Looking at Buildings

, printed from the Looking at Buildings website on Friday 29th March 2024

Museum and Library

ItalianateGlossary Term [1] façade, with much sculpture. Weightman produced a broadly similar composition - a six-columnGlossary Term [2] CorinthianGlossary Term [3] porticoGlossary Term [4] with atticGlossary Term [5], flanked by five-bayGlossary Term [6] wings and projecting end bays - but in a severely Graeco-RomanGlossary Term [7] style, in the mould of St George's Hall. The great flight of steps in front was not formed until c. 1902; originally there was a broad, elevated terrace here. Bombed in 1941, the Library was rebuilt 1957-60 and the Museum 1963-9 by Ronald Bradbury, behind Weightman's preserved façade. The 19th century skyline was wrecked in the process by a rooftop addition. Rear extension to the Library 1978.

CorinthianGlossary Term [8] colonnadeGlossary Term [9] nicely accommodates the street's change of direction, and echoes the apsidal N end of St George's Hall opposite. The roof is a shallow dome covered with zinc on a framework of iron, with a glazed oculusGlossary Term [10]. Behind the colonnadeGlossary Term [11] are niches with weathered plaster statues by Benjamin Edward Spence, presented by the sculptor's widow in 1870: Jeanie Deans, The Lady of the Lake, Highland Mary. Inside, the 100 ft- (30 metre-) diameter reading room retains its bookcases and cast-iron galleryGlossary Term [12] (a second, higher galleryGlossary Term [13] was added later). It was lit with electricity from the start (gas was laid on as a back up) by three arc lamps in the glazed dish that still stands on an octagonal wooden structure in the centre. The basementGlossary Term [14] was originally a lecture theatre, kept free of obtrusive columns by supporting the floor of the reading room on arched wrought-iron girders (engineer James N. Shoolbred), now boxed in. Attached to the rear is the Hornby Library, opened 1906, funded by Hugh Frederick Hornby to house his bequest of books and prints. By Thomas Shelmerdine. Impressive stone-faced Edwardian BaroqueGlossary Term [15] interior, a five-bayGlossary Term [16] aisled hall under a plaster barrel vaultGlossary Term [17]. Halfway up the columns a balustraded galleryGlossary Term [18] runs all roundGlossary Term [19]. Outside the door, an Art NouveauGlossary Term [20] copper plaque of 1907 by C.E. Thompson commemorates Hornby's gift.

Last updated: Monday, 26th January 2009