Description

The following building shall be added:

DISRAELI ROAD
TQ 27 NW
(south side)
1207-/1/10021 Newnes Public Library
II
Public library, 1899 by Francis J Smith at the expense of Sir George Newnes. Red brick with
extensive stone dressings. Roof not visible. Three bays, three storeys. Dwarf wall with four stone
piers to front. Arched entrance within Ionic stone porch, bearing balcony inscribed in raised
lettering 'NEWNES PUBLIC LIBRARY'. Central arched eight-light window with stone mullions
and transoms; four-light window in right-hand bay. First floor has bowed six-light mullioned
window in centre, between blocked Ionic pilasters, above solid balustrade carved with the borough
arms and motto against an oak leaf background. Six-light mullioned windows on each side. Second
floor has a bowed balustrade in front of central two-light windows set between three projecting
Ionic pilasters. Four-light mullioned windows on each side. String courses at sill and transom levels,
entablatures at first and second floor and attic levels. Brick parapet with stone finials above
projecting strips between windows and on corners. Central frontispiece culminates in tall,
segmental pediment, enclosing date cartouche. Obelisk finial above centre. Chimney stacks of
banded brick and stone.
Interior. Double entrance doors lead via vestibule lined with plaques to long corridor with vaulted
domed plaster roof. Reading room at end with open timber truss roof of six bays with dormers.
Linking corridor leads to 1977 lending library of no interest.
Included as a very good example of a Norman Shaw-inspired library building in an eclectic
Jacobean style, with an unusually lavish and intact interior. Now also houses the Wandsworth
Museum.

Listing NGR: TQ2403575146

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Putney Library at Wikipedia
• Putney Library official website
• Wikidata Q15979253

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey