Padstow Institute, Library And Museum

Padstow Institute, now also used partly as a library and museum, was built between 1881 and 1882 and funded by public subscription. It is constructed of brick with a bitumen-coated slate roof and gable ends, featuring brick end stacks.

The building has a double-depth plan, encompassing a library reading room, a large meeting room, and snooker and billiards rooms, with a museum located on the first floor. It occupies a corner site, with its east elevation facing the Market Place and its north elevation facing Duke Street.

The exterior is two storeys tall, with a regular four-window east front, where the right-hand side is set slightly forward. The central entrance has a panelled door within a brick door surround topped with a brick pediment. Original sash windows are present; three to the left and a triple sash to the right. Two moulded brick string courses run above the ground floor. On the left side of the first floor is a canted oriel window with a slate, turretted roof and original glazing, flanked by two original sashes. To the right, a tripartite sash sits beneath a roundel in the gable.

The interior retains some original fittings from the 19th century.