Whitechapel Public Library

Whitechapel Public Library

Library opened in 1892. Designed by architects Potts, Son and Hennings, the building was funded by philanthropist Passmore Edwards with support from Canon Barnett. It is built in Free Jacobethan style with red brick, terracotta quoining and dressings, and a slate Mansard roof. The building comprises three storeys plus an attic, with a three-window range across its facade.

The ground floor features a deep terracotta plinth. The central bay contains a keyed semi-circular arched doorway with winged cherubs to the spandrels, flanked by fluted composite pilasters. Four-light chamfered mullioned and transomed windows with octapanel leaded-lights to the upper lights are positioned across the facade. The left window has an inserted entrance to Aldgate East Underground Station in its lower part. A blue plaque commemorates Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918), poet and painter.

The first floor has Renaissance-style friezes. The left bay includes a Renaissance-style frieze beneath a four-light window. The central bay projects slightly, with a curved balcony on brackets beneath a pedimented two-light window with Renaissance-style cherub and ornament to the tympanum. A plain terracotta frieze reading "THE PASSMORE EDWARDS LIBRARY" in relief is positioned under a swan-necked pediment. The right bay features an advancing Renaissance-style frieze extending to the base of an oriel with brackets and a similar three-light window.

The second floor has a pair of sashes to each bay and a continuous terracotta moulded cornice. A shaped gable with a sash window is positioned over the left bay. The central tower contains a keyed round window set within a swan-necked pediment topped with a domed roof. A festooned panel sits over the right bay.

The interior lobby contains a pictorial tile panel depicting "Whitechapel Hay Market, 1788" and an 1891 commemorative cartouche to the hall. A large ground-floor room to the rear, forming a later extension, has a coffered ceiling with pilasters and piers framing each bay with egg and dart mouldings to the top. Pair of spiral cast-iron staircases serve offices above the reading room. An open-well staircase features a decorative iron balustrade. A half-glazed door and partition with octagonal leaded glazing leads to the front first-floor room, which contains wooden staircases to upper floors. The rear first-floor room has an arch-braced queen-post roof and ceiling lights.

Whitechapel was the first district in East London to vote for the establishment of a public library by referendum, with Canon Barnett leading the campaign. It was one of fifteen libraries in London funded by Passmore Edwards and marked the first time the philanthropist and architect collaborated on a building. This made it one of the earliest public libraries in London. Early 20th-century internal reconfigurations included conversion to open access in 1922. Bomb damage occurred to the second floor in 1940. The Aldgate East Underground station entrance was inserted in 1937.

The building represents a fine example of a Passmore Edwards library with rich Renaissance-style terracotta ornament. It possesses strong historic interest and associations with the adjacent grade II* Whitechapel Art Gallery, both buildings sharing benefactors Canon Barnett and Passmore Edwards, and both built to provide cultural and educational resources to meet great social need in the late-Victorian East End of London.