James Reckitt Library

The James Reckitt Library, built in 1888-89 and altered in the late 20th century, was designed by W.A. Gelder of Hull. It is a red brick building with ashlar dressings and slate roofs, constructed in the Gothic Revival style. The building is two storeys high. The main street facade features seven windows and a projecting central bay. The central entrance has a pointed arched doorway with brick and stone voussoirs, an ashlar hood mould, and double plank doors with ornate iron hinges, accessed by a flight of five stone steps. Flanking the entrance on either side are three pointed arched windows, also with brick and stone voussoirs, and linking cill and impost ashlar bands. Above the windows is a broad ashlar band inscribed 'THE JAMES RECKITT PUBLIC LIBRARY'. The first floor features a canted ashlar oriel window to the slightly projecting central bay, flanked by three windows on either side with ashlar lintels and a continuous hood mould. The building has a moulded and bracketted eaves cornice with an ashlar parapet above, pierced by five quatrefoil openings on each side. The central bay rises as a tower with a three-light cross-casement window and four truncated corner pinnacles, the former pyramidal tower roof having been lost.

Inside, original features remain, including moulded coving and skirting boards. The foyer retains unusual timber doorcases with bracketed hoods. The main ground floor library has moulded Gothic-style columns supporting shallow pointed arches forming a double arcade; modern false ceilings conceal the original ceilings which are supported on moulded timber braces. An original timber issuing desk with blind arcading on the front and one side survives. The reference library contains two original fitted glass cupboards, the larger of which has a dedication plaque inscribed 'This Reference Library given by FRANCIS RECKITT Esq JP of CAENWOOD Towers, Highgate, London.’ The main staircase has bold turned balusters and newel posts. The old reading room has an open ceiling supported on timber braces and moulded corbels.

The library, built for eastern Hull, was opened by the Marquis of Ripon on December 10th, 1889. It represents a relatively early example of a major municipal library. While the exterior has lost its tower roof due to war damage, it otherwise survives intact, and the interior retains a remarkable number of original features.