Public Library, Museum And Forecourt Wall And Railings Facing Ramsden Square

BARROW IN FURNESS

SD1969SE DUKE STREET 708-1/12/63 (North East side) 06/05/76 Public Library, Museum and forecourt wall and railings facing Ramsden Square (Formerly Listed as: DUKE STREET (North East side) Public Library and Museum in Ramsden Square)

GV II

Public library and attached forecourt wall with railings. 1915-22. By JA Charles. Ashlar sandstone facade, graduated slate and glazed roofs. 2 storeys, 4:3:4 bays in an open V-plan; centre with projecting portico. Symmetrical, in Beaux-Arts Classical style. Plinth; channel-rustication to ends and centre; altered fenestration. Central portico has giant Ionic columns in central recess; double door with bayleaf hoodmould beneath plaque with guttae and date 'ANNO DNI MCMXV'; margin-glazed stair window above has shouldered surround with bayleaf-fasces pendants. Frieze inscribed 'PUBLIC LIBRARY'; modillioned cornice with Greek key ornament. Solid parapet with panels and tasselled roundels. Blocking course with shallow triangular head flanked by gadrooned vases with Greek-key rims and eternal flames. Each rusticated bay has tall window beneath square window, raised surrounds with plain lintel panels. Bays 2-4 and 8-10 are slightly recessed and have ground floor windows in raised panels and rectangular windows in the parapet. Modillioned cornice continues from portico beneath parapet with tasselled roundels over the rusticated bays. Wings have hipped mansard roofs, the ridge sections glazed. INTERIOR: black and white mosaic floor to the entrance hall; curved staircase with cast-iron panels, oak handrail and bollard newels. In each wing the ground-floor ceilings have cross-beams on pilasters; Greek key and bayleaf motifs. Centre-block ceiling is lower and has guilloche on the beams. 1st floor: lecture room (now museum) and reading room have similar motifs together with cartouches and urns; arched ceilings with bayleaf ribs. Forecourt wall: gate piers opposite main entrance have iron gates and incomplete lamp standards; dwarf walls with intermediate piers linked by cross-braced railing panels in groups of 3. Opened 1922 after a lapse in building during the Great War. Lecture room converted to museum c1930. Original fenestration shown in early photograph (Trescatheric). (Trescatheric B: Barrow in Furness in Old Picture Postcards: Netherlands: 1982-: PL 77).

Listing NGR: SD1960069439