Torquay Library

Torquay Library

A three-storey library building designed in 1937 by Borough Engineer P W Ladmore in Art Deco style. The structural engineer was Dr Oscar Faber and the contractor was R E Narracott. The building has undergone alterations in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

The building has a concrete frame encased in brick. The principal north-east elevation is faced with Portland stone to the entrance bay and limestone blocks to the flanking bays, while the rear elevation is rendered. Windows are metal-framed and internal fittings are teak.

The building has a rectangular plan with a central entrance that projects forward and a recessed two-storey link between the library and the town hall. The three-storey structure contains ground and lower ground floors plus a basement, formerly open.

The principal north-east elevation comprises a central entrance bay flanked by six-bay wings. The central entrance has a deeply recessed surround with a pair of teak doors featuring an Art Deco glazed panel and plain fanlight above. The windows to either side have moulded stone cills set within stepped, recessed openings. The entrance and window above sit within a raised stone surround with a shaped head and a stepped flagpole holder rising above the stepped parapet. A narrow frieze of concave fluted stone strips runs around the sides. The façade bears bronze lettering with green enamel infill reading "PUBLIC LIBRARY". The flanking wings contain six windows each, set within stepped recesses with flat keystones. A set-back bay to the left of the south-east wing links the library to the town hall. The lower ground floor has six windows to either wing and one horizontally-set window beneath the entrance. At basement level, windows and wall panels have been inserted between concrete posts.

The north-west elevation comprises five bays. The return bay of the flanking wing includes double doors to the former education office at ground floor level, with four further rendered bays to the right. The rear south-west elevation rises to three storeys with a central three-bay section containing a central horizontally-set window with projecting lintel, and two rows of three horizontally-set windows below. Flanking wings of five bays extend on either side. Square-profile downpipes with stepped and fluted hopperheads serve the side and rear elevations. A pyramidal roof lantern has glazed panels.

The interior vestibule and entrance hall have sections of polished Lummaton marble. Chrome radiator grilles with geometric design stand to either side of the vestibule. The floor is understood to be unpolished Travertine marble, now carpeted. The entrance to the main lending library has been widened for automatic doors and the original counter removed, replaced by a modern free-standing desk to the left. The lending library is double-height with a gallery around the perimeter. A rectangular rooflight with geometric design using chrome glazing bars occupies the ceiling centre; the glass has been painted. The gallery, with cork tile flooring, is accessed via staircases to either side of the entrance, each with stepped and curved timber banisters and aluminium handrails added above. Stepped newel posts stand at gallery level. Fixed shelving with stepped cornices runs around the gallery perimeter. The safety rail has been raised and includes curved sections at the corners. The former Chief Librarian's Office occupies the north-east side of the gallery above the entrance hall, featuring a fixed ladder and hatch to the roof and a book lift extending to the lower ground floor. Library rooms to either side of the main lending library have glass-block rooflights. Original bookshelves with stepped cornices survive, as do skirting and doorframes with stepped design. Surviving doors feature glazed panels with chrome geometric design; some retain chrome handles and back plates. Original light fittings have been removed. The lower floors serve as office accommodation and storage.

A concrete boundary and retaining wall with concrete buttresses to the inner face and grey limestone to the outer face encloses the site. A bridge connects the wall to the entrance bay. The walls have stepped piers and spike-topped railings including a curved section with circle and scroll design in front of each window. The original bronze lamps to the entrance piers have been removed. The wall continues along the north-west elevation with steps to the former education office doorway at ground floor and steps down to the former juvenile department entrance at lower ground floor.

The three-storey lift shaft to the rear of the building, constructed in the twenty-first century, is excluded from the listing.