Description

LANCASTER

SD4761NE NEW STREET
1685-1/7/214 (East side)
Children's Library

GV II

Public library. 1932, incorporating part of the facade of the
former Savings Bank, which dated from the 1820s. For the
Borough of Lancaster. Sandstone ashlar, with a flat roof and
skylight. Roughly square plan, linked at the right at the rear
with the Public Library (qv) on Market Street.
One-storey, 3-bay facade with a central dorway flanked by 2
pairs of fluted Greek Ionic columns, each placed in antis. The
antae and doorway have a frieze decorated with a Greek key
motif and date from 1932. The columns, which date from the
1820s, stand on a fluted plinth and carry a deep entablature
with a dentil cornice, above which the projecting centre of
the blocking course is decorated with scrollwork. The doorway
is flanked by Doric pilasters carrying a pediment above a
panel with the inscription in raised letters: 'PUBLIC LIBRARY
JUNIORS', and the double doors have 3 raised and fielded
panels each. The recesses behind the columns have tripartite
windows whose mullions are panelled pilasters which carry an
entablature with a dentil cornice. In front of the columns is
a balustrade of ornamental iron work.
Listed in part as the only significant surviving example in
Lancaster of Greek Revival design.
HISTORY: an elevation drawing in Lancaster Reference Library
(PL 2/64) by Sharpe and Paley, dated 4-2-1848 shows a facade
resembling the one which now survives, but without windows and
with a central doorway. It is entitled 'Plans for the
Alteration of the Savings Bank' and is probably a survey
drawing rather than a new design, as the 5 feet to 1 mile OS
map, surveyed in 1845, shows the Savings Bank with a similar
recessed facade. The bank was established in 1823, and it is
possible that the original design was by William Coulthart, a
pupil of George Webster of Kendal, who was practising as an
architect in Lancaster during the 1820s and who is known to
have produced other work in the Greek Revival style. In 1932
the facade was rebuilt on the New Street Improvement Line, 12
feet back from its original position.

Listing NGR: SD4760261786

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26585873

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.

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