Gosport Museum and Art Gallery

Summary

Former public library and technical institute of around 1901, to the designs of A W S Cross, extended around 1908 when converted to a grammar school, and now (2023) a museum and art gallery.

Reasons for Designation

Gosport Museum and Art Gallery, a former public library and technical institute of around 1901, to the designs of A W S Cross, extended around 1908 when converted to a grammar school, is listed at Grade II for the following reasons:
 
Architectural interest:
 
*  as a good example of a broadly Art Nouveau style library and school, with a distinctive corner tower;
 
*  further interest is added by a good bas-relief stone frieze by Frederick Schenck, the architectural sculptor, which depicts scenes from Gosport's history;
 
*  internally the Art Nouveau joinery complete with flower motifs, leaded lights and stylised, brass door furniture, adds interest;
 
*  although it has been extended to the rear, the principal elevations survive well.
 
Historic interest:
 
*  as a good example of the work of A W S Cross, a well-respected early C20 architect who went on to specialise in the design of public baths, a number of which are listed.

History

Gosport is recorded in 1206 as a ‘newly built’ port town (Oxford Archaeology 2014, 20). That which survives of the medieval grid pattern of streets and tenements is situated in what is now ‘Old Gosport’ and incorporates the east-west running High Street (‘Middle Street’ on C18 maps) which is flanked by North Street and South Street, with small cross streets and lanes (such as North Cross Street, South Cross Street and Bemister’s Lane) linking the three.

By 1417, Gosport was involved in the defensive system of Portsmouth Harbour with a blockhouse (fort) on Blockhouse Point. A ferry service linked the two towns from the C16 onwards and the subsequent development of Gosport was largely driven by its role in defending the western landward and seaward approaches to the harbour and supplying the Royal Navy.

From the late C17 onwards, a line of ramparts and artillery bastions, known as the Gosport Lines, were built surrounding the town. Gosport’s growth over the following three centuries mirrored that of the navy, as boatyards, rope-making facilities, victualling yards, a prison, hospitals, barracks and naval bases were constructed. It also led to demand for housing in large new residential areas beyond the Gosport Lines. In the mid-C19, invasion fears saw new fortifications built, including the five artillery forts of the Gosport Advanced Line, and the Stokes Bay Lines.

Gosport continued to have an important military role in providing bases and training facilities during the First and Second World War. However, the town suffered major bomb damage during the latter conflict, and there was extensive post-war rebuilding, particularly of new housing developments. Gosport’s military establishments continued to modernise and diversify until the 1990s, which saw the beginning of a period of closures and redevelopments that has continued into the 2020s.

Gosport Free Library was built around 1901 to designs by A W S Cross (1858-1932), who was successful in winning a design competition set by the district council. It was built as a public library combined with a technical institute for boys and girls, but soon became the Gosport Grammar School. Plans from 1899 show the south-west wing as a library on the ground floor, with a desk serving a secure book store, a newspaper room and a reference library. The north wing had a tower stair, male cloakroom and practical study rooms for carpentry, plumbing and woodwork.  Above the library, the upper floor was laid out with an elementary class room, a modelling room, life room, school library and staff room. The first floor of the northern wing contained the girls cloak room, classrooms, cookery room and a laboratory. The top floor of the tower had living accommodation for a caretaker. 
 
Cross was in partnership with Henry Spalding and took part in a number of building design competitions, later specialising in public baths, including the Grade II-listed Camberwell Public Baths (NHLE reference 1376535).
 
The front of the former library has a stone frieze by Frederick Schenck, the architectural sculptor. The three panels depict scenes from Gosport's history.
 
In 1907 the building was extended at the rear and to the north end, to accommodate expansion of the school, when a first floor corridor, toilets, staircase and assembly hall were added to the facilities. The pupils were evacuated during the Second World War and the building was used as a restaurant. By 1958 the increase in pupil numbers necessitated a move of the school to larger premises at Bay House.
 
During the 1960s and 1970s, the library remained open before a new one was built in 1975. The original library/school was then converted into a museum, becoming a local studies centre in 2005. In 2022 it was restored and renamed as the Gosport Museum and Art Gallery, including the addition of a linking passage from the main entrance to the former assembly hall (art gallery in 2023).

Details

Former public library and technical institute of around 1901, built to the designs of A W S Cross, extended around 1908 when converted to a grammar school, and now (2023) a museum and art gallery.
 
MATERIALS: roughcast render and exposed red-brown brick, under a clay tile roof.
 
PLAN: broadly L-shaped with entrances to both fronts and the corner tower.
 
EXTERIOR: designed in a broadly Art Nouveau style with a brick ground floor laid predominantly in English bond and a rough-cast render to the first floor above a moulded string course. The south-west wing (former library) has a symmetrical facade with central entrance. It stands under a classical porch with dentil cornice (dated 1901), which is supported by short, coupled columns resting on a rendered, 'battered' base wall. The main entrance door is round-headed and there is a narrow door to either side, with a curved shelf and a four pane window. The leaded-light windows are confined to the ground floor and consist of two, canted bays with flat lead roofs and battered bases, interspersed with regular, segmentally-headed, top-hinged windows. The first floor has a frieze of low-relief carving by Frederick Schenck, depicting Lady Alwara a C10 Saxon widow who gave Alverstoke to the St Swithun Priory; Henry de Bois (Bishop of Winchester) who landed at Gosport after a storm at sea and gratefully named the town 'God's Port'; and an illustration of the influential C18 industrialist Henry Court, at his forge. The eaves across the whole building are deep, and a line of metal supports spring from the wall below, terminating in a curved end.
 
At the right side of the library there is a three-storey, brick corner tower, at the ground floor of which is a late-C20 glazed entrance door with a plain, stone architrave with moulded cornice and a flat, lead covered porch roof, supported by decorative stays. Above, there is a Diocletian window and a tripartite, multi-pane window to the second floor, which is faced with hung tile at this level. The circular tower protrudes on the corner and is lit by small windows which follow the stairs within. The deep eaves continue at roof level, creating a saucer-shaped projection over the stair tower roof, which is pitched to the rear.
 
The north wing is more functional. Right of the tower, there is a recessed bay which has a casement to the ground floor, a round-headed window to the first and a multi-pane casement to the top floor. The next bay has a canted corner and three regular windows to each floor. To the right, the elevation has a rendered first floor. The fenestration is of flat-headed, tripartite casements to the ground floor and single or tripartite casements with segmental heads to the first floor. The school entrance is of similar design to that at the corner tower. The end of the elevation is recessed and has regular, two-pane windows.
 
The side and rear elevations are of a similar if more functional design, apart from the west end of the library which has a battered bay window and the rear of the hall which has a large, round headed window with two transom bars and leaded lights.
 
INTERIOR: the library space has been opened up either side of the main entrance to create a cafe to the left side and a museum room to the right. They are defined by sections of repurposed timber screens, which have timber panels to the lower section beneath high-set leaded-lights with some stained glass. The joinery has an Art Nouveau character with flower motifs, leaded lights and stylised, brass door furniture. The main stairs are curved and have squared newel posts and banisters, decorated with carved hearts. The hall roof is supported by metal arches and has a shallow gallery, behind decorative, cast-iron banisters.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

409743

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Architects 1800-1950, accessed 12/8/2023 from https://architecture.arthistoryresearch.net/architects/cross-alfred-william-stephens
Oxford Archaeology, Gosport Historic Urban Characterisation Study (2014)., accessed 20/1/2024 from https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/98-2014
Gosport Borough Council, High Street Conservation Area Appraisal (2006)., accessed 20/1/2024 from https://www.gosport.gov.uk/conservation-area-appraisals
Harwood, E, Historic England Research Report: Post-War Gosport (Old Town) (2022)., accessed 20/1/2024 from https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/53-2022

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