Record Office, Library And Register Office

HERTFORD

TL3212SW PEG'S LANE 817-1/19/164 (West side) Record Office, Library and Register Office

GV II

Former Motor Tax Office and County Library Headquarters, now Record Office, Library and Register Office. 1936-39. Architects James and Bywaters with Rowland Pierce. Buff-brown brick, laid to English garden wall and one third stretcher bonds, Portland stone dressings, handmade tile roof behind parapet. STYLE: stripped Georgian. PLAN: L-plan with main block, with basement, facing south. Return east flank of library faces east to Peg's Lane. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. First floor; 12 bays with squat 12-pane sash windows recessed beneath brick rubbed flat arches. Ground floor with tall 20-pane sashes. The entrance fourth bay from right (east), has tall semicircular headed brick soldier arch within which is recessed a reeded Portland stone architrave surround to twin leaf panelled hardwood doors with circular bolection surrounded inner panels, fanlight with stylised 'HCC' initials, and hardwood panelled tympanum above. Flank end single bay faces east, with set back library block of 9 bays, with tall 24-pane sash windows, recessed with rubbed brick arches and Portland stone keyblocks carved with animals and birds; syncopated relationship with ground-floor windows to coincide with every fourth squat 12-pane window. Entrance at left has twin leaf panelled hardwood doors with Portland stone architrave surround, a panel above with raised inscription 'County Library' flanked by porches, and outer Tuscan pilasters with block frieze and coved cornice. Doorway raised 6 steps with flanking plinths and iron railings. A plinth band runs across elevation against niche containing sculpture of boy with cricket bat, with plain surround with date '1939' above head, coved cornice and moulded banded sill. The entrance is aligned with 2 flights of steps from Peg's Lane set between walls with Portland stone plinths and caps, with simple iron gates. Garages and screen walls to rear within service yard. HISTORICAL NOTE: the Motor Tax block, with the County Library was a modification to the 1935 competition winning design for County Hall itself. The revisions formed part of the overall tender of March 1937, and the buildings were completed in Summer 1939 with the main County Hall block (qv).

(Architects' Journal: The Hertford Competition: London: 1935-: 621-628; James and Bywaters with Rowland Pierce: Plans of County Hall Main Building, Motor Tax and Library Block: 1935-1940: OFFACC556NOS30A-F,6J; Building: Architecture at the Royal Academy: 1937-: 191; Hertfordshire Countryside: Walne P: County Hall - a home that keeps on growing: Letchworth: 1946-1973: 43-44; Pevsner N: Buildings of England: Hertfordshire: Harmondsworth: 1977-: 186; Sheldrick G: The Hart Reguardant: Hertford: 1989-: 46-54; Walne P: A Guide to County Hall: Hertford: 1980-).

Listing NGR: TL3248612048