Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/174

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150
LIBRARY ARCHITECTURE

they have been with the new branch library at St. Philip's, which was opened in 1896. This was erected from the designs of Mr. W. V. Gough, and is a handsome building of the Renaissance type, with a frontage of 100 feet to Trinity Street. The entrance is at the corner, and after passing through vestibules, each about 13 feet square, the newspaper reading-room is reached. It is a large hall, 78 feet by 33 feet, and 30 feet in height. It is lit by windows on either side, and the walls are of coloured brick, with a dado of wood.

The lending department is ingeniously arranged. It is triangular in shape, and the sides are about 30 feet in length. One side opens to the newsroom, and the other to a general reading-room and boys' reading-room, about 38 feet square. This arrangement gives good supervision from the attendants in the lending library to all parts of the building.

The new building, in which is housed the Cheltenham Public Library, School of Art, and Science School, was erected in 1889 from the designs of Mr. W. H. Knight. It occupies a central site, 114 feet in length, with an average breadth of nearly 80 feet. With the exception of the entrances to the two schools of art and science, the whole of the ground floor is used for library purposes. The chief entrance is planned centrally, and opens with a spacious hall 30 feet in length and 13 feet wide. On the left is the newspaper reading-room, which is 70 feet by 27 feet, with accommodation for over 100 readers. On the right is the reference library,