The Old Library And Attached Front Area, Wall Pier And Railings

This is a library, offices, and now a restaurant, built between 1738 and 1740, with later extensions in the 18th century. Carving and the design were possibly by James Paty. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar, with a Pennant rubble basement, and a hipped roof that is not visible. It has a double-depth plan with a central stair-hall and a projecting wing to the left. The architectural style is early Georgian Palladian.

The building is two stories tall with a basement, and has a five-window front with a two-window wing. It is symmetrical, featuring a left-hand wing, a moulded plinth, a banded ground floor, a plat band, pilaster strips, a modillion cornice, a parapet with moulded coping, and a projecting three-window central section. A shallow porch has fluted Composite columns, responds, and a modillion pediment, leading to a door with eight raised panels. The wing has a blocked jamb to a door on the right side, and a short wall to the left of its end elevation, including a panel inscribed "THE OLD LIBRARY" above a plate-glass overlight and a six-panel door. Ground-floor windows have incised voussoirs and six-over-six-pane sashes. First-floor windows have shallow aprons, raised cornices, and pediments over the outer windows, including a segmental pediment over the central windows. A semicircular-arched stair window with an architrave and a six-over-six-pane sash with Gothic glazing bars is found on the right return.

Inside, the entrance hall has a staircase with rocaille-carved brackets, three column-on-vase balusters per tread, a wider matching newel, a wide curtail, and a moulded rail. There are also panelled shutters, doors, and moulded cornices. The flagged front area includes an attached ashlar wall to a capped pier, along with bud-headed wrought-iron railings and a gate with dog bars. The pediments flanking the centre originally featured putti reading books, and the main pediment displayed a City coat of arms, both of which were lost during neglect and restoration. Notably, a fine panelled reading room with bookcases and a magnificent chimneypiece by Grinling Gibbons was removed to the Central Library in 1909. The wall, railings, and gate were added to the historical record on March 4, 1977.