Carnegie Free Library, Church Street and York Street, Clitheroe

The Clitheroe Corporation and Free Library Committee have unanimously accepted the designs of Messrs S. Butterworth and Duncan (Rochdale), for the library which Mr. Carnegie is presenting.[Burnley Express Wednesday 2 March 1904 page 2]

NEW FREE LIBRARY, CLITHEROE - A joint meeting of Clitheroe Town Council and the Free Library Committee was held in the Town Hall recently, at which the plans for the new Carnegie Library, prepared by Messrs. Butterworth and Duncan, Rochdale, and Mr. Sandbach, Blackburn, were reconsidered, when those of the former were accepted. The proposed structure is a building of Yorkshire dressed stone in the Renaissance style. The end facing Castle-street is a segment of a circle and carried forward at the top in the form of a tower, being 50 ft. high from the basement. At the top of the tower are three ornamental dormer windows. The building is three stories high from York-street. The entrance will be from Church-street, adjoining the present library. There will be a short vestibule giving access to a circular hall. From the entrance-hall, which also forms the borrowers’ space, a staircase rises to the first floor, a landing giving access to the committee room and general reading-room. The latter will be fitted up with tables for the accommodation of readers, and at the tower end a circular room will be marked off by columns, forming a semi-private part for students. The architects give an accommodation for 15,000 books in the lending library; and the basement will be occupied as a work and store room, heating- chamber, etc. [Builder 12 March 1904 page 285]

LIBRARY, CLITHEROE - The plans for the proposed new Carnegie Library for Clitheroe have been approved by Mr. Carnegie. The designs for the building have been prepared by Messrs. Butterworth and Duncan, architects, of Rochdale. The cost of the building will be £3,000, and the site, which is in the centre of the town and adjoins the Town Hall, has cost the Corporation close upon £2,000. Accommodation will be found in the building for a library of 15,000 volumes, with committee, reading, and students’ rooms. [Builder 18 June 1904 page 666]

SELECTED DESIGN FOR THE FREE LIBRARY, CLITHEROE - These plans were selected in a limited competition for a small library. The site, although important, was very limited, and joins up to the town-hall. Every inch of site had to be used, and the rooms made to balance on each side of an axial line. The materials are dressed Yorkshire ashlar for walling and Westmoreland green slates for roof. The fireproof floors are laid with woodblock facings. The fittings are to be of fumed oak. The cost is £3,000. Messrs. Butterworth and Duncan are the architects. [Building News 15 July 1904 page 73 and illustration]

PUBLIC LIBRARY, CLITHEROE - The new library and reading-room at Clitheroe, which has been presented to the town by Mr. Andrew Carnegie, is now nearing completion. The plans were prepared by Messrs. Butterworth & Duncan, Rochdale, the contract being let to Messrs. J. Hargreaves & Son, Clitheroe. The building, which is of stone, consists of basement, ground floor, and first floor. The lending library and librarian’s room occupy the ground floor, and on the first floor is a reading-room, there also being a room for the use of the Library Committee. The cost of the work has been about £3,000. [Builder 23 September 1905 page 328].

Reference        Burnley Express Wednesday 2 March 1904 page 2
Reference        Building News 1 July 1904 Page 33 -contracts
Reference        Building News 15 July 1904 Page 73 and illustration
Reference        British Architect 27 October 1905. Page 304.
Reference        Builder 12 March 1904 page 285
Reference        Builder 18 June 1904 page 666
Reference        Builder 23 September 1905 page 328 - completion