Bingham Library

CIRENCESTER

SP0202 DYER STREET 578-1/4/128 (North side) 23/07/71 No.1 Bingham Library

GV II

Also known as: Bingham House DYER STREET. Library, now Cirencester Town Council and other offices. Dated 1904. By VA Lawson for Daniel Bingham. Coursed squared limestone with ashlar dressings, gabled bay to centre ashlar; stone slate roof with coped verges; ashlar left-end stack with moulded top. Jacobethan style, projecting central gabled bay, further gables to left and right. 2 storeys and attic; 8-window range. First floor has canted 4-light chamfered stone mullion-and-transom oriel window to centre, 3-lights high with upper lights leaded, moulded stone base, cornice and roof; to left and right, similar 3- and 4-light windows grouped in threes with single hoodmould breaking upwards to centre over taller 4-light window; to right narrow bay linking to No.3 Dyer Street (qv) has similar 2-light window to first floor. Gable to centre has 2-light chamfered stone mullion window with hoodmould, flanking gables have similar 3-light windows. Ground floor has pair of plank doors to centre in moulded stone architrave with round head with moulded keystone, flanked by narrow single-light leaded windows with hoodmoulds; groups of windows to left and right similar to first floor; 6-panel door with 3-pane overlight in plain reveal with 3 steps to right. Deep ashlar plinth with moulded top which forms offset to deeper plinth with moulded top to centre bay; centre bay has moulded string over ground floor, frieze with relief lettering BINGHAM LIBRARY, moulded cornice with heavy brattishing over; oval panel in centre gable with moulded stone surround has book carved in relief with date 1904; coped gables with moulded kneelers have trefoil stops, moulded finial to centre gable. INTERIOR has cantilevered stone well staircase with wrought-iron balustrade and mahogany handrail from ground to second floor, 4-light stone mullion-and -transom windows on first and second landings with stained glass; tiled outer hall divided from inner hall by mahogany glazed screen with bevelled glass and pair of swing doors, inner hall and stairs have tiled dado, panelled plaster ceiling with strapwork decoration and strapwork frieze continuous from outer to inner hall; outer hall has glazed screen to left, 2 doors off inner hall in moulded architraves with pulvinated friezes and dentil cornices; first floor right noted as having enriched panelled plaster ceiling. (Welsford J: Cirencester: A History and Guide: Gloucester: 1987-: P 153 - 154).

Listing NGR: SP0244902025