Library and Museum is a Grade II listed building in the Tunbridge Wells local planning authority area, England. First listed on 4 August 1995. Library, museum. 23 related planning applications.

Library and Museum

WRENN ID
lone-gutter-harvest
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Tunbridge Wells
Constituency
Tunbridge Wells MP: Mike Martin (LD)
Country
England
Date first listed
4 August 1995
Type
Library, museum
Address
Library and Museum, Mount Pleasant Road
OS grid reference
TQ 584 395
Coordinates
51.13317, 0.26397
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Library and Museum in Tunbridge Wells was built in 1939 and fitted out during the Second World War. It was designed by Percy Thomas and Ernest Prestwich after winning a competition in 1934, and is part of a series of municipal buildings. The structure is made of brown brick with reconstituted stone dressings, featuring stone coping and a band with the motto "LIBRARY AND MUSEUM." Although it is two storeys tall, the front displays windows only on the ground floor. There are eight 30-pane sash windows and a central tall window that includes a double door with lotus decoration on the side glazing, along with a bas relief frieze above showing various gods of Olympus, such as Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, and Athene. Inside, there is a large well staircase adorned with a stylised Greek key design on the cornice.

Local climate

Library and Museum receives an average of 750 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 69% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 56% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 30 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 65% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • Sale history — 1 transaction since 2018
  • Related listed building consents — 23 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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