English Renaissance style, with bold cornices and handsome mullioned windows, an interest being obtained with widely proportioned bay windows the whole height of the façade, which is finished by gables and dormers picturesquely breaking the skyline, and grouping with the tall brick and stone chimneys.
The public rooms are ample and commodious. They comprise a central hall for the lending department, 30 feet by 24; news-room, 50 feet by 25; magazine-room, 20 feet by 18; ladies' room, 20 feet by 12; boys' room, 25 feet by 12; reference room, 30 feet by 17; and a lending library, 40 feet by 22, capable of storing about 30,000 volumes. The counter is 30 feet long, with ample room for service in the rear; there is also a show-case at one end, 6 feet wide, for the display of new books. The arrangement of the rooms is shown in Fig. 98.
Reading slopes, 5 feet 6 inches high, for daily newspapers have been placed against the walls of the news-room, and four double slopes, 15 feet long, stand on the floor; most of the weekly papers are fixed on these, and a title board is placed over each.
The ladies' room is provided with two slopes placed against the wall at a height of 3 feet 6 inches, thus enabling the readers to be seated while using them. The tables in the magazine-room have a division down the centre, on which the title boards are fixed, the reading cases being fastened by cords to the tables. The top floor of
