Brighouse Library and Smith Art Gallery is a Grade II listed building in the Calderdale local planning authority area, England. First listed on 2 December 1983. Library, art gallery. 3 related planning applications.

Brighouse Library and Smith Art Gallery

WRENN ID
high-lancet-flax
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Calderdale
Constituency
Calder Valley MP: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
2 December 1983
Type
Library, art gallery
Address
Brighouse Library and Smith Art Gallery, Halifax Road, HD6 2AF
OS grid reference
SE 142 230
Coordinates
53.70397, -1.78601
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The building is a public library and art gallery, originally constructed around 1840 as a private house for John Brooke, a local corn miller. It is built of dressed stone with a slate roof. The west front has a symmetrical design with three bays and features rusticated quoins, a cornice, and a blocking course. The doorway has large monolithic jambs, imposts, and a semi-circular arched head with a four-paned fan light, flanked by double pilasters, and is sheltered by a porch supported on double columns set upon a plinth, square in section externally and with Corinthian capitals internally. A full entablature sits above the doorway. Large, eight-paned sash windows with lugged architraves, a blocking course, and a cornice are located on either side. Above these, further windows have similar surrounds but with projecting sills on consoles. The right-hand return wall has seven widely spaced bays arranged as A B B A B B A. The outer and middle bays project forward, are quoined, and feature large triple windows within a spacious bow window on the ground floor. Heavy cast iron balconies are attached to these bays. All other windows are of a similar character to the west front. The roof is hipped. An early 20th-century extension has been added to provide purpose-built art gallery space.

Inside, the entrance hall contains an impressive staircase with decorative cast iron balustrading and a central well, supported on either side by Tuscan columns with a full entablature. Galleries run along three sides of the hall, and a domed cupola is present. The first-floor reading room retains remarkable carved oak panelling by the local craftsman H. P. Jackson (1867-1931). Original furnishings include a canopied settle, carved armchairs, and an overmantel.

Local climate

Brighouse Library and Smith Art Gallery sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 980 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 78% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 71% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 46 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 87% of listed buildings. Of these, 26 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.
  • Sale history — 3 transactions since 1996
  • Related listed building consents — 3 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
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