The Public Library

Cadw's description

Location

Prominently sited on corner of Church Street and Vaughan Street.

History

1857 and 1864 by James Wilson of Bath. Built as the Athenaeum (facing ChurcháStreet) and Nevill Memorial Hall added 1864 in matching style but with campanile tower. Interiors altered in conversion to Library 1926 by H A Gold. Large modern library addition to west, 1972 by R B Mowbray, Borough Architect.

Exterior

Italian palazzo style, squared brown rubble stone with extensive Bath stone dressings and slate hipped roofs behind balustraded parapets. Two storeys with taller upper floor, ashlar plinths, moulded band, rusticated angle quoins, heavy modillion cornice and parapet with balustrading over window bays. Three-window original front to Church Street, the upper windows in heavy ashlar frames down to band. Architraves, apron panels, outer frames with big console brackets to segmental pediments, except that centre has triple window with pediment over centre one and continued as flat cornices each side. Windows are sashes with marginal bars. Ground floor has longer similar sashes but in plain ashlar surrounds down to plinth. Centre, altered in 1926, has triple arrangement as above, but with door flanked by sashes, all in Portland stone simple surrounds. Double doors with overlight. Old photographs show that before 1926 there was a Roman Doric portico to ground floor.
East and west end have first floor triple windows similar to that on main front and ground floor 3 close-spaced, but not linked, windows.
1864 addition, memorial to R J Nevill, has one-bay campanile tower and 3-bay range to south.

Tower projects slightly, has rusticated quoins, plinth, band and cornice as on flanking ranges. Ground floor double doors with overlight in ashlar Tuscan porch with attached columns and entablature under balustraded sill of upper segmental pedimented window, similar to those on Church Street front. Tower proper has angle quoins, and big top cornice under shallow pyramid roof with finial. Below cornice, a frieze of square slate panels in ashlar band. Belvedere windows each side with triangular pediments on consoles, architraves and balustraded sills over moulded band. Lower section has doors to rooftop and front ashlar armorial panel with Nevill arms.

Range to south, in matching style, 3-window, plain below, more elaborate with console brackets to flat cornices above. South east angle quoins.

Interior

Interiors: Largely altered in 1926, including new stairs to rear of entrance hall. One large reading room to Church Street front at first floor and another to VaughanáStreet first floor, to left of tower, both with coved ceilings and big circa 1926 skylights.

Reason for designation

Group Value.