Gosport and Alverstoke Free Library, Walpole Road, Gosport

GOSPORT FREE LIBRARY AND TECHNICAL INSTITUTE – The drawings which we reproduce to-day are those submitted by the late firm of Spalding & Cross in the recent limited competition. The working drawings are now being prepared by the author of the design, Mr. A. W. S. Cross, under whose supervision the building will be erected. The public entrance to the Free Library department is placed in the centre of the Walpole Street facade. the entrance porch giving direct access to (1) the lending library, (2) the reading - room, subdivided by means of a glazed partition into a newspaper-room and a reference reading-room, both rooms being under the direct control of (3) the librarian, whose. centrally-placed office affords every facility for the efficient supervision of all the rooms comprising the library department. The rooms in the art department have been carefully arranged in accordance with the Memorandum issued by the Science and Art Department. They are lighted by means of windows and skylights placed in the north wall and roof of the front block. The technical institute is placed in the return block facing Clarence Road. In designing this department due consideration been given to the possibility of the rooms being required for the purposes of a day science school, in which case it is suggested that a doorway should be substituted for the west corridor window, marked a on the ground floor plan, to allow of access being to the vacant land, which could then be used as a recreation ground. In view of the limited amount it is proposed to expend upon the building (£5,000), a very simple and inexpensive style of architecture has been adopted. An attempt has, however, been made to secure a picturesque effect by means of careful grouping and good outline. It is suggested that the long unbroken frieze of the front elevation could be effectively enriched by a symbolical design, illustrative of the Arts and Sciences, executed, either in sgraffito or modelled plaster, by the advanced art students under the supervision of the art master. The provision for the enrichment of this frieze has not been included in the estimate. [Builder 16 September 1899 page 263]

GOSPORT - The new Free Library and Technical Institute for Gosport and Alverstoke was formally opened on Wednesday week by the Earl of Northbrook, GCSI., Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire. The building is erected at the comer of Clarence-road South, and opposite the Thorngate Hall, and the offices of the urban district council. The total cost has been £8,000. The public entrance to the free library department is placed in the centre of the Walpole-street facade, the entrance-porch giving direct access to the lending library, the reading and newsroom, the reference reading-room, and the librarian. The rooms in the art department, occupying the whole of the first-floor area of the front, or Walpole Road elevation, have been arranged in accordance with the requirements of the Science and Art Department; They are lighted by windows and skylights, placed in the north wall and in the roof of the front block. The technical institute is placed in the return block facing Clarence Road. The accommodation provided comprises, on the ground floor, a physical laboratory, a chemical laboratory, and a classroom, and on the first flour a cookery-room and two large classrooms. The caretaker's rooms are placed in the upper stage of the tower. The works have been carried out by Messrs. Rashleigh and Son, of Southampton, under the immediate supervision of Mr. H. Frost. The architect, whose design was selected in a limited competition, is Mr. A. W. S. Cross, M.A., FRIBA, of 58, Conduit-street, Regent Street, London. A modelled plaster frieze over the library entrance was designed and executed by Mr. F. E. Schenek. The centre portion depicts the landing of Henry dc Blois on what is now the Gosport shore, and the east and west panels are emblematic (1) of Henry Cort, whose ironworks were situated on Gosport Green and by the river Meon at Funtley, about 17S5; and (2) of the Lady Alwara, the wife of the Saxon Thane Leowin, from whom Alverstoke is said to get its name. [Building News 18 October 1901 page 518]

PUBLIC LIBRARIES - The Gosport Free Library and Technical Institute, by Mr A. W. S. Cross FRIBA is a compound building of which the library forms only a relatively small portion. The borrowers’ counter is immediately opposite the entrance, from which it is divided by a light screen; but the attendants do not find their books immediately behind the counter, but in a distinct bookstore, which is planned so as rather more readily to serve the reference library. There is a small librarian’s office at the back of the book service, and from this all departments are readily accessible, the reading room being largely devoted to newspaper stands. The reference library is evidently intended to be used principally by the students of the Technical Institute, into the entrance hall if which has means of access through a communicating door. The school is planned to some extent on the principles laid down in the last volume, but upon the ground floor the two laboratories and the adjacent classroom open out of one another. The first floor is entirely given up to the school, and contains a series of large classrooms and a room devoted to cookery and laundry work. The plan is L-shaped and well-lighted from both sides. Adjacent to the main staircase of the school is a small winding stair, which reaches down to the boiler house and up to quite a small residence for the caretaker on the second floor, about the least possible accommodation being provided for him. The elevation suggests a well thought-out scheme of colour, while it is designed in the simple, old-fashioned style which at the present time is affected by a good many architects. [Modern Buildings Volume 4 Chapter 1 page 9]

Reference        Builder 16 September 1899 page 262-263 and illustration,
Reference        Building News 18 October 1901 page 518,
Reference        Gazetteer of Historic Public Library Buildings, 1850-1940 page 26
Reference        G.A.T. Middleton: Modern buildings: their planning, construction, and equipment:  1905, Volume 4 Chapter 1 page 7, illustration, page 9 text