Former Wedgwood Institute (Public Library)

FORMER WEDGWOOD INSTITUTE (PUBLIC LIBRARY), QUEEN STREET

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1195840
Date first listed:
19-Apr-1972
List Entry Name:
Former Wedgwood Institute (Public Library)
Statutory Address:
FORMER WEDGWOOD INSTITUTE (PUBLIC LIBRARY), QUEEN STREET
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Date:
2000-10-08
Reference:
IOE01/01442/03
Rights:
© Mr Brian Peach. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1195840
Date first listed:
19-Apr-1972
List Entry Name:
Former Wedgwood Institute (Public Library)
Statutory Address 1:
FORMER WEDGWOOD INSTITUTE (PUBLIC LIBRARY), QUEEN STREET

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
FORMER WEDGWOOD INSTITUTE (PUBLIC LIBRARY), QUEEN STREET

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:
City of Stoke-on-Trent (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:
SJ 86866 49748

Details

SJ 8649 NE,
613-1/10/20

STOKE ON TRENT,
BURSLEM,
Queen Street (north side),
Former Wedgwood Institute (Public Library)

19.04.72

G.V.

II*

Public Library, the former Wedgwood Institute, built as
library, art school etc. in 1869. Original plans prepared by G. B.
Nichols of Wolverhampton, design modified by Robert Edgar and
John Lockwood Kipling. Brick with terracotta dressings and
plain tiled roof. 2 storeys, a richly ornamented facade with
central doorway in slightly advanced gabled porch enriched with
terracotta frieze and shafts to arched entry, flanked by busts
in shallow niches, and with tiles around the archway. It is
surmounted by a bust of Josiah Wedgwood. Windows form a
continuous arcade on both storeys, and between the storeys,
are 10 bass relief terracotta panels by M. H. Blanchard or
Rowland Morris which depict processes in the manufacture of
pottery. Above the upper windows, a further series of
terracotta panels set in arcading illustrate the months of the
year, and over them, a further arcade with mosaic signs of the
zodiac. Heavy eaves cornice carried on console brackets with a
terracotta frieze of pierced quatrefoils above. The
architectural ornamentation, though not the applied sculpture,
continues round the side elevations for several bays.

(SOURCES: The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Staffordshire:
Harmondsworth; The Victoria History of the Counties of
England: Pugh R. B.: Staffordshire: Oxford: 1963-).


Listing NGR: SJ8686649748

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
384470
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Stafford, (1963)
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Staffordshire, (1974)

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Former Wedgwood Institute (Public Library)

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 22-Jul-2026 at 21:42:27.

Download a full scale map (PDF)
© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

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.

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