College Of Technology And Central Public Library

The building comprises a College of Technology and Central Public Library, originally built as a Municipal College between 1910 and 1913 to designs by F W Lacey, Borough Surveyor. It is situated at the Lansdowne roundabout and is constructed of red brick with stone dressings, exhibiting an Edwardian Baroque style. A prominent high tower at the corner serves as a civic landmark, built of red brick with rusticated quoins. The tower tapers to a stone clock stage featuring segmental pediments over the dials, surmounted by a circular cupola with projecting pairs of blocked Ionic columns, an attic with portholes, and a dome. The elaborate entrance beneath the tower incorporates a double staircase leading to a terrace, with iron lamp standards and a balustrade of giant, uncarved consoles, over a rusticated basement arch. The doorway features thin panels and bracketed strips against rusticated piers, with a segmentally pedimented window and a bull's-eye window embraced by the main arch. The Christchurch Road frontage is symmetrical, with a basement and two storeys, and a continuously glazed north-light dormer to the studios on the roof. The tripartite central section has blocked Tuscan columns in pairs, fully glazed with arched glazing bars over a basement with projecting stone bands. A large brick frieze and stone cornice are present, along with raised brick and stone eminences at the corners. Recessed wings also feature blocked Tuscan columns in pairs, flanked by cupolas with bull's-eye windows framed by rusticated pilasters and smooth stone domes. At the east end is a remodelled buff brick and stone villa from approximately 1860 (Strathearn), given an entrance dating from 1912-13. The Meyrick Road frontage is also symmetrical, with a central five-window width, two storeys and an attic, segment-headed windows, and rusticated stone strips to the ground floor. A loggia of blocked coupled Tuscan columns and wrought-iron railings with wreaths to the first floor is present, with coupled pilasters framing windows inside the loggia. A brick frieze and eaves cornice with dentils supports a recessed attic of rusticated lunettes between brick pilasters. Slate roofs, tile ridges, and brick chimneys with stone cornices are visible. The rear elevation, incorporating the Central Library, was initially incomplete but later developed. A double staircase leads to a first-floor entrance with a scrolled iron railing and a bowed balcony over a rusticated lunette of the basement porch. A tripartite window is placed under a pedimented gable to the second floor. A wing, three windows wide, was completed to the left, featuring tall shouldered frames to the first-floor windows and pedimented dormers with large keystones. The rear of the college is irregular and incomplete, including an assembly hall from approximately 1925 with a segmental gable and windows, and a south wing enclosing a courtyard dating from 1956.