Leicester Central Library

Leicester Central Library, originally listed as the Reference Library, is a large red brick building designed by architect Edward Burgess and completed in 1904. It features two tall storeys, with part of the building rising to three storeys, as well as attics and a basement. The structure showcases ashlar dressings and has a tiled hipped roof with a modillion eaves cornice and a moulded string course. The ends of the building project with quoined angles.

The central section has five large windows set in moulded shouldered architraves, with sill aprons. The ground floor windows have segmental arches, while the first-floor windows feature alternating segmental and triangular broken pediments that contain cartouches. To the left, there is a projecting ashlar ground floor with two round arches, above which are Ionic pilasters and an entablature over two windows in moulded architraves, with segmental pediments on the first floor and a round arch niche at the centre. An ashlar segmental pedimented dormer and a small circular domed turret are corbelled in the angle of the central recess. The right-hand projection includes a large first-floor ashlar window with an open pediment, Ionic pilasters, and a round-arch window with a keyblock, along with an altered segmental arch window below. The basement area is enclosed with railings featuring arrow-head shafts and openwork iron stranchions.

The elevation facing Bowling Green Street has two storeys with seven irregular windows that maintain similar detailing, along with a small domed turret and an ashlar plinth.

Leicester Central Library is part of a group of listed buildings in Bishop Street, which includes The Town Hall, Fountain and War Memorial, Town Hall Square, and Nos 6-8, The Royal Hotel, and Nos 17, 19, and 21 Horsefair Street, forming a cohesive architectural ensemble around Town Hall Square.