Carnegie Library

A Public Library opened in May 1905 on Strattondale Street, Isle of Dogs. It was designed by C. Harrold Norton of Bloomsbury and built by Messrs Watts, Johnson & Company, with funding from the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The site was acquired by Lady Margaret Charteris, and the Borough Surveyor and Librarian drew up a draft plan of the accommodation required.

The building is constructed in Free Classical style with a Bath stone facade from Monk's Park quarries, London stock brick to the rear, steeped hipped slate roofs, and copper covering to the cupola. The rectangular front section facing Strattondale Street contains the main floor with an attic storey, flanked by lower single-storey wings to the rear around what was originally a yard, later mostly infilled with a late-20th-century flat-roofed extension.

The facade is characterised by a tall ground floor under a projecting cornice, with a pronounced attic storey and low parapet announcing 'Carnegie Public Library'. A tall hipped roof to the front section carries a central cupola flanked by a pair of stone chimneys. The facade has a central rusticated entrance with a shallow segmental pediment, flanked by 3½ window bays defined by panelled piers. Above the entrance are oeil-de-boeuf windows with floral swags and wide semi-circular first-floor arched windows under a raised pediment. The entablature carries the words PUBLIC LIBRARY. An entrance to the caretaker's flat is located in the west return. The rear elevation is stock brick with flat arches over tall windows.

The original plan remains largely readable. The ground floor contained the lending library to the left, news room to the right, and reference and magazine room to the rear, top-lit by an octagonal lantern with clerestory lights and moulded cornice. Panelled pilasters and clerestory windows to the rear light the rooms. The glazed partitions to the office and the entrance vestibule survive. The panelled pilasters throughout the ground floor and deep ceiling beams define the original building plan. The ground floor is light and airy, lit by clerestory windows around the perimeter and the dome to the rear. The original stair in the front corner leads to the first floor, which housed the caretaker's flat and now contains offices with shallow rooms to the front and a corridor. The lending library counter has been removed. The 20th-century windows in the octagonal lantern are replacements.

The library opened in January 1905 and fulfilled a strong social function in this largely docklands and industrial area of London. The ceiling in the lending department fell around 1912, and the building suffered bomb damage during the Second World War. A newspaper room was slightly altered, and a community hall was added to the east side in 1962 by Welch and Lander (not of special interest). An early-1960s community centre by Welch and Lander is attached to the east and is not of special interest.

When built, much of the 1840s and later William Cubitt development in the Isle of Dogs survived nearby, but most earlier buildings were destroyed in Second World War bombing. This library is thus a rare surviving pre-war building in this important docklands area.