Former Devonport Library

The Former Devonport Library, located at 18 and 20 Duke Street in Plymouth, was built between 1849 and 1850 and incorporates the earlier Devonport Mechanics Institute, which was constructed from 1843 to 1844. The building features stucco walls and slate roofs where visible, with moulded stuccoed end stacks on the library. It is designed in the Italianate style and has a fairly deep plan.

The exterior consists of three storeys, with a three-bay front for the library that includes a wider central bay with tripartite windows. To the left, the institute has a four-window range, with its main symmetrical five-window front on the left-hand return. The library boasts a full eaves entablature with modillions and consoles above the giant upper floors, which are accented by facetted quoins. All windows are adorned with glazing bars and flanking pilasters. The first-floor openings are squat and feature consoles, while a moulded mid-floor string runs across the façade. The second floor has a central Venetian window and flanking round-arched windows, all topped with a moulded entablature and keyblocks. Above the ground floor, there is a full-width Doric entablature with triglyphs, and the ground floor itself has channelled rustication, vermiculated quoins and jambs, a moulded sill string, dropped sill jambs over a plinth, and blind windows.

The institute portion has a plinth, a first-floor sill string, and a modillion eaves cornice. The upper floors retain original hornless sash windows, while the ground floor features a pilastered and pedimented doorway at the centre of the main front.

Inside, the library has a large hall with a gallery supported by slender turned stanchions and a projecting front on console brackets. The hall includes a bulging cast-iron balustrade, a coved ceiling cornice, and round-arched niches on the end walls. This building is part of a distinguished group of civic structures.