Kensington Central Library Including Adjoining Pylons
KENSINGTON CENTRAL LIBRARY INCLUDING ADJOINING PYLONS, HORNTON STREET W8
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1119724
- Date first listed:
- 24-Apr-1998
- List Entry Name:
- Kensington Central Library Including Adjoining Pylons
- Statutory Address:
- KENSINGTON CENTRAL LIBRARY INCLUDING ADJOINING PYLONS, HORNTON STREET W8
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-02-18
- Reference:
- IOE01/16322/18
- Rights:
- © Mr Anthony Rau. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1119724
- Date first listed:
- 24-Apr-1998
- List Entry Name:
- Kensington Central Library Including Adjoining Pylons
- Statutory Address 1:
- KENSINGTON CENTRAL LIBRARY INCLUDING ADJOINING PYLONS, HORNTON STREET W8
- Statutory Address 2:
- KENSINGTON CENTRAL LIBRARY INCLUDING ADJOINING PYLONS, PHILLIMORE WALK W8
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- KENSINGTON CENTRAL LIBRARY INCLUDING ADJOINING PYLONS, HORNTON STREET W8
- Statutory Address:
- KENSINGTON CENTRAL LIBRARY INCLUDING ADJOINING PYLONS, PHILLIMORE WALK W8
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- Kensington and Chelsea (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 25422 79598
Details
TQ 2579 NW HORNTON STREET, W8
(west side)
249/30/10039 Kensington Central Library
including adjoining pylons)
GV II*
Public library. 1958-60 by E Vincent Harris. Steel frame clad in hand-made brick, Bath and Portland stone. Tile roofs exposed as hips to ends. Rectangular plan of six bay centre with broad, projecting end pavilions. Two storeys with basements and attic, the ground floor housing the lending library and the first floor having the reference library; the eastern pavilion has the entrance and staircase, the western the children's and local studies collections. Portland stone base, cornice and parapet. All windows square headed and with small panes, those to first floor and to five-bay returns with architrave surrounds. The end pavilions are the most prominent part of the composition, with giant arched openings with stone surrounds and keystones. Main entrance in eastern pavilion surmounted with busts of Chaucer and Caxton. Phillimore Walk elevation with stone pylons surmounted respectively by Lion and Unicorn figures symbolic of the Royal status granted to the Borough of Kensington in 1941. These and bronze gilded figure 'Genius' in parapet by William McMillan.
Interior is particularly well-preserved. Entrance hall and children's area lined with Doulting stone, that by the entrance with long inscription to wisdom, and plaque to the library's opening by the Queen Mother on 13 July 1960. The rest of the ground floor lined with acoustic panels, with square piers, original bookcases of Ghana mahogany inlaid with brass, and terrazzo floors. Dog-leg stair with glass panels etched with 'K' emblem lead to more sumptously appointed reference library, whose walls and six pairs of columns are panelled in walnut, and which also retains original bookcases and fittings. Kensington Central Library is a remarkable and completely surviving example of Harris's post-war. work in the classical, 'neo Renaissance' idiom - as demanded by the council. It is the last of a long sequence of distinguished public buildings (beginning before the First World War) by the most distinguished specialist of the genre.
(Official Architecture and Planning, London, 506-9)
Listing NGR: TQ2542279598
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 469222
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 11-Jun-2026 at 21:06:49.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.