Central Library Newcastle

NEWCASTLE NEW FREE LIBRABY - Last Monday week the foundation stone of the new building to be erected in New Bridge-street was laid. The building is a mixture of the Corinthian and Doric styles. The façade, including the front of the Mechanics' Institute, to which the new building joins, will be 167 feet in length, manged in bays 30 feet wide at each end. The principal entrance will be in the centre, approached by seven steps through a portico with Doric columns, supporting an entablature which will be surmounted by a balustrade This balustrade will be continued along the whole length of the building. The centre portion will be surmounted by a pediment, having below it a cornice of the Corinthian order, with blocking course parapet terminating at the projecting bays. At each end of the building the bays will be finished with a medallion cornice surmounted by a balustrade. The roof is to be semi-circular. The centre portion of the first-floor room will be lighted by skylights through a panelled ceiling, and by gas sun-lights at night. The building will be three storeys in height. The basement floor will be used for the libraries, and will cover an area of 330 square yards; the lending library will be 60 feet by 40 feet, and 17 feet 6 inches high. A library containing books for reference, 58 feet by 36 feet, semi-circular in form, and 19 feet 10 inches high, will also be on this floor, and two reading-rooms, 43 feet 4 inches by 28 feet and 25 feet by 19 feet respectively, each 17 feet 6 inches high. All these apartments will be approached from the principal hall or vestibule 43 feet long and 20 feet wide. On the first floor the front rooms will be devoted to pictures and sculpture. This suite of rooms will have a length of 135 feet, and be 28 feet wide, and from 23 feet to 28 feet high, being divided by partition walls with sliding doors. Four rooms on the same floor will be set apart for science and art classes; these will be approached from the street by a separate entrance, and be distinct and separate from the library. There will be apartments above for the caretaker, and provision for apparatus to be used in case of fire. The area of the site is 1,431 square yards, which will nearly all be covered by the building; and the land and structural works are estimated to cost £20,000. All the masonry in the front elevation will be of ashlar stone. The iron roof of the two large rooms on the first floor will be semi-circular in form, and as it will be free from framing or other obstructions, the whole of the air space under the ceiling will thus be utilised. [British Architect 17 September 1880 Page 135]

Reference            British Architect 17 September 1880 Page 135