Public Library is a Grade II listed building in the Liverpool local planning authority area, England. First listed on 14 March 1975. Library.
Public Library
- WRENN ID
- heavy-lancet-candle
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Liverpool
- Constituency
- Liverpool Wavertree MP: Paula Barker (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 14 March 1975
- Type
- Library
- Address
- Public Library, Kensington
- OS grid reference
- SJ 367 909
- Coordinates
- 53.41159, -2.95342
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Public Library, built between 1889 and 1890 by Thomas Shelmerdine junior and enlarged in 1897, is a single-storey brick structure with stone dressings and a tiled roof. It features three bays, with a central entrance supported by squat stone Ionic columns that have carved lower drums. Above the entrance is an entablature with a pulvinated, inscribed frieze, flanked by stone round-headed architraved panels. The right panel includes an inscribed tablet and a semi-circular pediment, topped with open stone arcading.
The building has higher flanking wings, with the left wing showcasing a large round-headed window that includes a mullion and transom, topped by a small gable from the 1897 enlargement. The right wing features a Venetian window, a curved Flemish gable, and an arcaded parapet, with a similar gable on the right return and a recessed corner that has an angle buttress between.
Inside, the library boasts Ionic iron columns, an octagonal lantern, segmental arched iron vaulting, and a clerestory.
Local climate
Public Library sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,080 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 86% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 75% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 19 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 9 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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- No EPC on record for this property
- Sale history — 6 transactions since 1998
- No related consent applications matched
- 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
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