Oldham Free Reference Library Museum and Art Gallery Union Street Oldham

In this competition the Corporation have selected the design marked ” F.S.A.,” submitted by Mr. Thomas Mitchell, F.R.I.B.A , of Oldham and Manchester, for the first premium, £100, and the design marked ” Practical ” (Messrs. Wright and Rawcliff), of Burnley) for the second place, £50. There are 26 competitors altogether, and the limit of cost was £8,000. The premiated design follows the general arrangement indicated in the instructions, and showed, on the ground -floor, beyond the entrance hall, a library, placed centrally between reference-room and periodical-room, and the spaces between are filled by screens, glazed with cathedral tinted glass, allowing of supervision. [Building News, 11 November  1881]

Semi‑circular stone panel above principal entrance; composition depicting female figure seated on a throne and reading a scroll. In front of her is the figure of a kneeling man holding a book; to the left stand two children, both holding books, next to a bookcase. Surmounting the gable is stone statue of a female figure holding a book in her left hand and wreath in the other. The figure is standing on an octagonal pedestal. Sculpted heads; these punctuate the the upper storey on the sides of the building. On the west side (Southgate Street) the 'representative heads' are Shakespeare, James Watt, Rubens, Michelangelo, George Stephenson and Samuel Crompton; on the east side the heads are Raffaelle, Handel, Mozart, Milton, Dante and Chaucer. Following the extension in 1894 the heads of Bacon, Newton and Darwin were added on the west side, and Swift, Harvey and Johnson on the east side.

Controversy surrounded the planning, building and opening of Oldham's library and art gallery. Whilst many other Lancashire cotton towns had implemented the legislation enabling them to open a public library, opinion in Oldham was more obviously divided about the value of such a facility. In part this was due to the existing libraries in the town operated by the Lyceum and the Co‑operative Society. It was in 1880 that the Corporation appointed a committee to examine the possibilities of establishing a public library. In the following year the project had taken the form of providing a reference library, museum and art gallery in a single building. The designs of Thomas Mitchell were selected for the new building. The main part of the building was officially opened in August 1883 though it was not until two years later that the library was opened to the public. The final cost of the building far exceeded the original estimate of some £8,000. An industrial exhibition organised to coincide with the 1883 opening surprisingly added to the corporation's financial embarrassment, in spite of attracting a staggering 286,000 visitors. A court case in which Mitchell sued one of the councillors for slander over the suggestion that he had overcharged the council was a further embarrassing episode for a municipal project intended to provide the town with a building it could point to with pride. Situated on Union Street, already the site of a number of the town's main public buildings, the library was designed in the Gothic style. Although Mitchell emphasised the practicalities of his design ‑ 'There is, therefore, no attempt to impose upon you by an exhibition of towers, pinnacles, or other extraneous frivolities, which are utterly beyond the scope of £8,000.' ‑ he did include some decorative flourishes ‑ a stone sculptural panel above the principal doorway. There was also a female figure surmounting the gable The identity of the figure is not known though the local tradition is that she was nicknamed 'Lady Wrigley', a sleight to the colourful local councillor, 'Colonel' William Wrigley, who had been vocal in opposing the idea of spending ratepayers' money on a public library. (The metal strip which girdles the figure like some form of chastity belt is part of a lighting conductor.) Both the panel and the figure were the work of the Manchester firm of architectural sculptors, J. J. Millson. They cost £15‑0‑0 and £13‑10s‑0d respectively. Millson was also responsible for the 12 sculpted heads which decorate the upper storey on the sides of the building. These represent individuals whose achievements in the arts, science and industry could be associated with the building's role as a centre of culture and learning.

Reference    Manchester Guardian Contracts 29 November 1881
Reference    Building News, 11 November  1881. Perspective including ground & 1st floor plan
Reference    Worrals Commercial Directory of Oldham 1888 Page 4-5 – Description
Reference    Public Monument and Sculpture Association National Recording Project