Description

Dated 1905. 2-storey, 3-bay symmetrical plain rectangular-plan library with Tudor-gothic details; gabletted 1st floor windows; built on ground rising to W. Harled with polished sandstone ashlar dressings. Hood moulds over windows; stone mullions and cills; ball-finialled gablets.

N (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: stone step to 2-leaf, architraved timber panelled door with rectangular fanlight at ground in bay to centre; part-glazed timber panelled 2-leaf vestibule doors; window, hugging eaves, at 1st floor above. Bipartite window at each floor in each bay flanking.

E (SIDE) ELEVATION: 2-bay, gabled wall. Window at each floor in each bay. Consoled commemorative plaque set between 1st floor windows, beneath corbelled stack to gable.

2-pane timber sash and case windows with stained glass small-pane top lights. Grey slate roof; decorative pierced red clay ridge; red clay finials; concrete skews; harled, coped gablehead stacks to E and W; cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative brackets and hoppers.

INTERIOR: open-plan interior at ground with timber reception desk to centre; boarded dado in entrance hall and up stairs; turned timber newel posts with large ball finials; turned timber banisters; timber handrails; architraved timber panelled doors; converted as art gallery at 1st floor; cornices and timber skirting boards extant throughout.

Statement of Interest

The commemorative plaque to the W gable is inscribed, "STROMNESS PUBLIC LIBRARY, THE GIFT OF THE LATE MARJORY SKEA, OR CORRIGAL, STROMNESS, 1905". Around 1820 a public library was first established in Stromness and was kept up by subscriptions of 7s. annually. It was then taken over by the Town Council, under the Libraries Act and, through a legacy from Mrs Skea, the present building was erected.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77772059

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

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
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  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
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  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)