St Mary'S Hall

St Mary's Hall is a Masonic lodge that was later used as a public library and temperance hall. It was built in 1884, incorporating earlier work at ground level, and designed by William Burrough Hill. The building is made of brick with a cement-rendered front and has a flat roof. It features a long, narrow hall with a small balcony and side rooms, constructed over earlier stabling, and it included ground-floor stabling and kitchens connected to the adjoining Kingsland Tavern until 1888. A secondary access to Johnson Street was added in 1908.

The three-bay frontage facing St Mary's Street has a central door flanked by three large windows above. These windows are set in aediculed and pedimented surrounds with console brackets, and the flanking windows have segmental arched heads, while the central window features a full pediment and keystones. The doorcase is also pedimented and includes brackets and keystones. Above later shopfronts, the upper part of the original blind ground floor's cement banding remains; the shopfronts were first installed in 1886 on the left side and in 1892 on the right.

Inside, stairs lead directly from the entrance to the first-floor hall. A small flight of stairs from the side leads to a slightly curved timber balcony above. The high hall has a central glazed lantern surrounded by timber with dentils, and the moulded plaster cornice and frieze are particularly elaborate over the balcony area. There is a reeded doorcase leading to a former bar on the south side, which was originally linked to the tavern and may include earlier work. A simpler door from 1908 provides access to the back stairs.

St Mary's Hall was initially built as a lodge but was adapted in 1888 to become Southampton's first free public library, which opened on January 15, 1889, at a rental of £70 per annum from Forders Brewery. In 1905, it was converted into a temperance hall. The building is notable as a rare example of an 1880s freemasons' lodge, with added historical significance as Southampton's first free public library and later a temperance hall. It is an unusually well-documented and complete surviving Victorian hall.