Central Reading Room, Barrack Street, Dundee

James Thomson, 1909. 2-storey and basement, Edwardian Baroque style library/museum building on slightly splayed 3-sided corner site with 4-stage tower to front. Cream ashlar, channelled to basement and at angle pilasters and pilaster strips at South Ward Road, random rubble to rear, platform slate roof. High basement course, wide pilasters at angles with cartouches at principle angles, plain frieze, corbelled main cornice, coped attic/blocking course; keystoned windows to basement with security grills, architraved and pedimented windows to principal floor (no pediments at South Ward Road), timber cross-frames

with leaded glazing, small Diocletian windows to attic and 1st stage of tower with keystoned and keyblocked architraves (keystoned and moulded at South Ward Road), timber frames with leaded glazing.

FRONT ELEVATION: 2-leaf semi-glazed doors with astragalled fanlight to centre, keystoned and concave-splayed doorcase within open-pedimented doorpiece surmounted by cartouch and flanking figures, astragalled round-headed stair window above with moulded architrave and richly decorated keystone, doorpiece and window flanked by paired Ionic

columns with open segmental pediment, basement, principal and attic window to left and right; tower rising from wallhead at centre, corniced 1st stage with window, tall set-back 2nd stage with paired Ionic angle columns to each elevation, squat finialled 3rd stage supporting finialled and pinnacled bellcote with round-headed openings and angle colonettes.

WARD ROAD ELEVATION: 3 windows to basement, principal and attic floors, 2 sets of paired Ionic pilasters to principal floor, small door to basement at right.

SOUTH WARD ROAD ELEVATION: similar to Ward Road but more simply treated.

INTERIOR: pilastered 3-stage imperial staircase with columns and corbelled cornice at top level; central chamber rises through 2 floors with timber balustraded gallery and domed rooflight.