Description

HERTFORD

TL3212NW OLD CROSS
817-1/16/148 (North side)
Hertford Library

GV II

Library, built as public library and art school. 1888-90.
Architect (Sir) Reginald Blomfield, for Hertford Borough
Council. Orange brick laid to English bond below ornamental
timber-framing and plaster. Old tiled roof, with studded gable
facing south, twin tile-hung gables east and west, red brick
chimney with oversailing courses.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, with attic in south gable. A mixture of
Old English revival and Queen Anne styles. South elevation
with central break forward rises from substantial plinth with
moulded brick top. Single 6-light timber mullion and transom
window with leaded glazing in metal casements to left, similar
window in centre to left of entrance. Entrance doorway in
right centre has twin leaf doors with 2 glazed upper panels,
and raised and fielded lower panels recessed in bold
architrave surround, broken by keyblock, with flat hood on
profiled console brackets. Fanlight above with 4-leaded lights
in 2 pairs, flanked and centrally divided by baluster columns
with Ionic caps, immediately below continuous pulvinated wood
frieze and cornice which runs around perimeter of building
above head of ground-floor windows. First floor with
ornamental studwork and plaster, rectangular panels left and
right, with elaborate arcading in centre and in gable above.
First floor 14-light mullion and transom window with leaded
glazing. Moulded eaves cornice, bargeboards to gable with
finial carrying weather vane.
Left-side (west) elevation has similar ground floor with 4
windows and frieze. First floor with studwork in square panels
with 2 large 18-light mullion and transom windows. These are
set above twin studwork arches, and cut through eaves cornice
into twin tile-hung gables above. Elaborate rainwater heads
with boxes with rolled embattled lead tops and ogival lead
hoppers.
Between right-hand pair of ground-floor windows is South
African (Boer) War Memorial, a recessed limestone panel
engraved with the names of all volunteers from the Borough,
with a carved hart in a circular surround. Outer surround
limestone with splayed sill, moulded jambs and trefoil head,
with Gothic worked dripmould.
INTERIOR: dogleg main staircase with brick lower supports,
stone balusters and railing, curved and ramped, with swelling

squat Ionic column supporting landing and wood-cased beam with
pulvinated frieze. Stone steps, timber newels with elongated
conical caps, painted softwood balusters of vase on column
pattern, bold moulded hardwood handrail, arcaded first floor
landing with Tuscan pillars with urn bases.
Main library on ground floor divided into 4 bays by cased
beams with coved mouldings. First-floor rooms former Art
School.
Foundation stone laid 9 August 1888 by AP McMullen, Mayor of
Hertford. Externally a stone tablet records the planting of an
oak tree (long since removed) to commemorate the Diamond
Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897.
(Green L: Hertford's Past in pictures: Ware: 1993-: 24-5;
Architects in perspective: Fellows RA: Sir Reginald Blomfield:
An Edwardian Architect: London: 1985-: 22-3, 171).

Listing NGR: TL3247112704

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26559111

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
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  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)