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

The building is a public library and museum, constructed between 1915 and 1922 by JA Charles. It is located in Barrow in Furness, facing Ramsden Square, and is accompanied by a forecourt wall and railings. The architecture is Beaux-Arts Classical in style, constructed from ashlar sandstone with graduated slate and glazed roofs.

The building is arranged in an open V-plan with a central projecting portico, designed symmetrically, and comprises 4:3:4 bays. The facade features a plinth, channel-rustication to the ends and centre, and altered fenestration. The central portico has giant Ionic columns within a recessed area, supporting a double door with a bayleaf hoodmould above which is a plaque bearing guttae and the date 'ANNO DNI MCMXV'. A margin-glazed stair window sits above the door, its surround decorated with a shouldered design and bayleaf-fasces pendants. A frieze inscribed 'PUBLIC LIBRARY' runs along the facade, topped by a modillioned cornice featuring Greek key ornamentation. A solid parapet is punctuated by panels and tasselled roundels. The blocking course features a shallow triangular head flanked by gadrooned vases with Greek-key rims and eternal flames. The ground-floor windows are contained within raised panels, with square windows above. Bays 2-4 and 8-10 are slightly recessed and have ground-floor windows in raised panels and rectangular windows within the parapet. A modillioned cornice continues from the portico beneath the parapet, also featuring tasselled roundels over the rusticated bays. The wings have hipped mansard roofs with glazed ridge sections.

The interior features a black and white mosaic floor in the entrance hall, a curved staircase with cast-iron panels, an oak handrail, and bollard newels. Ground-floor ceilings in the wings feature cross-beams supported by pilasters, decorated with Greek key and bayleaf motifs. The ceiling of the central block is lower, incorporating a guilloche design on the beams. The first floor contains a lecture room (now the museum) and a reading room, both echoing the motifs found elsewhere, with cartouches, urns, and arched ceilings featuring bayleaf ribs.

The forecourt wall has gate piers opposite the main entrance, bearing iron gates and incomplete lamp standards. Dwarf walls with intermediate piers are linked by cross-braced railing panels grouped in threes. The building opened in 1922 after a pause in construction due to the Great War; the lecture room was converted into a museum circa 1930. The original fenestration is depicted in an early photograph by Trescatheric.