The Reading Room - Now Puddletown Youth Centre

The Reading Room, now Puddletown Youth Centre, is a village building dating from 1870. It is constructed of rock-laced ashlar with ashlar dressings, and has a slate roof with heavily cusped bargeboards. The building is two storeys high. The front elevation, facing the High Street, includes a gabled porch at the right end, which projects beyond the main building. The porch has deep bargeboards and a ledged door within a shouldered arched opening. The main section of the building has three two-light stone mullioned windows on both the ground and first floors. These windows are linked vertically by recessed ashlar panels with shields set in lozenges. The west elevation, facing Mill Street, has a porch with ornamental bargeboard, a ledged door in a shouldered arched opening, and an inscription above reading “Reading Room". A single-light window sits beside the door, with a circular window above, both within a pointed relieving arch. To the right of the High Street elevation, a gabled wing projects, featuring a two-storey canted bay window with a hipped roof. This wing has stone mullioned windows with horizontal glazing bars on each floor, linked by recessed ashlar panels with shields in lozenges and a date plaque. A wing to the left of the gable is also two storeys high with an attic; on the ground floor is a three-light stone mullioned window under a relieving arch, and a similar two-light window is on the first floor. A small gabled dormer is located in the attic.