Former Nelson Old Library, Nelson, Lancashire

Summary

Former Nelson Old Library by architects JR Poyser and WB Savidge, funded by Andrew Carnegie, opened in 1908.

Description

Yorkshire stone public library, built 1908 to designs by JR Poyser and WB Savidge. Edwardian Baroque style.

MATERIALS: all elevations are clad in ashlar Yorkshire stone, except the NE elevation, which is painted and rendered. The roofs are slated, with roof lights.

PLAN: the plan is rectangular, with the symmetrical principal elevation facing NW along Booth Street and the secondary elevation aligned SW along Carr Road.

EXTERIOR: the library occupies a single, double-height volume, raised over a semi-basement. The principal NW elevation is symmetrical and three bays wide. The roof is concealed from street level by a parapet which sits atop a modillioned crown cornice, rising to form a broken-bed segmental pediment over each of the three openings. The end bays break slightly forward, each lit by a double-height round-arched opening with a multi-light metal-framed window having exaggerated stepped keystone, and flanked by rusticated piers. Each has a dropped lugged surround with a deep panelled apron, partially covered by a superimposed panel which rises from infilled segmental-arched basement windows below. The principal entrance (of diminished proportions by comparison to the windows) is similarly treated, the piers carrying a broken triangular pediment into which is set a tall keystone rising from a moulded archivolt. The door is original double-leaf oak with bolection moulded lower panels, aediculed glazed oval top panels, and a fanlight, accessed by a flight of stone steps. Set to either side is an oval window, treated as the main windows, although the basement windows retain their glazing and are round-arched, with an iron grille set into the pavement. Rich carved embellishment spans the central bay over the entrance, having the Nelson Coat of Arms to centre, with the words ‘PUBLIC’ and ‘LIBRARY’ to either side. There are several cast-iron downpipes having box hoppers detailed with the letter ‘N’.

The SW elevation is also symmetrical, although with a projecting aediculed central bay with a broken triangular pediment. It embraces a Diocletian window set over a group of three keystoned ten-light windows separated by half-engaged Ionic columns and spanned by a dripstone. There are Venetian windows to either side, also detailed with columns and keystones. The basement well is open, and is bounded by original composite iron railings on a stone plinth wall.

The SE elevation is relatively plainly detailed, although the S bay echoes the detailing of its counterpart at NW. Otherwise, walls are plain ashlar, and windows are irregularly spaced and varied casements. The NE elevation is generally without openings, having formerly abutted the Nelson Fire Station, and having a gabled proportion to E end, with multi-light windows on three levels, lighting a stairwell.

INTERIOR: the interior of the building has been extensively refurbished, and is no longer in use as a library. However, it retains several original architectural features. Access is via an oak-panelled vestibule with stairs rising to a set of four-panel oak doors with a glazed top section. The doors are set into a partially-glazed and leaded oak screen and retain their original handles and finger plate (which includes an embossed Nelson crest). The ceiling is barrel-vaulted with decorative plaster moulded ribs. The original function and layout of the main library rooms is partially altered, with the removal of original partitions. The central hall is carpeted, with the exception of a central mosaic, and is lit by a central glass dome set into a coffered plaster ceiling, divided into eight panels by pulvinated beams ornamented with foliage, fruit and ribbons. An open partition of three arched openings is located to SE, detailed with scrolled plaster keystones and continuous plaster archivolt. Beyond this a rectangular room with original polished parquet flooring, lit by the bay window of the SE elevation, beneath which is an original timber shelf. To the NE end of this room is a set of five-panel double-leaf oak doors, set into an oak screen, detailed as the main entrance.

To the SW of the hall, a second rectangular room runs the length of the building, lit by a glazed roof light. It also retains its original parquet floor as well as pilasters and mouldings around the Venetian windows. The ceiling is barrel-vaulted and subdivided into three by ceiling beams supported on exaggerated scrolled corbels, projecting from pilasters on either side of the room. To NE of the hall is an L-shaped room accessed via an archway to the NE of the vestibule. It has similar detailing to other areas, with original floor and plaster detailing. To SW of the vestibule is a dog-leg cantilevered staircase with original cast iron balustrade, octagonal newel post and polished oak handrail.

A small office space is located to the eastern corner of the room, likely to have served as the librarian’s office, with a central chimney breast in its NE wall. Adjacent to this is a newly inserted fire door providing access to a rear staircase of poured concrete, which retains its original vertical, wrought iron hand rails with later banister. The service space is fitted with replica cast iron fireplaces. The moulded skirting boards, picture rails and cornices all appear to be original. Both the upper floor and basement levels have been extensively refurbished with carpeted floors, inserted partition walls and suspended ceilings. The general window arrangement survives in these rooms, with the exception of the insertion of additional dormer windows in the attic space.

History

Nelson first voted to have its own free library in 1883. However, it was not until August 1904 that a meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Nelson Council in voted to accept £7,000 from the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust for the purposes of building a free library on a site at Booth Street. It formed a key part of a group of civic buildings, together with the Town Hall and former Technical School. The layout comprised a lending department and newspaper room to left and right respectively, and a reference library to rear. The basement contained a juvenile lending library and separate reading room, and the first floor had a ladies’ room which doubled as a committee room, along with various stores and staff facilities. The design was procured through competition, which received 207 entries, from which John Poyser in partnership with William Savidge, both of Nottingham, were selected as winners. The architects are recorded (in G. A. T. Middleton's Modern Buildings (Vol. IV): their planning, construction and equipment,1905) as remarking on the difficulties presented by the site, which was limited, and bounded by streets on three sides, with a public building on the fourth. Nelson Library was opened in 1908 by Arthur Henderson MP. A stone mason was killed during construction, and the library was closed in 1918-19 during the influenza epidemic.

The library was designed as a closed access library in which books were selected through review of a catalogue and then retrieved by staff for the reader. It switched to an open access system in 1925 which permitted borrowers to browse the books for selection, involving some alterations to the layout. The library closed in 1974 and the building converted for use for Council Surveyors’ Department offices. The library was repaired and refurbished in 2012-13 as a major project of the Heritage Lottery funded Whitefield Townscape Heritage Initiative. Partitions inserted at this time have been removed as part of the recent refurbishment, and uPVC frames have been replaced with steel, as original, informed by historic photographs. The basement and first floor rooms have been refurbished to create new office spaces and staff rest rooms.

The former library is situated in the town centre, in the municipal locus of the town, surrounded by a number of civic buildings including the town hall, former technical school, new library and a place of worship.

Reasons for Listing

The former Nelson Old Library, of 1908 by J R Poyser and W B Savidge, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: for the strong composition in an exuberant expression of Grand-Manner Baroque, with high quality carved stone detailing;
* Interior interest: for interior finishes of notably high quality, and a layout that conforms to accepted ideals of Edwardian library planning;
* Plan: although no longer in use as a library the essence of the original segregated closed-access layout remains legible;
* Historic interest: as a good example of a free public library building funded by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, and representative of Edwardian civic pride.

External Links

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