Museum Art Gallery And Public Library And Attached Railings

This substantial complex, originally built as royal stables and now serving as a museum, art gallery and public library, has evolved through multiple phases between 1804 and 1901-02. It occupies part of the north façade of the Royal Pavilion Stables and forms a vital component of Brighton's historic Pavilion estate.

Building History and Development

The site's development began in 1804 when William Porden designed the Royal Pavilion Stables for the Prince of Wales. Porden's initial work consisted of a screen wall matching the elevation of the neighbouring Riding House to the west (now the Corn Exchange). This screen wall enclosed tennis courts rather than stable buildings.

In 1831, Joseph Good of the Office of Works constructed actual stables here for William IV and Queen Adelaide. The east return of the building, which reproduces Porden's original elevations, may date from this period.

The transformation to public use occurred in 1873 when the Borough Surveyor, Philip Lockwood, adapted the complex as a museum and library whilst carefully retaining Porden's and Good's exterior designs with only minor alterations. The exhibition galleries were subsequently enlarged in 1894, and again in 1901-02 when the Borough Surveyor and Engineer, Francis JC May, heightened the eastern range and constructed the library range, named the Victoria Public Library.

Construction and Materials

The building is constructed of brick laid in Flemish bond with stone and stucco-cement dressings and details. The roofs are hipped and slate-covered, whilst the distinctive onion domes are copper. The complex ranges from two to three storeys over a basement.

Exterior Description

The Museum and Art Gallery occupies seven bays on the left (east) side of the complex, with a return elevation extending northward up to, but not including, the entrance porch of the Dome Theatre. Each bay is defined by full-height octagonal pilasters that terminate above the parapet in either acanthus urns or octagonal caps. The corner and return pilasters follow the same design but on a considerably larger scale.

The circulating and reference libraries occupy the remainder of the Church Street elevation, comprising a seven-window range between them.

All the architects involved—Good, Lockwood and May—worked in styles that complemented rather than contrasted with Porden's interpretation of Islamic architectural forms. Porden's original north elevation was a three-part composition, each section containing five bays. Only the Corn Exchange elevation now preserves this design, albeit in facsimile dating to either 1868 or 1934.

Museum and Art Gallery Façade

Bays one through three of the Museum and Art Gallery follow the design of the subsidiary bays in Porden's original elevation and were built by May in 1901. Bay seven, which now contains the joint entrance to the Library and Museum and Art Gallery, also dates from 1901, as do the continuous lotus-leaf parapet running across the elevation and the urn finials.

Bays four through six date to either Porden's or Good's period and were originally flanked by a pair of narrow, windowless bays. The pointed-arch entrance in bay five, however, dates to 1873. This entrance is supported by coupled columns with cushion capitals carved in Islamic patterns, bearing an inscription in metal letters reading "Museum and Art Gallery". Now blocked, it once provided direct access to a long gallery. The two-storey, pointed-arch, scalloped aedicule framing this entrance is of early 19th-century design.

The entrance in bay seven features a horseshoe arch with scalloped intrados, supported by fluted, leaf columns and set into a two-storey aedicule. Dating to 1901, this entrance is identical to the Church Street entrance of the Dome Theatre. Flat-arched windows in other bays are set within pointed-arch and scalloped aedicules, filled with mullioned and transomed tracery probably dating to 1873. In 1901, the parapet of the Museum and Art Gallery complex was heightened to accommodate increased ceiling heights in the first-floor galleries.

Library Elevation

May's Library of 1901-02 presents an elevation divided into three bays following a 2-3-2 design, with the central section lower than the ends. Each bay is defined by a three-stage octagonal buttress terminating in a minaret. The ground-floor windows are flat-arched and set within round-arched recesses with grooved architraves. Each first-floor window sits within an aedicule featuring stylised Islamic colonnettes. The end bays are crowned by bulbous onion domes with urn finials.

Interior Description

Entrance and Corridor

The foyer off the entrance in bay seven is sheathed in glazed terracotta tiles arranged in Islamic-inspired patterns. These tiles, found throughout the complex, date to 1901. At the rear of the entrance hall, a stair ascends to the first floor. A three-bay corridor runs eastward, providing access to all ground-floor galleries. Each bay of the corridor is marked by a horseshoe diaphragm arch on pilasters. Three rooms lie to the north of the corridor, each accessed through a flat-arched door set in a wood aedicule with a trilobed tympanum—a feature dating to 1901 found throughout the complex.

Main Hall

Retained from the 1901 remodelling is a two-storey, five-bay hall on axis with Lockwood's 1873 entrance in bay five. Cast-iron galleries run along the short elevations at north and south. The hall's roof section approximates a trilobed arch, with the lower areas consisting of groin vaults supported by corbel shafts. The centre of the roof features a glazed, pointed barrel vault raised on a narrow grille band of cast-iron.

Circulating Library

The circulating library is entered through a rectangular lobby of single-storey height, followed by an aisle formed by a five-bay colonnade. This opens into the two-storey hall of the circulating library, which is rectangular in plan with a gallery along the south elevation and bookshelves. A rectangular recess occupies the south-west corner. The roof comprises eight bays, each defined by a truss inspired by a queen post design, with medieval forms translated into classical ones. A glazed light register runs above.

Reference Library

The reference library is entered on the first floor and occupies the space immediately above the circulating library's lobby. Nearly two storeys in height and rectangular in plan, it contains bookcases and library desks of original design. The walls feature a coved cornice with a frieze of scrolled cartouches and volute brackets supporting a Jacobean-style panelled ceiling interrupted by three domical skylights that once contained chandeliers.

Historical Context

The municipal art collection originated from funds raised through exhibitions held in the Pavilion during the 1850s. The art collections were first displayed to the public on the Pavilion's first floor in the 1860s. A natural history collection and library were added in 1869, necessitating larger premises. The new complex opened on 20 January 1873, though it proved insufficient to house all collections and some had to remain in the Pavilion.

All collections were finally removed from the Pavilion in 1901 and 1902 when the gallery was expanded and the Victoria Public Library opened on 5 November 1902. At this point, some municipal offices previously housed in the complex were relocated to the newly expanded Town Hall in Bartholomews.

At the centre of the Library range is a stone plaque bearing the inscription: "County Borough of Brighton Library, Museum and Fine Art Gallery/ This stone was laid by His Worship, the Mayor of Brighton, John Edward Stafford, Esquire, J.P., on the 13th day of April, 1901/ Councillor Francis W. Carter, Chairman of the Library and Fine Arts Commission/ Architect Francis J. May, M.Inst., C.E., F.S.I., Borough Engineer and Surveyor. Francis J. Tillstone, Town Clerk".

The Museum, Art Gallery and Library form a group of the highest importance with the Dome Theatre and Corn Exchange on Church Street, and with the Pavilion and its associated buildings.