Description

TQ 48 SW
251/4/10053
03-APR-00

STIRLING ROAD
Plaistow
(North side)
Passmore Edwards Library
NORTH STREET
Plaistow
(East side)
Passmore Edwards Library

II

Public Library. 1902 by Samuel Bridgman Russell for the benefactor Passmore Edwards. Stock London brick with red brick principal fronts laid in English bond with stone detailing; roofs clad with bituminous felt. Cruciform plan.
EXTERIOR: entrance front to west of one storey. Tripartite elevation defined by projecting canted piers with stone banding, each with one concave surface. Dado of glazed red tiles. Centre bay with high arched cornice with modillions under which is full-height projecting stone centrepiece containing doorway and an upper 3-light transomed window. Heavily rusticated quadrant surround. Moulded panel over door with inscription: PASSMORE EDWARDS/PVBLIC LIBRARY. Triple keystone over upper window. Side bays each with 3 centre-hung one-light casements. Modillion cornice and low parapet with stone coping. Flat roof with central dome.
South and north fronts of similar design, with the centrepiece replaced by a single 3-light double transomed window set within a rusticated projecting surround.
INTERIOR: central glazed dome with cast-iron ribs carried on plain pendentives with a pulvinated string course with foliage carving. Pendentives drop to Corinthian entablatures supported on 4 panelled square piers, creating square secondary areas in the 4 corners with flat ceilings. Cruciform arms under segmental barrel vaults. Timber partitioning on south side added c. 1970, remainder of partitioning of 1989.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26660438

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)