Secrets of Paisley library revealed as staff get set for move
100-year-old fireplace found in reading room
An exquisite Art Nouveau fireplace has been rediscovered in what used to be the ladies’ reading room of Paisley Central Library.
The fireplace, which includes brass and marble fittings, dates from 1905 and was hidden behind a huge highbacked sofa.
And it only came to light again when the library and neighbouring museum were being surveyed for their imminent closure for refurbishment.
Douglas Breingan, Paisley Museum technician, said: “They had set up a reading room in the town hall for gentlemen, which was also a smoking room.
“But they built a ladies’ equivalent here, which was originally up in the museum area, or what now is the museum, and they moved it three times.
“And the records state that as a resource it was almost unique in Scotland.
“Until recently we weren’t aware of it but actually part of the main reference library was at one time a ladies’ reading room.”
Both the gentlemen’s reading room at the town hall and the ladies’ reading room at the library were opened in 1882, Mr Breingan added.
“To get to the ladies’ reading room in the museum there was a route through from the library,” he said.
The door from this route still exists and can just been seen behind a radiator in the present-day reference library and Heritage Centre.
“This room is full of doors” Mr Breingan said.
He added: “The thought for redeveloping this complex was it was known in advance that we’d have to learn everything about it.
“And so for the past three years this building has been prodded, poked, whatever, by a huge array of surveys.
“Everything from the lead on the roof to digging down more than 100 feet to make sure there are no coal mines underneath has been investigated.
“And part of this is because Historic Environment Scotland will have a huge input into the whole process, and we have to maintain the historic integrity of this.
“This building is Grade I listed so we have to treat it with care and respect.
“Part of that means if we are looking at redeveloping the building we may find old doorways.
“There is opportunity that if we want a doorway there then we can actually utilise it because it’s not creating something new.
“The potential is there and it makes the design process easier and everybody is happy if we are utilising what was there originally.”
The museum complex has been extended 10 time since it was built in 1871.
It was just a simple rectangle in those days, and then there was a major extension in 1882 when the Pillar Gallery was built, along with the original ladies’ reading room.
It was in 1905 that there was further building and this would contain what was to become the ladies’ reading room in the present-day Central Library.
It was designed by the famous architectural firm of Honeyman, Keppie and Mackintosh.
There was originally a partition in the library of 1905 that enclosed the ladies’ reading room so that users could have privacy.
“It was a bit small and was constantly occupied, very busy,” Mr Breingan said.
“And one of the things that has characterised ladies’ reading rooms here is that they have always had fireplaces.”
And the one that has now been rediscovered at the library is a gem of an example of the Art Nouveau style, and is entirely original.
Mr Breigan said: “I spoke to someone recently who remembered the library as child, looking up the fireplace
“So this was a reading room for girls and women.
“The girls would be in the reading room with the fire going, and they would be reading Needlecraft, Woman, and Lady, so there was magazines and newspapers available to them.
“There were a few books but not many.
“Maybe only a few hundred books were available and they went out a lot.
“I think maybe each book was borrowed 10 times a year.”