Description

BURNLEY

SD8432SW PARKER LANE
906-1/20/117 (East side)
30/01/92 Central Library

GV II

Public library. 1928-30. Designed by George Hartley
(architect) and built by Arthur Race (Borough Engineer). Steel
frame with cladding of sandstone ashlar, hipped roofs of
Cumbrian slate with glass skylights. Modernist classical
style. Rectangular plan round a central well which is occupied
by the main hall at ground floor.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with the appearance of one, raised over a
basement, 1:3:1 bays, symmetrical, the centre projected and
incorporating the porch; with a plinth, plain frieze, moulded
cornice and parapet with 2 sunk bands. The projected centre,
with channelled rustication, an enriched cornice and a
zigguratal 3-stage roof, has a wide flight of steps up to a
set-back centre bay containing a recessed porch which has 2
giant fluted Doric columns and a tall inner doorway with an
overlight, enriched architrave and a cornice on fluted
consoles, and above this an oblong window with an enriched
architrave flanked by fasces, a frieze inscribed "PUBLIC
LIBRARY" and a dentilled cornice with egg-and-dart and
bead-and-roll decoration. Its flanking bays have tall 2-stage
windows to the ground floor and square windows above with
linked architraves and metal-framed glazing with margin panes.
The wide outer bays each have one tall 12-pane window with
similar glazing and an enriched pedimented architrave. The
left and right-hand return walls have 5 matching windows; the
rear has (inter alia) a 2-storey 6-window symmetrical
projection in the centre, with a central doorway,
vertical-rectangular windows at ground floor and square
windows above.
INTERIOR: central hall with glazed barrel-vaulted roof;
staircase with mosaic dado including Vitruvian scrolls.

Listing NGR: SD8418332407

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Burnley Library official website
• Wikidata Q26537591

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)