Summary
Library to Downside Abbey, 1965-1970, by Francis Pollen of Brett and Pollen.
Reasons for Designation
The library at Downside Abbey is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* a highly imaginative building, comprising a stack of geometric volumes sandwiching a glazed octagonal reading room, topped with a weather-vane-like triangular form;
* structurally expressive and compositionally inventive, using carefully-chosen, contextually appropriate materials, built by direct labour with high-quality workmanship;
* for the spatial quality of the reading room, where double-height, fully glazed elevations contrast with the low compartments formed by radiating bookshelves;
* good quality joinery and cabinetry throughout;
* inventive and rationally planned around a central core of stairs and book lift.
Historic interest:
* an important C20 addition to the monastic estate, reflecting the scholarly traditions of the community;
* designed by Francis Pollen, an accomplished architect and alumnus of Downside;
* part of the development of Downside Abbey, established by a Benedictine congregation in the early C19, who created an architectural ensemble of the highest order, employing the most prominent Roman Catholic architects of the period.
Group value:
* occupying a position in the heart of the monastic ensemble, comprising a highly significant group of interconnected and functionally related buildings, of which several are listed at the highest Grades;
* a particularly strong group with the adjacent monastery building, where Pollen designed the east wing, which links with the library via an elevated covered way.
History
The Downside Estate was acquired in 1814 by a congregation of Benedictine monks compelled to leave their home in Douai, France, at the end of the C18. The monks initially settled in Acton Burnell, Shropshire, and from there, sought a base to establish a new monastery and school. Building began at Downside in the 1820s when the old manor house, Mount Pleasant, was adapted and extended with new school buildings erected in a number of phases throughout the C19 and C20. The monastic buildings and abbey church followed from the 1870s and into C20, along with extensions and additional school and estate buildings.
The construction of a library building was a longstanding ambition, with impetus renewed in the 1960s by the growth of the monastic community. Francis Pollen, himself an Old Gregorian, was chosen as architect. Pollen was then in partnership with Lionel Brett, Lord Esher, who, in his earlier practice with Boyd and Bosanquet, had worked on school buildings at Downside. Dom Philip (Anthony) Jebb was the brother of Pollen’s brother-in-law, and led the project for the Abbey; his own architectural interest and intentions clearly shaped early designs. Jebb specified the requirements for the buildings: compact and simple; freestanding in case of fire; connected to the monastery but with separate public access; with a public reading room; protection for books from damaging sunlight; and room for expansion. The site originally proposed for the library was within the monastic enclosure, however, an overwhelming majority voted for an alternative site adjacent to the east wing; this more accessible location reflects the spirit of Vatican II, enabling public access to the Church’s intellectual treasures. The commission included creating a new wing to replace a temporary building standing upon the Weld Cloister.
Jebb’s notebooks suggest he had a hand in the early development of the design. His sketches culminate in a circular building with a central core and outwardly radiating spaces. It is unknown whether this nascent form was of Jebb’s imagination, or whether Pollen was already involved. The latter seems probable; the centralised plan form and volumetric geometry being preoccupations of the architect and present in his concurrent design for Worth Abbey Church. The building’s eventual design is layered with reference and symbolism; Wittkower’s Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, which re-examined Renaissance ideas of proportion, was a clear influence, and the square and circle of the Vitruvian Man form the foundation of the eventual design. Pollen wrote of the ‘divine laws of geometry, mechanics and proportion’ (Architects’ Journal, 1965), and his profound Catholic faith is said to have been a guiding factor. Jebb’s notebooks refer to the concept of Bernini's colonnade of St Peter's 'embracing' the people, and the carrells within the reading room could be said to perform similarly. The Gatty sundial collection is also noted, and may have been a factor in the design of the gnomon-like lift housing.
The library was built by direct labour under the Downside Clerk or Works, Charles Howard. Photographs by Jebb chart its gradual construction: work began in 1965; the envelope was completed in 1969; and windows and fittings were installed in 1970. After the library was finished work began on the east wing, and the raised covered way that links the two was the final element to be built. Increasing the capacity of the building through extension to the east and north was part of the plan, though has not been implemented, and the building stands as built. The full-height glazing to the octagonal reading room was replaced in 2020. Originally, three sheets of glass with a fibreglass interlayer were intended to reduce solar gain and heat loss, and to diffuse damaging sun while permitting plentiful light. The replacement glazing does not replicate the milky translucency, instead enabling views into and out of the reading room.
Downside’s is the largest monastic library and archive in the UK, and is the central repository for the archives of the English Benedictine Congregation. The abbey has a rich history of scholarship; the Downside Review began in 1880 as a forum for the scholarly discussion of a wide range of topics, including monastic history, theology, philosophy and spirituality. Successive monk librarians amassed a collection which includes texts dating back to the C12, over 40 medieval manuscripts, 60 incunabula, a large collection of Papal bulls and briefs as well as the records of Aidan Cardinal Gasquet, Archivist and Librarian to the Holy See. It has a complete collection of English Recusant publications from 1517-1829. An architectural archive is also held, which includes Jebb's notebooks.
Francis Pollen (1926-1987) was trained at Cambridge and the Architectural Association. He was initially heavily influenced by the work of Edwin Lutyens, whose son he was at school with, and who remodelled Lambay Castle, Dublin bay, for his grandparents. He adopted the principles of the New Brutalism in the late 1950s, preferring heavy brick and concrete construction to what Alan Powers describes as the 'physical shallowness' of much contemporary modernism. Pollen is best-known for his church work, with the Abbey Church of our Lady Help of Christians, Worth, Mid Sussex, considered by some his masterpiece (National Heritage List for England entry 1392325, 1964-1989, Grade II).
Details
Library to Downside Abbey, 1965-1970, by Francis Pollen of Brett and Pollen.
MATERIALS: a concrete-framed construction with a central cylindrical core from which floorplates radiate, supported on an internal ring of columns at the perimeter. Externally clad in limestone ashlar at the base, with bush-hammered concrete and a ring of engineering brick. Glazing is in anodised aluminium frames.
PLAN: standing to the east of the east wing of the monastery, linked by a bridge. The entire structure was designed to fit within an imaginary 60-foot cube; it has a square base, a circular pedestal, and rises to an octagonal main range. It has a central core providing vertical access, with a book lift contained within a central cylinder, around which winds the stair, within a second cylinder.
EXTERIOR: the building is anchored to the ground by an ashlar-clad, battered square podium. This has blind north and south elevations, a series of slit windows on the eastern façade, and on the west, a central doorway with a slit window to either side. Above, a squat ring of engineering brick marks the transition to octagonal concrete forms: initially, a narrow ring with a continuous strip of glazing, and the deeper, double-height main range which projects above; this has full-height glazing in bronze frames with four-over-four lights. Another squat cylinder forms the top floor, and has blind, bush-hammered elevations housing the special collections. Angular concrete rainwater spouts project at the cardinal points. The composition is topped by a triangular form housing the machinery for the book lift.
The public entrance to the building is a pair of double doors on the ground floor of the west elevation of the podium. The principal entrance, for the monks, is via an elevated covered way, essentially an extension of the monastic enclosure, connected to the east wing of the monastery (also by Pollen), which enters the library on the first floor. The walkway is supported by tapered, rusticated stone piers. It has a concrete deck, timber and glazed sides, and a wide flat roof with a timber fascia.
INTERIOR: the building has five floors, arranged around the central circular core containing the stair and book lift. The basement and ground floor, within the largely-blind square podium, contain book storage rooms. The monk’s entrance to the building from the elevated walkway is at first-floor level, where the catalogue room, lecture room and WCs are located. Eight structural piers line the internal perimeter, and there is continuous clerestory glazing, enabling walls to accommodate bookshelves. The main reading room is above, and is a double height space at 4.3m, with a central octagonal mezzanine, recessed from the glazed curtain wall. The octagonal plan provides the geometric framework for the internal arrangement, where oak bookshelves radiate from the core, forming eight bays at each level. The top floor contains special collections, and is windowless: 16 circular rooflights in concrete tubes have been blocked from above. Bookshelves line the walls of the perimeter and the core, with radial arms which subdivide the space into eight bays.
The stair winds around the central cylinder of the book lift, enclosed within a second cylinder, and is lit from above.
The covered walkway is plainly detailed internally.
