designs of Messrs. Beaumont of Manchester. In the buildings there is provided a library, containing space for 20,000 volumes, a public hall, a technical school, and, what is a new departure in municipal buildings, a coffee-tavern and chess and billiard rooms. The total cost, including the site, has been about £15,000, and towards this the Whitworth Legatees have contributed £8500. The whole site contains an area of about 1830 square yards, and is almost entirely covered by the buildings. As the site has frontage to two streets, ample entrances and exits are provided to the different departments.
The library is entered from Ashton Old Road, and comprises lending library, with space for borrowers 49 feet by 30 feet, reading-room 60 feet by 40 feet 6 inches, and boys' readingroom, 42 feet by 29 feet, with separate entrance from South Street (Fig. 81). The rooms are divided from one another by glazed screens, which insure complete superintendence of all parts of the rooms by the attendants in the library. The library is lighted from large windows looking into Ashton Old Road, and the bookcases are fixed at right angles to the windows, giving space for about 10,000 volumes. The reading-room is in two parts, the larger part being 60 feet by 30 feet, and the smaller part 47 feet by 9 feet, divided from one another by an arcade of four semicircular arches carved on polished granite columns. The larger part has an open timber roof, finished the whole length of the room with skylights of
