Whitchurch Free Library is a Grade II listed building in the Cardiff local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 31 May 2002. Library.
Whitchurch Free Library
- WRENN ID
- quiet-rubble-crimson
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Cardiff
- Constituency
- Cardiff North MP: Anna McMorrin (Lab)
- Country
- Wales
- Date first listed
- 31 May 2002
- Type
- Library
- OS grid reference
- ST 150 803
- Coordinates
- 51.51603, -3.22543
- Source
- Cadw listing
Description
Whitchurch Free Library is a building constructed of red brick with Bath stone dressings and a Welsh slate roof. It has a single cell plan with lobbies at either end and an attached librarian's house at the rear. The library is designed in a Flemish Baroque style, reminiscent of a small 17th century school or livery hall.
The main elevation features three bays with tall two-light mullioned windows that include two transoms and vertically glazed lights above. These windows are separated by panelled pilasters that support a cornice and a central feature at parapet level, which includes an open pediment with a small obelisk topped by a ball finial. Below this is the date 1904, and further down, a plaque reads "FREE LIBRARY."
On the left side of the main building, there is a single-storey porch with double panelled doors, a light above, and a doorcase featuring rusticated pilasters and a segmental broken pediment, along with a panelled parapet above. To the right, there is a single-storey wing with a two-light window. The gable ends of the main building have tripartite windows set in segmental recesses, with coped gables topped by ball finials. The rear of the building is plain, as is the attached two-storey house.
Inside, the library is now featureless due to the installation of a suspended ceiling.
Local climate
Whitchurch Free Library sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,080 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 86% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 87% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 22 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 77% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
Sign in or create a free account to unlock:
- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings
Nearby listed buildings
- Whitchurch War Memorial
- Octagonal Shelter in Grounds to south-south-east of Whitchurch Hospital
- The Laurels
- Six Gables
- Octagonal Shelter in Grounds to south-east of Whitchurch Hospital
- Octagonal Shelter in Grounds to east of Whitchurch Hospital
- The Pines
- Church of St. Mary
- Whitchurch Hospital
- Octagonal Shelter in Grounds to south-south-west of Whitchurch Hospital