Hastings Library, the former Brassey Institute, Hastings, East Sussex

Summary

Public institute of arts and sciences of 1878-1880, to the designs of WL Vernon (1846-1914), for Thomas Brassey, MP, (1836-1918), now (2023) in use as Hastings Library.

Description

Hastings Library, the former Brassey Institute, a public Institute of Arts and Sciences built 1878-1880, to the designs of WL Vernon (1846-1914), for Thomas Brassey, MP, (1836-1918).

MATERIALS: red brick in Flemish bond with stone detailing, under a slate roof.

PLAN: a terraced building, which is entered from Claremont and backs on to The Alley. Originally laid out with library on the ground floor, assembly room on the first floor, and art studios and accommodation on the upper floors. The basement provided accommodation for a rowing club. All floors are now in use as a library.

EXTERIOR: the building is four-storey over a basement and is designed in a Gothic revival style with a Renaissance character to the upper floors. The architraves and stone detailing are mostly painted white. Across the top of the ground and first floor, there are rectangular spandrel panels containing allegorical murals.

The front elevation has a sub-basement with two plat bands above casement windows, which are visible through wrought-iron railings. An entrance porch is set within the lowest stage of a stair tower which is located to the left side. It has a pair of decorative cast iron gates to the lobby within an arched doorway with splayed jambs and three orders of detached polished granite jambs on high plinths, with carved leaf capitals. The central order of the arch mouldings are carved with foliage. The tympanum has a Caernarvon arch with an armorial shield of the Borough of Hastings. Above the doorway, there are three, arched windows with heads set into vaulted corbelling. This supports a balcony with decorative balustrade at the base of a tall recess crowned by a crocketed arch with tiled tympanum. Within this recess at the two stair landing levels, there are three-light mullioned windows (the upper with leaded panes) and a stone-framed, rectangular spandrel. Above the arched recess, there is another three-light mullioned window which has a stone panel with inset shield in the head of each light. Above, there is a crowning, arcaded corbel table. The steep, mansard tower has a shallow balcony to its base below moulded brackets to the eaves. The tower sides have ventilation apertures and the top is surmounted by decorative iron railings.

To the right side, the building has a two-storey canted bay window and to either side, there is a window to both storeys recessed from the general alignment under shallow, stone arches. They have canted sides supported towards the centre on elaborately moulded corbelling. There are three lights to the front of the bay window with the panes above the transom on the ground floor being multi-pane and the pointed arch to the top, having geometrical tracery in a crocketed gable above three, first-floor lights. The ground floor windows have rectangular spandrel panels above with raised lettering on a metal frame reading 'LIBRARY'. There are single lights to the canted sides and two-light casements to the flanking recessed windows on both floors. The gable over the bay window breaks through a framed horizontal panel with the raised lettering on a metal frame reading ‘BRASSEY-INSTITUTE’.

On the third storey, there is a five-bay arcaded loggia which has columns with foliage capitals or pedestals supporting pointed arches with continuous drip moulding. The timber balustrade is recessed behind the columns.

The fourth floor has three, two-light, stone mullioned casements. The eaves cornice above is a stone band and the parapet is brick.

The rear elevation is faced in render scored to simulate ashlar. It has transom windows and is largely obscured by a metal fire escape.

INTERIOR: the entrance porch has a glass mosaic frieze by Antonio Salviati, which reproduces scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry. The timber ceiling has diagonal ribs with bosses at intersections. The full-height stairwell has a timber ceiling and contains a dog-leg stair with moulded handrail and cast-iron balustrade.

The ground floor has a reading room which has been extended into rooms at the rear to create an enlarged library room. It has cast iron columns and an elaborate plaster cornice.

The first floor has an anteroom which leads to the assembly room through a three-bay screen of cast iron columns with foliage capitals. The ceiling of the full-width assembly room is spanned by deep moulded beams on decorative cast iron wall brackets and towards the centre there is a blocked-up skylight.

The upper floors stand under a central light well and include a gallery supported on decorative cast iron brackets to the upper floor, on two sides. It provides access to studio rooms with clerestory lights at the rear which have moulded queen post trusses and bracketed purlins.

History

The town of Hastings has been a strategic point of defence from invasion since the medieval period and a protective wall was erected in the early 1300s. In 1337 the town was twice attacked by the French and badly damaged. Up until around 1800, there were two main streets (High Street and All Saints Street), both of which were inside the defences. The threat from France continued throughout the early 1800s and the Duke of Wellington commanded a garrison of around 12,000 troops from a headquarters in the High Street. Nevertheless, by around 1794, Hastings began to develop as a seaside resort with the publication of a printed guidebook and the development of Marine Parade.

In the mid-C19, Patrick Robertson (1807-1885) leased the crown lands of the town for 99 years at a rate of £500 per year. In 1850 he commenced construction of a grand scheme of terraces and municipal buildings, located across Robertson Street, Carlisle Parade and Robertson Terrace, collectively known as Trinity Triangle. The railway arrived in the same year and during the C19, the population of Hastings grew from around 3,000 to 65,000.

The Brassey Institute of Arts and Sciences, now Hastings Library, was built between 1878 and 1880, for Thomas Brassey (1836-1918) who was raised to the peerage as Baron Brassey in 1886 and subsequently became Earl Brassey in 1911. He was the eldest son of rail magnate Thomas Brassey (1805-1870) and a Liberal Party politician for whom he was the Member of Parliament for Hastings between 1868 and 1886, having briefly been the MP for Devonport for one month in 1865. Brassey subsequently rose to high political office in Britain before travelling to Australia to become Governor of Victoria from 1895 to 1900.

The Brassey Institute was designed to house a reference library on the ground floor, an assembly room at first floor, a school of art and science on the upper floors, and a suite of rooms for the Brassey family on the top floor. The basement provided accommodation for the Hastings Rowing Club.

Before the building was constructed, the site was owned by George Winter and used for his stone, coal and shipwright business. The sale was announced on 25 December 1875. The adjacent portion (14 Claremont) was purchased by FJ Parsons, owner of the Hastings and St Leonards Observer. He and Brassey were political opponents, with Parsons’ papers trying to unseat Brassey in the general elections. However, Parsons and Brassey, believing that Claremont would become a principal thoroughfare, put aside their differences and agreed to utilise the same architect, WL Vernon, to ensure a harmonious appearance for their two buildings.

Parsons and Brassey met their own building costs and separate tenders for construction were invited on 12 April 1876 and awarded to Alfred Vidler (1832-1907) at £2,598 for Parsons and £6,076 for Brassey.

WL Vernon was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in 1846, the son of a bank clerk. Following studies at the Royal Academy of Arts and South Kensington School of Art, he was articled to WG Habershon before entering private practice in London. In 1883 he was advised to seek a warmer climate to ease his bronchial asthma and he emigrated to Australia. After working for some time in private practice, he became the New South Wales Government Architect, in which capacity he designed many public buildings. Vernon was elected a Fellow of RIBA in 1885 and received the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medal in 1897. Many of his works in Australia are now listed on the Australian national and state heritage registers.

During the Second World War, Hastings was bombed several times resulting in the death of around 154 people and the damage or total destruction of some 15,000 buildings. Post-war, the town remained a popular holiday destination until the advent of cheap foreign travel in the later C20. Falling visitor numbers were exacerbated by the decline of the town’s small trades and industries.

The Brassey Institute remains in use (2023) as a public library, having been handed over to Hastings Borough Council in the later C20. The library was extensively refurbished from 2016 to 2017 including work to reverse later internal interventions.

Reasons for Listing

Hastings Library, the former Brassey Institute, a public institute of Arts and Sciences of 1878-1880, to the designs of WL Vernon, for Thomas Brassey, MP, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an eye-catching Gothic Revival design with a Renaissance character to the upper floors, including good quality stone detailing, along with spandrel panels and signage announcing the library and institute within.

Historic interest:

* from the oeuvre of WL Vernon, who was articled to WG Habershon before entering private practice in London. He later became the New South Wales Government Architect, in which capacity he designed public buildings in Australia, many of which are now listed on the Australian national and state heritage registers;
* as an institute to promote science and art within a provincial English town, philanthropically provided by Earl Brassey, a Liberal Party politician, MP for Hastings and later Governor of Victoria, Australia, from 1895 to 1900.

Group value:

* as part of the listed streetscape including the attached print works at 14 Claremont (NHLE entry 1353250; Grade II) and the adjacent Church of the Holy Trinity (NHLE entry 1043423; Grade II*).

External Links

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