Built 1905-06, as Newbury Free Library. A contribution of £2,000 was offered by Andrew Carnegie to pay for the building in 1902. Money was raised by local subscription to purchase the site.
Designed by the Newbury Borough Surveyor, Mr S. J. Lee Vincent, A.M.I.C.E and built by Hoskings Brothers of West Mills, Newbury.
Edwardian Tudor style. Two storeys, plus storey in roof. Red brick, with stone mullion and transom windows, with Monks Park stone.
Ground floor frontage with projecting porch to left, large stone-mullioned curved bay window to right; on the first floor, two stone-mullioned windows. Half-timbered gable to front, with window. Gabled side (facing Carnegie Road) has wood-framed windows to first floor, with stone mullioned windows below; while rear part of building has windows with wooden frames.
Ground floor front porch has window on south side and above it inset stone Newbury Borough badge (three-tower ‘Newbury Castle’ design).
An inscribed Foundation Stone was inserted facing Cheap Street, in the Carnegie Road corner. Included in a time capsule buried below the foundation stone is a collection of contemporary memorabilia: a record of the proceedings at the laying of the stone, other official records, current coins, picture postcards of Newbury, and copies of The Times and the Newbury Weekly News.
It was extended to the east in the 1960s, with a new entrance; the old doorway became a window. It continued in use as a public library until July 2000, when replaced by a new Library on Newbury Wharf. The 1960s extension was then demolished, and soon afterwards the Cheap St. building became Prezzo restaurant, re-opening the original doorway to Cheap Street. The Cheap Street frontage has remained substantially unchanged since it was built.
As the former Newbury Public Library, it was an important part of the social fabric of Newbury for nearly a century. It is a Carnegie Library (built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie) and is one of 660 Carnegie libraries which were built in the UK between 1883 and 1929.
An attractive Edwardian-Tudor-style building which makes a positive contribution to the street scene in Cheap Street and the character and appearance of the conservation area.
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