The Simmons Memorial Library

The Simmons Memorial Library is a school library built in the Arts and Crafts style in 1908 by the Royal Engineers to honor Field Marshal Sir J Lintorn A Simmons, who was the Chairman of the Gordon Boys' Home from 1892 to 1903. The library was extended in 1912 and refurbished in 1990.

Constructed from brick in English bond with Portland stone dressings, the building features a tiled roof with a cupola that is partly copper and partly wooden. The windows are fitted with leaded lights. The library is a single-storey structure that originally had three bays and a central porch, which was later extended to five bays in 1912.

The exterior includes an octagonal copper cupola with an ogee dome topped with a finial and a wooden ventilation louvre above the central bay. The entrance front on the north-east side features a projecting stone porch with a curved pediment, which has the name of the building inscribed on the cornice. This porch is supported by engaged Tuscan columns and has a round-headed entrance with a keystone and a double panelled door. The two bays on either side contain three-light mullioned and transomed casements with curved pediments, alternating with emblems of the Gordon Boys' Home and the Royal Engineers, separated by brick and stone buttresses. The south-west side mirrors this design but lacks a porch. Both ends of the building have gables with kneelers and ball finials at the apex, along with three horizontal stone bands and a four-light mullioned and transomed square bay.

Inside, the library features a five bay wooden arch-braced roof and a ceramic wall plaque that lists the achievements and offices of Field Marshal Simmons.