South Library

ISLINGTON

TQ3183NE ESSEX ROAD 635-1/59/381 (North East side) Nos.115 AND 117 South Library

II

Public library. 1915-16 by Mervyn Macartney. Portland stone, thin red brick with occasional blue brick set in English bond, and rubbed brick dressings, yellow brick to the stair tower; roof of Welsh slate. Two storeys, five-window range to Essex Road, the three inner bays flanked by four giant Composite pilasters of rubbed, cut and moulded brick, the outer bays slightly wider. Plinth of Portland stone with crisp lettering to the foundation stone. Segmental-arched entrance flanked by Corinthian columns supporting an open scrolled pediment with Borough coat of arms between; wooden doorcase of pilasters carrying entablature with pulvinated frieze and cornice. Ground-floor windows segmental-arched with eared architraves of moulded and rubbed brick, keystones, and recessed 15/15 sashes. Blank oval oculi above the three middle windows.Upper windows flat-arched with arrises of rubbed brick, frames set almost flush with the wall and 12/12 sashes; the right-hand window has a generous apron of rubbed brick. Stone entablature with pulvinated frieze and modillion cornice; brick parapet and stone coping. The treatment of the Essex Road front is continued round into Halton Cross Street for two bays between curved recessed corners; then a single-storey range on Halton Cross Street with flat-arched windows with gauged brick heads, brick band, and recessed panels to parapet; this wing ends in a five-sided canted bay with Venetian window and stepped parapet with consoles. Oval stair tower in the angle of the Essex Road and Halton Cross Street wings. INTERIOR: . Vestibule: panelled in grey-white marble with superimposed pilasters supporting three bays of domical vaulting. Staircase hall: oval in plan with black-and-white marble floor, geometrical stair and wrought iron balusters. Principal ground-floor room to Essex Road has eared architraves in hardwood to the windows, echoing the exterior, and to the doorcases which have segmental pediments. In the Halton Cross Street wing, the Venetian window has a fully-detailed architrave, curved in plan. First-floor room to Essex Road: engaged and free-standing Doric columns to all four sides supporting shallow coved roof with shallow dome and lantern; panelled dado; architraves to door and to oval oculi.

Listing NGR: TQ3194583953