Newnes Public Library

This public library was built in 1899 by Francis J Smith, funded by Sir George Newnes. Constructed of red brick with extensive stone dressings, it showcases a Norman Shaw-inspired design incorporating Jacobean elements. The roof is not visible from the front. The building is three bays wide and three storeys high, featuring a dwarf wall with four stone piers. An arched entrance is set within an Ionic stone porch, which bears a balcony inscribed 'NEWNES PUBLIC LIBRARY' in raised lettering. A central arched window has eight lights with stone mullions and transoms; the right-hand bay contains a four-light window. The first floor is distinguished by a bowed six-light mullioned window, framed by blocked Ionic pilasters and placed above a balustrade carved with the borough arms and motto against an oak leaf backdrop. Each side features six-light mullioned windows. The second floor repeats this pattern with a bowed balustrade in front of central two-light windows set between three projecting Ionic pilasters, alongside six-light windows on each side. String courses are present at sill and transom levels, and entablatures define the first and second floor and attic levels. The brick parapet is punctuated by stone finials, appearing above projecting strips between windows and at the corners. A central frontispiece culminates in a tall, segmental pediment that contains a date cartouche, topped by an obelisk finial. The chimney stacks are constructed of banded brick and stone. Internally, double entrance doors lead via a vestibule lined with plaques to a long corridor with a vaulted, domed plaster roof. A reading room at the end boasts an open timber truss roof of six bays, incorporating dormers. A linking corridor connects to a 1977 lending library of no particular significance. The building is considered a very good example of a library building in an eclectic Jacobean style, with an unusually lavish and intact interior, and now also houses the Wandsworth Museum.