Description

SJ 8649 NE,
613-1/10/20

STOKE ON TRENT,
BURSLEM,
Queen Street (north side),
Former Wedgwood Institute (Public Library)

19.04.72

G.V.

II*

Public Library, the former Wedgwood Institute, built as
library, art school etc. in 1869. Original plans prepared by G. B.
Nichols of Wolverhampton, design modified by Robert Edgar and
John Lockwood Kipling. Brick with terracotta dressings and
plain tiled roof. 2 storeys, a richly ornamented facade with
central doorway in slightly advanced gabled porch enriched with
terracotta frieze and shafts to arched entry, flanked by busts
in shallow niches, and with tiles around the archway. It is
surmounted by a bust of Josiah Wedgwood. Windows form a
continuous arcade on both storeys, and between the storeys,
are 10 bass relief terracotta panels by M. H. Blanchard or
Rowland Morris which depict processes in the manufacture of
pottery. Above the upper windows, a further series of
terracotta panels set in arcading illustrate the months of the
year, and over them, a further arcade with mosaic signs of the
zodiac. Heavy eaves cornice carried on console brackets with a
terracotta frieze of pierced quatrefoils above. The
architectural ornamentation, though not the applied sculpture,
continues round the side elevations for several bays.

(SOURCES: The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Staffordshire:
Harmondsworth; The Victoria History of the Counties of
England: Pugh R. B.: Staffordshire: Oxford: 1963-).

Listing NGR: SJ8686649748

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wedgwood Institute at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7979190

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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