3-077-842 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

St. Martin-In-The-Fields Free Library, 1890. Building '...to be erected by the Vestry of the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar-square...We present [an Illustration of the external design]...the architect of which is Mr. Robert Walker, of 33, King-street, Covent-garden: the builders are Messrs. Peto...The Free Library will be built upon that portion of the site which faces St. Martin's-lane, and will cost £7000. The half-basement of the building is to be used as a news room, the ground floor as a lending library and magazine room, and the first floor as a reference library. The latter already contains over 6000 volumes, not a few of them bearing upon the rich historical associations of the parish; while the lending library starts with the modest complement of 10,000 books. Happily, though St. Martin's has a resident population of but 17,500 souls, the ratable value is so great that the penny rate allowed by the Free Libraries Act brings in quite £2000 a year - a sum which is adequate to the proper maintenance of the institution. The Townhall and Free Library will be admirable examples of the style known as Classic Renaissance, and the elevations will be built entirely in Portland stone'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.