Public Library, Art Gallery and Museum is a Grade II listed building in the Herefordshire, County of local planning authority area, England. First listed on 22 October 1973. Library, art gallery, museum. 3 related planning applications.
Public Library, Art Gallery and Museum
- WRENN ID
- weathered-garret-woodpecker
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Herefordshire, County of
- Constituency
- Hereford and South Herefordshire MP: Jesse Norman (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 22 October 1973
- Type
- Library, art gallery, museum
- Address
- Public Library, Art Gallery and Museum, Broad Street, Hereford, HR4 9AU
- OS grid reference
- SO 508 398
- Coordinates
- 52.05477, -2.71763
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Public Library, Art Gallery and Museum in Hereford was built around 1874 by F.R. Kempson. It features coursed dressed stone with ashlar dressings and a hipped Welsh slate roof, along with brick end stacks. The building has three storeys, an attic, and a cellar, with a seven-window range that includes plain lights with trefoil heads arranged in groups of 2/3/2. These windows are set within moulded pointed arches that have enriched capitals and a frieze, and there is a central balcony. The upper level has similar fenestration with enriched arches and a sill band. The building is topped with a machicolated parapet adorned with quartrefoils and grotesques at the coping, and features three large gable dormers with deep eaves supported by carved brackets, along with ornamental ridge tiles.
The entrance is marked by an arcade of five pointed arches with a wrought-iron gate, enriched capitals, and an architrave, with figures and arms displayed above. Inside, there is a 19th-century Empire staircase with wrought-iron balusters leading to the first floor, and a 19th-century dogleg staircase with stick balusters from the first floor. The attic contains a four-panel door, while the second floor features four-panel doors, a fireplace, and a ceiling cornice. The first floor, known as the Woolhope Room, includes two fireplaces, a cornice, and two ceiling roses.
Local climate
Public Library, Art Gallery and Museum receives an average of 780 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 62% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 65% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 44 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 86% of listed buildings. Of these, 21 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
- No sale records on file
- 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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