Central Public Library
CENTRAL PUBLIC LIBRARY, VICTORIA SQUARE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1139838
- Date first listed:
- 18-Mar-1974
- List Entry Name:
- Central Public Library
- Statutory Address:
- CENTRAL PUBLIC LIBRARY, VICTORIA SQUARE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-04-08
- Reference:
- IOE01/05180/04
- Rights:
- © Mr Bob Cottrell. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1139838
- Date first listed:
- 18-Mar-1974
- List Entry Name:
- Central Public Library
- Statutory Address 1:
- CENTRAL PUBLIC LIBRARY, VICTORIA SQUARE
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:
- CENTRAL PUBLIC LIBRARY, VICTORIA SQUARE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Middlesbrough (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- NZ 49637 20166
Details
MIDDLESBROUGH VICTORIA SQUARE, NZ 4920 SE east side. 9/91 Central Public Library. 18.3.74 - II Public library, 1909/12 by S.B. Russell and T.E. Cooper (London), under part patronage of Andrew Carnegie. Rear extension 1977. Red brick with sandstone ashlar plinth, parapet, towers and dressings. Renewed slate roof. Baroque style. One storey, with 2-storey end bays, and attic storey. Eleven bays, with wider and slightly-projecting 2nd and 10th bays, the latter with wrought iron 2-leaf gates enriched with wreaths and medallions, under overlight with lozenge-pattern glazing bars, in architrave. Entablature with applied metal lettering: "PUBLIC LIBRARY" in frieze, under 24-pane casement window in enriched architrave. Similar windows in 2nd bay. Paired giant Roman Ionic pilasters, rising from deep continuous plinth, flank doorway and windows and support continuous entablature. Short towers over 2nd and 10th bays each has window, with patterned glazing bars in broken-pedimented architrave, with urn and swag in tympanum. Middle bays have 24-pane hopper-light windows, in architraves under entablatures, set behind similar colonnade-in-antis. Balustraded parapet; straight parapets on towers. Right end bay has similar window. Narrow left end bay has round-headed doorway with similar gate. Both end bays have oculi in architraves on first floor. Mansard roof with flat-roofed dormers over middle and right end bays. 6-bay right returns. 2-storey rear extension in keeping. INTERIOR: entrance hall has marble wall cladding. Panelled double doors with glazed round top panels, under fanlights, in architraves with enriched escutcheons and flanked by pilasters. Continuous impost entablature with triglyphs and guttae. Ceiling has roundel with raised border of fruit and flowers. Marble imperial staircase has iron post-and-rail balustrade with medallions, moulded wood handrail and marble pedestal newels. Plaster panelled walls to staircase and landings. Similar doors, on first floor, in panelled surrounds, under broken pediments on fluted consoles, with enriched escutcheons in tympana. Bronze commemorative tablets on staircase landing. First-floor reference library has segmental-arched ceiling with square-panelled ribs between dormers. Heavily-moulded top entablature with pulvinated frieze. Oak panelled walls. Gallery,on 4 sides, projects at angles and sides to form 5 bays; supported on Roman Doric columns with continuous entablature. Iron post-and-rail fronts. Similar galleried reading room adjoining.
Listing NGR: NZ4963720166
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 59802
- 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 09-Jul-2026 at 09:57:56.
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.