Kington Library, Formerly The Old Radnor Trading Company Headquarters

Kington Library, formerly the headquarters of the Old Radnor Trading Company, is an office and showroom building constructed in 1905 by C.S. Delfosse for the Old Radnor Lime, Roadstone and General Trading Company. The building is designed in a classical style and features precast concrete, with the roof not visible. It stands two storeys tall on a corner site, with five windows facing Duke Street and two on Bridge Street, all fitted with plate-glass sashes.

The façade includes a balustraded parapet adorned with urns above the panels that divide each bay, and a modillioned cornice. The first floor showcases an ashlar finish and plate-glass sashes set within moulded architraves. A moulded string course with a Greek key frieze runs above the rusticated ground floor, where the segmental arches over the windows are detailed with voussoirs and keyblocks featuring relief scrolls.

Vermiculated quoins frame the curved entrance bay at the center, which has double-leaf panelled doors set within a Gibbs surround, also with vermiculated blocks and a relief-moulded keyblock. The blank parapet is topped with a pediment that displays the date in the tympanum. The building also features ornamental air bricks.

Inside, the library retains moulded cornicing and original joinery, including panelled doors, a walnut desk counter, and etched glass with Greek key margins and the central company logo. Historically, this building occupies a significant corner site in the town center. The Old Radnor Lime, Roadstone and General Trading Company, established in 1875, gained a strong reputation for the quality of their precast concrete, winning a gold medal at the National Trades Industrial Exhibition in 1897. This building is a particularly ornate example of decorative precast concrete, designed to resemble granite, which had been used on a limited scale since the mid-19th century.