Hastings Library, the former Brassey Institute

Hastings Library, the former Brassey Institute

A public Institute of Arts and Sciences built between 1878 and 1880 to the designs of WL Vernon (1846–1914), commissioned by Thomas Brassey, MP (1836–1918).

The building is constructed in red brick laid in Flemish bond with stone detailing, under a slate roof. It is a terraced four-storey building over a basement, entered from Claremont and backing onto The Alley. Originally the ground floor housed a library, the first floor an assembly room, and the upper floors contained art studios and accommodation, with the basement providing space for a rowing club. All floors are now in use as a library.

The exterior is designed in Gothic revival style with Renaissance character to the upper floors. The architraves and stone detailing are mostly painted white. Rectangular spandrel panels containing allegorical murals run across the top of the ground and first floor.

The front elevation features a sub-basement with two plat bands above casement windows visible through wrought-iron railings. An entrance porch is set within the lowest stage of a stair tower positioned to the left side. The porch entrance consists of a pair of decorative cast iron gates leading to the lobby within an arched doorway with splayed jambs and three orders of detached polished granite jambs on high plinths, with carved leaf capitals. The central order of the arch mouldings are carved with foliage. The tympanum displays a Caernarvon arch with an armorial shield of the Borough of Hastings. Above the doorway are three arched windows with heads set into vaulted corbelling, supporting a balcony with decorative balustrade at the base of a tall recess crowned by a crocketed arch with tiled tympanum. Within this recess at the two stair landing levels are three-light mullioned windows (the upper with leaded panes) and a stone-framed rectangular spandrel. Above the arched recess is another three-light mullioned window with a stone panel containing an inset shield in the head of each light. Above this is a crowning arcaded corbel table. The steep mansard tower has a shallow balcony to its base below moulded brackets to the eaves, with ventilation apertures in the tower sides and decorative iron railings surmounting the top.

To the right side, the building features a two-storey canted bay window, with single windows to both storeys recessed from the general alignment on either side under shallow stone arches. These have canted sides supported towards the centre on elaborately moulded corbelling. The bay window has three lights to the front, with multi-pane panes above the transom on the ground floor and a pointed arch to the top having geometrical tracery in a crocketed gable above three first-floor lights. Ground floor windows have rectangular spandrel panels above with raised lettering reading 'LIBRARY' on a metal frame. Single lights flank the canted sides and two-light casements occupy the flanking recessed windows on both floors. The gable over the bay window breaks through a framed horizontal panel with raised lettering reading 'BRASSEY-INSTITUTE' on a metal frame.

On the third storey is a five-bay arcaded loggia with columns having foliage capitals or pedestals supporting pointed arches with continuous drip moulding. The timber balustrade is recessed behind the columns.

The fourth floor has three two-light stone mullioned casements. The eaves cornice above is a stone band and the parapet is brick.

The rear elevation is faced in render scored to simulate ashlar, with transom windows largely obscured by a metal fire escape.

Interior features include an entrance porch with a glass mosaic frieze by Antonio Salviati reproducing scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry. The timber ceiling has diagonal ribs with bosses at intersections. The full-height stairwell contains a dog-leg stair with moulded handrail and cast-iron balustrade, beneath a timber ceiling.

The ground floor reading room has been extended into rear rooms to create an enlarged library room. It features cast iron columns and an elaborate plaster cornice.

The first floor has an anteroom leading to the assembly room through a three-bay screen of cast iron columns with foliage capitals. The full-width assembly room ceiling is spanned by deep moulded beams on decorative cast iron wall brackets, with a blocked-up skylight towards the centre.

The upper floors stand under a central light well and include a gallery supported on decorative cast iron brackets to the upper floor on two sides, providing access to studio rooms with clerestory lights at the rear. These rooms have moulded queen post trusses and bracketed purlins.