City Museum And Library With Gates

City Museum and Library with Gates, Worcester

Museum and library with gates, built in 1896 by architects JW Simpson and Milner Allen at a cost of around £25,000. The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with moulded terracotta tiles and plain tile roof. A brick left end stack is banded with a cornice. Cast-iron gates and balustrade front the building. The design is in the Free Renaissance style with an irregular plan, comprising 2 and 3 storeys with an attic storey. The composition consists of 3 bays plus a tower: from the left are 2 tall storeys over 2 bays, a 3-lower-storey bay at the right with an attic in a set-back gable, then a corner octagonal 5-stage tower. The central gable contains a clock in an elaborate cartouche. Cartouches display 'Victoria Regina', whilst 'THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE' appears on the central frieze and 'Library and Museum' over the entrance.

The central entrance bay breaks forward with quoins to its angles and features a flight of steps leading to a cambered-arched opening with chamfered jambs and hollow- and roll-moulding to the head. Three-quarter engaged Ionic columns flank the opening with a dentil pediment broken by elaborate royal arms in high relief. Double entrance gates bear the 'VR' motif and crown with 2 levels of bars and scrolled crest. Within are 2 sets of double doors, part-glazed and panelled. Windows throughout feature leaded lights in metal frame casements. To either side of the entrance are 2-light mullion windows with moulded eared surrounds and scroll pediments. The left bay has a wide 'Elizabethan' mullion and transom window on the ground floor set in a quoined surround with 3:3:3 lights; the middle lights contain semi-circular lights over with scroll pediment and scrolled central apron. Above the entrance at first floor is a large 2:4:2 window, whilst the left bay has two large 4-light windows, all with mullions, transoms and segmental-arched lights on a continuous egg and dart sill band. Quoined surrounds and composite pilasters between windows are embellished with 'VR' motifs. A continuous modillion frieze runs across, with a pediment to the gabled entrance bay surmounted by a crown at the apex and a figure of Victory above. An arcaded balustrade with urns appears at the left.

The right bay has a plinth with moulded band surmounted by a 5-light mullion window with cornice at ground floor level. The first floor features two 2-segmental-arched-light mullion windows in eared surrounds with central segments. The second floor has three 2-light mullion windows in tooled surrounds with egg and dart sill band continuing from the first floor of the left and centre bays; banded pilasters between windows rise to a moulded cornice. A recessed and gabled attic storey contains a 3-light mullion window with tooled surround and central pediment. The tower stands on a wine-glass stem with inscription plaques to the lower stage, followed by three single-light transom windows in scrolled cartouche surrounds. The third and fourth stages have single lights. The fourth stage is surmounted by a decorative band with swags and cherub heads. The upper stage features 2-light mullion windows with semi-circular lights over in pilastered surrounds with swags above, three-quarter-engaged Doric columns between, and an ovolo cornice. A broached spire with cupola surmounted by a cornice and weather vane completes the tower.

The right return to Taylor's Lane has similar but less elaborate treatment, consisting of 5 unequal bays of 2 and 3 storeys. The first bay of 2 storeys has a large 5-light mullion and transom window with 2 levels of transoms to the first floor. A gabled bay breaking forward contains an entrance with double 6-panel doors in a quoined surround; the shaped hood acts as a balcony to a 2-light mullion and transom window with stick balustrade and a further 2-light window. Two segmental arches over pilasters surmount these, whilst the gable contains a 5-light mullion window. The third bay has five 2-light mullion and transom windows with pilaster strips to the upper band. The fourth bay mirrors the second bay. The fifth bay has a further entrance and mainly 3-light mullion windows.

The left return consists of 5 unequal bays, 3 with gables, 2 storeys and attics to the gables. The ground floor has mullion and transom windows of 2 and 5 lights. The first floor has three oculi to the first bay, a 2:3:2 light mullion and transom window to the third bay, and two 3-light windows to the fourth bay. The second bay is blind, whilst the fifth bay has 2 small 2-light mullion windows. The gables contain 2-light mullion windows, except at the right where they are set in ornate broken pedimented surrounds with aprons. An open arcaded balustrade with finials adorns the gables.

The interior's main feature is a 2-storey entrance hall with square pillars and a Doric frieze at first floor level, with a balustrade around a square well. Ionic pillars support the first floor, with a compartmentalised ceiling having a dentil frieze and modillion cornice. A stone cantilevered dogleg staircase to the right has squat squared balusters and a wide shaped handrail, with Renaissance motifs continuing through the design. The floor is laid in mosaic.

A datestone at the base of the tower on the right reads: 'The Lady Mary Lygon Mayoress opened this building October 1 1896 The Rt Hon Earl Beauchamp Mayor.'

The building was formerly known as the Victoria Institute. Simpson and Allen had earlier in the decade won the competition for Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum. This is an outstanding example of late 19th-century municipal architecture, executed in an eclectic style mixing Tudor and Baroque elements, reminiscent of the municipal libraries designed by H.T. Hare, such as Wolverhampton (1902). The City Museum and Library forms part of a significant architectural group with the Shire Hall, the Statue of Queen Victoria, and numerous properties at Foregate Street, and also forms a complementary group with Worcester College at Sansome Walk.