Library and Art Gallery

LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY, UNION STREET

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Explore this list entry

Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1282573
Date first listed:
08-Mar-1993
List Entry Name:
Library and Art Gallery
Statutory Address:
LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY, UNION STREET
User submitted image
Contributed by Peter Hyde This photo may not represent the current condition of the site. Over 400,000 images and stories have been added to the Missing Pieces Project so far. Share your story.
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places. 

There is a problem

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:

Icon Buildings
Icon Scheduled monuments
Icon Parks and gardens
Icon Battlefields
Icon Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.
Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.
Date:
2001-02-17
Reference:
IOE01/02812/03
Rights:
© Ms Pamela Jackson. 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 more

Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1282573
Date first listed:
08-Mar-1993
List Entry Name:
Library and Art Gallery
Statutory Address 1:
LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY, UNION 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:
LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY, UNION STREET

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

District:
Oldham (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:
Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:
SD 92871 04889

Details

OLDHAM

SD9204NE UNION STREET 780-1/6/82 (South side) Library and Art Gallery

GV II

Library and Art Gallery. 1883 with additions of 1894. Rusticated rubble, coursed and squared in small blocks. Red plain tiled roof with ridge cresting. High 2 storeys, symmetrically planned with central entrance gable and flanking blocks, each of 3 bays. Steps up to Romanesque style entrance with squat shafts carrying round arch, and low relief in tympanum. Shallow oriel with leaded trefoiled lights, city arms and inscription in frieze above. Gable coping surmounted by statue. Gable returns are linked to flanking blocks by full-height segmental bays in the angles with 2-light windows on each floor. Flanking blocks each of 3 windows, with tall segmentally-arched mullioned and transomed ground floor windows with stained glass in lower panes. Upper windows are trefoiled mullioned and transomed lights, and the central window cuts into gabled dormer with rose window. The gable of the dormer is carried on stumpy shafts. End wall stacks. Gable returns each have central stack corbelled out over first floor with rose windows to each side of it. Behind this frontage entrance block, 2 parallel rear wings comprise main galleries. High ground floor divided by buttresses into 6 bays each with segmentally-arched window, then high relief busts of artists and literary figures beneath timber clerestory which has overhanging eaves carried on paired timber shafts. Lower 3-bay block beyond has eastern entrance in gabled porch, inscribed "Lecture Hall" over doorway. Cast-iron railings with stone plinth wall and terminal piers flanking entrance steps carrying cast-iron globe lamps.

Listing NGR: SD9287104889

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:
388948
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.

Ordnance survey map of Library and Art Gallery

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 19-Jun-2026 at 05:48:12.

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.

Previous Overview
Next Comments and Photos