Former Library and Council Offices

Former Library and Council Offices

This complex consists of a former library of 1888, designed by Isaac Barradale, adjoining Council Offices to the south constructed in 1903 by F C Cook. Both buildings are constructed in red brick with terracotta and limestone details beneath steeply pitched red tile roofs. The library and offices form a linear range fronting Station Road, with further projecting ranges to the rear.

FORMER LIBRARY

The former library occupies the northern half of the Station Road elevation and is divided into three projecting bays, each with distinct treatments. Between the bays at first floor window sill level runs an ornamental moulded brickwork cornice. The projecting left-hand bay contains the entrance porch, fitted with a buff terracotta architrave and a terracotta entablature above inscribed with the words 'Free Library' in Arts and Crafts script. Above the porch is an arrow-slit embrasure within a moulded Jacobean-Revival frontage with moulded brickwork ornamentation. This bay terminates in a tall stepped gable with a central round-headed recess containing a casement window with a terracotta cornice.

The projecting right-hand bay contains three narrow four-over-four windows at ground level, each set within a round-headed recess with a keystone. The upper four panes of these windows are shorter in height and form opening casements. Brick pilasters rise between each window to the first floor, where they frame two small casement windows also set in round-headed recesses with a brickwork bridge across the central void. These first-floor windows have three rows of small panes—four at the top, two in the centre and four at the bottom—separated by a central mullion. Each first-floor window terminates in a small stepped gable matching the larger bay to the left.

The central projecting bay is a relatively plain square bay containing a mullioned and transomed window at ground floor level with late twentieth-century timber panels above beneath the steep roof pitch. Within this central bay, the steeply-pitched orange plain-tiled roof drops to a low eaves height level with the moulded brickwork cornice, forming a notable feature of the Station Road elevation.

The northern elevation features a twin gable at the western end with shallow concave swept buttresses to the corner. This twin gable is lit with four windows—two at ground floor and two at first floor—set within round-arched recesses extending from ground-floor sill level to above the first-floor windows. The ground-floor windows are four-over-four casements, while the first-floor windows are simple four-pane casements. Beyond this gable to the east (rear) of the building, a single-storey range of the former lending room is lit with close-set windows in round-arched recesses. At the eastern end this elevation terminates in another stepped gable break. Decorative details are restrained and sharply detailed in brick, with string courses, narrow keystones and vertical fillets; ashlar scrolled consoles serve as kneelers to the gables. The eastern bay contains a glazed five-by-three mullioned and transomed window in a round-arched recess, the central lower panes of which have been replaced by an entrance door. The western six bays of this elevation contain six evenly spaced casement windows, two over six, with buttresses every two bays.

The two blocks of the original library building are clearly visible from the east elevation as two gable ends with buttresses, the left-hand (reading room) block to the south being taller than the right-hand (lending room) block to the north. Though this elevation is simpler, brickwork ornament and mouldings continue on the eaves and angles of this façade. The former reading room has two windows: at the top a panel of eight small panes with a central mullion and at the bottom a panel of four small panes above two large panes, with narrow glazing bars. These windows are set within recessed arched brick panels. The former lending room also has two windows separated by a gabled buttress. These windows are four-over-four casements, with the upper four panes shorter in height than the lower panes and forming opening casements.

FORMER COUNCIL OFFICES

The 1903 former council offices form the southern half of the Station Road elevation. In imitation of the former library, this elevation is also divided into three bays with a larger gabled bay to the north and a smaller gabled bay to the south, with a lower central section. The ornamental brickwork cornice from the former library is faithfully copied on this building. The gables are executed in a curved and stepped Baroque style, and all windows have moulded brickwork architraves and dropped keystones.

At ground floor level the northern bay contains a single wide three-over-three mullioned and transomed window on the left and a projecting entrance door on the right, with limestone architrave, decorative keystone and a carved coat of arms above. At first floor are three evenly spaced fixed round-headed windows with round-headed lights beneath semi-circular glazing. Above, at second floor level within the centre of the Baroque stepped gable, is a single round-headed window with the arch filled with a circular motif formed by circular mullions.

The central linking bay is two storeys high, each with one round-headed window. The upper window retains the round-headed lights beneath semi-circular glazing of the primary bays, whilst at ground-floor level both parts of the window have single panes.

The southern projecting bay has a single three-over-three mullioned and transomed window at ground floor with plain glazing and a pair at first-floor level, retaining the round-headed lights beneath semi-circular glazing. This pair is set within a large round-headed arch ornamented with ornate relief in gauced brickwork. Above this pair in the centre of the right-hand gable is a limestone date stone inscribed with the year 1903.

A flat-roofed single-storey extension in red brick extends along the southern elevation and appears to date from the later twentieth century. This has a pair of round-arched windows beneath brick headers and stone keystones. A single round-arched doorway in the southern elevation is reached by concrete steps. Two late twentieth-century square-headed windows are set within this southern elevation.

The rear (east) elevation of the former council offices has a simple two-bay rear elevation of three storeys. At ground floor, large segmental arch windows flank a central projecting ground floor bay, much altered by twentieth-century additions and windows. At first floor there are four windows with segmental arches in the left bay (the right-hand pair containing stained glass) and three round-headed windows in the right bay (one converted to a fire escape). At second floor both bays consist of a plain pointed gable with a central round window.