Passmore Edwards Library

The Passmore Edwards Library is a public library built in 1902 by architect Samuel Bridgman Russell, funded by benefactor Passmore Edwards. It is constructed from stock London brick, with red brick principal fronts arranged in English bond and stone detailing. The roofs are covered with bituminous felt and the building has a cruciform plan.

The entrance front, located on the west side, is a single storey with a tripartite elevation. It features projecting canted piers with stone banding, each having one concave surface, and a dado made of glazed red tiles. The central bay has a high arched cornice with modillions, beneath which is a full-height projecting stone centerpiece that contains the doorway and an upper three-light transomed window. This centerpiece is surrounded by heavily rusticated quadrants. Above the door is a moulded panel inscribed with "PASSMORE EDWARDS/PVBLIC LIBRARY," and there is a triple keystone over the upper window. The side bays each have three centre-hung one-light casements. The design includes a modillion cornice and a low parapet with stone coping, topped by a flat roof with a central dome.

The south and north fronts are designed similarly, but the centerpiece has been replaced by a single three-light double transomed window set within a rusticated projecting surround.

Inside, the library features a central glazed dome supported by cast-iron ribs on plain pendentives, which are adorned with a pulvinated string course featuring foliage carving. The pendentives lead down to Corinthian entablatures supported by four panelled square piers, creating square secondary areas in the corners with flat ceilings. The cruciform arms are covered by segmental barrel vaults. Timber partitioning was added on the south side around 1970, with additional partitioning installed in 1989.