Bangor Carnegie Library

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey over basement, three-bay Arts-and-Craft style library built c.1910 to designs of Ernest L Woods. Rectangular plan form with secondary rear accommodation. Large modern extension and restoration c.2008. Located to the north of Ward Park, off Hamilton Road opposite Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church (HB23/05/008), and to the west of HB23/05/007 A-C.

Natural Welsh slate roof with clay ridge tiles and leaded valleys over exposed overhanging timber rafters. Ogee moulded cast iron guttering with decorated box gutters and circular downpipes. Flemish Bond red brick walling, projected plinth course. Single glazed timber casement windows; multi and single paned; chamfered sandstone cills and lintels to ground floor; segmental single brick arched to first floor. Principal entrance has chamfered ashlar sandstone jambs and lintel with cornice; projecting segmental arched sandstone canopy. Replacement timber door.

Principal elevation faces north, symmetrically arranged comprising projecting paired Dutch gables to either side of central entrance bay. Front door, flanked by narrow oblong sidelights. Large sandstone plaque over canopy inscribed with “Carnegie Library and Municipal Technical School”. Centrally located tripartite casement window to first floor. Symmetrical gable ends each have two large square-headed windows with sandstone mullions and transoms; large segmental arched window to first floor, with sandstone reveals formed from the gable drops; projected brick label course. Small arrow loop opening flanked by projected decorative brick work, centrally located to gable head, embraced with decorative sandstone coping stone. Copper-clad ventilation lantern centrally located over ridge surmounted by weathervane.

The east elevation is symmetrically arranged, three windows wide. Ground floor windows as principal elevation, with smaller plain segmental arched windows over.

The rear gabled elevation has tripartite ground floor window to both gables with two additional segmental arched windows to the first floor of the left gable. Elevation centrally abutted by a two-storey, flat roof, link block with varying window sizes, serving white rendered rear accommodation. The east face of the abutment is a two-storey gable ended with no openings. The south face of the abutment is abutted by large two/three-storey modern extension. The west gable of the abutment has a centrally positioned projected chimney stack, stepped-in at first floor level and rising over the gable apex, terminated with cornice detailing with two clay pots. Segmental arched windows to either side of stack to ground and first floor with louvred openings to basement. The west face of the linked block infilled with fully glazed modern stair case.

The west elevation matches the east elevation with evidence of infilled opening to basement level.

Setting

The building is sited in Ward Park, with the front elevation addressing Hamilton Road, a busy thoroughfare leading towards the town centre. The park is a large landscaped and wooded public area with associated water features and a war memorial HB23/05/004. The front of the building is enclosed by replacement railings fixed to existing wall with brick/sandstone piers and replacement gates.

Roofing Natural slate
Walling Red brick
Window Timber casement
RWG Cast iron

Historical information

The library was opened in 1910 and first appears on the fourth edition OS map of 1919-26 (Irish Builder). The ‘Free Library and Technical School’ enters valuation records in 1910 and is valued at £85. The immediate lessor is Baroness Clanmorris. (Annual Revisions)

Between 1897 and 1913 Andrew Carnegie promised over £170,000 to pay for the building of about 80 libraries in Ireland. Not all were built, some have been destroyed and sixty-two survive. (Grimes, p.3) Andrew Carnegie spent his early life in Scotland but when his family’s income from hand loom weaving began to fall with the introduction of mechanisation, they emigrated to America when Andrew was 13. (Grimes, p.5)

As a boy in Pittsburgh, Carnegie benefited from a library opened by a local philanthropist and was convinced that ‘there was no use to which money could be applied so productive of good to boys and girls’ as the founding of public libraries. Later in life, Carnegie became extremely wealthy, firstly manufacturing railways and locomotives and later extending his interests into steel production (Grimes, p.6-7). In 1881 he made his first gift of a public library to his home town of Dunfermline and in 1901 having sold his company he donated over $5 million to New York City for the construction of 65 branch libraries. (Grimes, p.9) In all he financed around 2,500 libraries in 10 countries, the large majority of these in the US, Canada, Great Britain and Ireland. Carnegie made some donations for other purposes, such as education, research and welfare but in Ireland he insisted that the provision he made was solely for libraries, although he did provide church organs. Eight of the surviving 62 Carnegie libraries are in Northern Ireland (Downpatrick has not survived). (Grimes, p.10, 28)

Bangor Urban District Council applied to Carnegie for a grant and was offered £1,500 in August 1902. Ernest Woods, the town surveyor, prepared plans for a library in 1903 but for some time the project was stalled due to difficulties with finding a site. It seems that the authorities in Bangor felt that the town’s needs would be better served by a school rather than a library but Carnegie was insistent that his work for Ireland was the provision of libraries. (Grimes, p.93) Eventually Carnegie was persuaded to allow the library to be built with a technical school, so that fundraising efforts could benefit from rates raised under the terms of the Libraries Act and the Technical Instruction Act. Plans were again prepared by Ernest Woods in 1908 and work began in 1909. (Irish Builder, Grimes, p.93) The finished Public Library and Technical Institute was opened on 8th January 1910 by Lord Londonderry and was announced by the Irish Builder, “The building is in the Renaissance style of pressed bricks and wite [sic] stone dressings. Its erection has involved an outlay of £3,600 of which £1,500 was contributed by Mr Andrew Carnegie and the balance raised on loan by the Technical Committee. The heating work has been executed by Messrs Musgrave & Co, Belfast; stained and common glass work by Messrs Campbell Bros, Belfast and the general building work by Messrs William Dowling & Sons, Belfast.” A commemoration plate, still to be seen in the porch, was designed by Charles Braithwaite, teacher of ‘Decoration’ in the school. Ernest Woods was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland in 1911 on the basis of this and other works in Bangor. (Irish Builder)

The building originally consisted of a two-storey main building with a single-storey annex to the rear connected by a short passageway to the main building. The ground floor of the main building housed the library with classroom accommodation in the annex. A room over the entrance on the first floor was used by the committee and the remainder of the first floor as the school. The basement contained workshops and storage for books. (Grimes, p.95)

In 1927 the annex to the rear was raised by a storey to provide additional accommodation and it seems that it was at this time that a large three-light window by Campbell Brothers, depicting the seal of the ancient abbey of Bangor, was removed. As a result of the enlargement of the building, the valuation was raised to £115. (Annual Revisions, Grimes, p.95)

By 1934 the accommodation consisted of, on the ground floor, a library, reading room, staff room, office, cookery room and typewriting room, with lavatories off the passageway. The annex housed a woodworking room, heating chamber and store room. On the first floor were four classrooms, the principal’s office and further lavatories. The basement housed a bicycle store and two further storage spaces. (First General Revaluation)

Sometime between 1934 and 1941 the building was extended to the rear and the valuation was raised to £200, although the extensions built at this time have now gone. Also gone is a forge which was built to the east of the annex in 1941, containing two anvils and a small fire. This raised the valuation of the school to £202. (First General Revaluation)

By the time Grimes was writing in 1998 the building’s sole use was as a library and it was ‘flourishing as the busiest library for its size in Northern Ireland’. (Grimes, p.95) In 2006-8 a major refurbishment and extension of the library was undertaken under the supervision of Stephen Connolly, architect to the South Eastern Library Board. During this process the main staircase facing the entrance was removed. The annex has been retained and a large extension constructed to the rear. (Plans held by Alastair Coey Architects)

References:

Primary Sources

1.PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26
2.PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
3.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/9A-S – Annual Revisions (1900-1930)
4.PRONI VAL/12/E/129/2 – Annual Revisions Town Plans (1898-c.1916)
5.PRONI VAL/3/D/4/1B/21 – First General Revaluation - Valuers’ RV Binder (1933-57)
6.Irish Builder, Vol 45, 23 April 1903, p.1704
7.Irish Builder, Vol 51, 6 February 1909, p.81
8.Irish Builder, Vol 52, 22 January 1910, p.53
9.Irish Builder, Vol 52, 6 August 1910, p.508
10.Irish Builder, Vol 53, 1 April 1911, p.193
11.Alastair Coey Architects – Plans relating to Carnegie Library, Bangor

Secondary Sources

1.Grimes, Brendan “Irish Carnegie Libraries, A Catalogue and Architectural History” Dublin, Irish Academic Press, 1998
2.Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey over basement, three-bay Arts-and-Craft style library built c.1910 to the designs of Ernest L Woods. The ornamentation and detail are of good quality and contribute to its robust character. Renovated as part of the works associated with the erection of a larger modern extension to the rear of the building 2008. The plan form has been altered with the removal of the original central staircase; however the essential character of the large principal rooms has been retained. The large extension has had a significant effect on the building's character and setting but does not significantly detract from the features of special interest. The principal part of the library has retained original features and character. Its setting is enhanced by the boundary wall and piers along Hamilton Road. A building of significant local and social interest, owing to the contribution made by the philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, and the work of Woods, the Town Surveyor. It remains a good example of the smaller libraries in this series and incorporation with the technical school is of note.