balusters and square newel posts, lit by a large skylight. The stair walls are of white glazed tiles, which continue into the basement. The basement has quarry-tiled and cement floors and contains several small rooms, with one original panelled door surviving. A replaced rear door accesses an external stair well containing an original stone stair with wrought-iron balustrade leading to the rear yard. The stair well also has white glazed-tile walls.