Description

31/0/10420 THE BURROUGHS
07-MAY-02 Hendon Library

GV II

Hendon Public Library. 1929 by T.M. Wilson FRIBA for the Hendon Urban District Council. Red brick with extensive stone dressings, slate roof. Two storeys.
PLAN: Symmetrical plan with staircase over entrance lobby, ground floor reading rooms now merged together, with addition at rear.
EXTERIOR: central door in stone bolection-moulded surround, set beneath a multi-pane window, with moulded brackets supporting a hood; door lintel embellished with a Latin inscription ('Non mimima pars eruditionis est bonos noscere libros': 'not the least part of learning is to be acquainted with good books') and a relief of an open book. The entrance is flanked by two elongated, fluted columns in antis, supporting a stone entablature. Three bay side wings, with 6/6-pane sash windows to side bays, projecting wider central bay with rusticated quoins, 15/15-pane window in moulded frame with apron, swan-neck pediment above with urn over, set against a shallow niche of cut brick. Shallow pediments to attics. Hipped roof with square lantern to centre, with 12-pane window to each face beneath segmental pediments, and a copper-sheathed ball and spike finial. Five bay side elevations with dormers, wider continuations to rear. Back of library largely rebuilt during a 1973 campaign of alterations.
INTERIOR: wrought iron staircase over entrance lobby. Main reading room is now devoid of original fittings; former children's library to north now amalgamated with main reading room. First floor reference rooms with glazed ceilings. Mezzanine to rear dates from 1973 alterations.
HISTORY: a distinguished example of a Neo-Georgian public library, forming part of a fine group of civic buildings erected to serve this fast-expanding London suburb. The major campaign of alterations of 1973 affected the interior, but left the frontage intact.
REFERENCE: The Architect's Journal, 27 May 1931.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Hendon Library official website
• Wikidata Q27087003

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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)