Description
Dated 1909 (opened in 1910) and designed by William Reid, Dumbarton Library is a two-storey and basement, three-bay, purpose-built Carnegie public library designed in the Baroque classical style. The library is constructed in rusticated, coursed, pale Dalreoch ashlar sandstone. The rear of the building is constructed in red brick with contrasting ashlar margins to the rear. The building includes a dedicated committee room to the upper floor, accessed by a separate entrance door from Strathleven Place via a pedimented entrance archway. A later extension, dating from 1968, is attached to the northeast elevation (this is proposed to be excluded from the listing). The library is located along Strathleven Place next to a large roundabout along the A814 Glasgow Road.
The principal (southeast) elevation has a recessed aediculed bay with a window opening to the centre and the town Coat of Arms above flanked by two pairs of Ionic columns. The building is inscribed 'Public Library'. Steps lead up to a round-arched entrance in the right-hand bay with a '1909' datestone above. The entrance has a replacement door with a semi-circular coloured glass fanlight above. The left-hand corner bay is two storeys high with a tall attic parapet returning to the west. There is a pediment above the ground floor window opening and open pediments breaking the roof eaves with putti decoration on the principal elevation. There is a string course at ground floor level and a dentilled cornice below the roofline with balustraded decoration above. The separate side entrance to the committee room has a timber, multi-panelled door and a cornice on console brackets above. There is a separate pedestrian entrance leading to basement level from Strathleven Place.
The windows are in a mixture of sizes, shapes and styles in both replacement uPVC and earlier timber frames, predominantly in a multi-pane glazing pattern of various configurations. The committee room section of the building has predominantly timber window frames. The windows in the brick-built section of the building are tall and narrow with predominantly replacement uPVC glazing within.
The roofs are shallowly pitched and covered in slates with some flat-roofed areas. There are regularly placed roof ventilators along the roof ridges and some chimneystacks remain in situ.
The interior of the library contains many of its early-20th century, neo-Baroque / classical style features, including its vaulted plasterwork ceilings to the main ground floor rooms, moulded cornicing, ventilation grilles, translucent rooflights and librarian's room cupola and glazed partitions, as well as some timber panelling and doors and glazed floor tiles. There is decorative coloured glass glazing throughout the building. The side entrance into the building has a stone staircase with moulded timber balusters leading to the committee room on the upper floor. This space contains timber panelling and decorative plasterwork.
A bell-shaped stone tablet, dated 1732 and 1790, is mounted above a fire exit in the eastern wall of the later extension. It is inscribed 'Tu Des Corona Decus' which translates as 'Do Thou Give Me Glory For a Crown'. It was moved here from the Mackenzie House on the High Street (and this is proposed to be included within the listing).
Low stone walls with pyramidal coping front the pavement along Strathleven Place and sandstone rubble boundary walls with flat coping bound the property along Church Street and the roundabout elevation.
Historical development
In August 1904, Andrew Carnegie offered £6000 for a new library for Dumbarton on the condition that a site be secured without making the cost a burden on the ratepayers. The offer was accepted but it took four years for a suitable site to be found. The site along Strathleven Place was bought from the Town Council for £750 and raised by public subscription (Dundee Evening Telegraph).
A design competition for the new library was won by local architect, William Reid (West Dunbartonshire Libraries). Plans by Reid for a purpose-built library were approved on 4th January 1909 (Dean of Guild Plans) and the library was constructed largely as outlined on these plans.
The library opened to the public on 26th September 1910 (West Dunbartonshire Libraries; Edinburgh Evening News; plaque inside library). The library is first shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1914. At the time of its construction, it was flanked on both sides by existing buildings and the town tram network ran along Strathleven Place. In 1951 library management changed from closed access to open access. The Ordnance Survey map of 1963 shows the footprint of the library is unchanged but the plot to the immediate east was cleared by this time and is marked as a car park on this map.
An extension to the library was proposed in the mid-1960s and work started in May 1968, opening later that year (West Dunbartonshire Libraries). The extension was added onto the northeast elevation of the library building, taking up much of the car park (this extension is proposed to be excluded from the listing, see section 6). A bell-shaped stone, dated 1732 and 1790, was placed above the emergency exit of this extension in 1969 (this is included within the listing). This stone was originally part of the fabric of the Collegiate Church of St Mary and later formed part of a dormer in the 18th century Mackenzie House in the High Street before being relocated here in 1969 (Dumbarton Heritage Trail; Gifford et al., p.410).
There are plans for the building to become a publicly accessible community collections store and archive (West Dunbartonshire Council) and move the library service to Glencairn House (listed at category B, LB24887). As of September 2025, the library service remains within this building on Strathleven Place.
Statement of Special Interest
Dumbarton Library meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:
- It is constructed in the Baroque style, characteristic of prominent public buildings of the period, and includes good decorative stonework detailing to its principal elevation.
- Its plan form is indicative of early-20th century public library design and its footprint is largely unchanged since its construction (excepting the later extension which is proposed to be excluded from the listing).
- Its interior retains a significant amount of its early-20th century layout, including its large committee room on the upper floor which retains its own access from the street.
- The library has well-detailed decorative timberwork and elaborate plasterwork ceilings throughout, including a number of typical library features such as ventilators, roof lanterns and glazed partitions.
- It is prominent within the town and contributes to the streetscape alongside other civic buildings, including the near-contemporary municipal buildings opposite.
- It has social historical interest as a built monument to social and educational progress following the Public Libraries (Scotland) Act. Its social historical interest extends to the bell-shaped tablet, dated 1732 and 1790, that has been relocated to this site.
- It is associated with Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy and libraries grant scheme which has had a significant impact on Scotland's cultural and social history.
In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the mid-20th century extension.
Architectural interest:
Design
Libraries constructed between the 1850s and 1910s were designed in a variety of architectural styles. The earliest and larger public libraries were often architecturally elaborate and were constructed as monuments to social progress, often reflecting the style of other important civic buildings. Libraries were often designed by local architects and their architectural style was very much dependent on the architect and the location of the building. Dumbarton Library falls within the group of Carnegie-funded libraries built during the Edwardian period in the Renaissance or neo-Baroque style, a very popular style for civic buildings in this period. The classical, compact, yet grand, principal elevation combines a number of well-detailed features including datestone, name plaque and the aediculed central bay with the town's Coat of Arms and Ionic column detailing. The prominent, squared, attic parapet is particularly striking with pediment detailing, carved putti and dentilled cornice.
The sandstone front of the building contains the two main public entrances into the building, the main library entrance and the side entrance up to the committee room on the upper floor. This front block is taller in height and more architecturally imposing than the brick-constructed section to the rear which houses the main library rooms. Its style and scale indicate this is a civic building for public use. The committee room on the upper floor was designed as a large, adaptable public space accessed via its own staircase from the side of the building.
William Reid was a local architect and the association with a local practice was typical of the regional Carnegie library commissions. His entry in the Dictionary of Scottish Architects notes little is known about him. His office is recorded at 25 Church Street, very close to the site of the library. The library is listed as his only completed work. Reid used locally sourced pale Dalreoch sandstone for the principal elevation, which has since weathered to a grey colour.
The interior of the library includes good-quality decorative timberwork, panelling and plasterwork throughout, including the vaulted ceilings in the two main rooms and the many rooflights of various sizes and shapes, some with coloured decorative glazing within.
The plan form of the library is typical for a library building of this date and the principal interior spaces remain largely as they were designed. The interior and plan form of a library was an important design consideration, and its form was dictated by the location and size of the building and the requirements of its users. Most 19th and early-20th century public libraries were compartmentalised, with separate rooms often allocated for different activities and purposes (Scotland's Public Libraries, p.33). The fashion was for a 'closed system' of library management whereby readers asked the library staff to retrieve books and find information.
Dumbarton Library is narrow, but long and, with its vaulted interior, uses natural light via its many rooflights. It comprises a lending department, a reference department and a general reading room on the ground floor alongside a librarian's room and a ladies only area. The upper floor contains a large committee room which was designed with a platform at the east end. The architectural plans show this was an adaptable space which could be reconfigured to form a small lecture room when needed (Dean of Guild plans). The plans show the lending department was designed with a long counter and staff booth that separated the public from the books. A spiral stair led downstairs to the basement level into the book store. In the 1950s the counter was removed and the library changed to 'open access' lending but the original room layout remains largely readable in its current form.
The main interior spaces on the ground floor are lit by tall windows and numerous translucent rooflights to maximise the amount of natural light into the building. Internally, part-glazed partitions and colonnaded, top-lit walkways also allow for light to transfer between spaces. Libraries were typically designed with high ceilings and were often decorated with light colours and timberwork to create an inviting public space. The vestibule at Dumbarton Library is a light and airy space with a significant amount of decorative timberwork and internal windows with coloured glazing within alongside later additions, such as fire doors and later lino floor coverings. Even with the addition of later fabric, these are minimal changes and they do not detract from the well-detailed interior decorative scheme overall.
Locally sourced Dalreoch sandstone was used in the front section of the library, the predominant building material of Dumbarton in the early-20th century. Red brick, a cheaper building material, was used in the rear section of the building, probably because, at the time of construction, the library was flanked by buildings and the side elevations wouldn't have been readily visible.
Its scale, relative lack of later alteration and its architectural quality overall all contribute to Dumbarton Library's special architectural interest as a major example of an early-20th century, purpose-built public library funded through the Carnegie grant scheme.
Setting
Dumbarton Library is now prominently located next to a large roundabout but at the time of construction it was surrounded by commercial and residential buildings. It was built in close proximity to other civic buildings, including the Municipal Buildings (listed at category B, LB24881) and the County Buildings (now the Dumbarton Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court (LB24875, listed at category B). Dumbarton Railway Station is a short distance away to the northwest (listed at category A, LB24877) and the West Dunbartonshire Council offices are along Church Street to the south (listed at category A, LB24874).
The library is within the Dumbarton Town Centre Conservation Area (CA674) which contains elements of a typical town centre, including residential units, a railway station, civic and municipal buildings, churches, recreational and community buildings, small-scale retail and some offices and banks (Dumbarton Town Centre Conservation Area Appraisal, p .21).
Designed to be highly visible along the road, its scale and well-detailed principal elevation make the library a distinctive building within the streetscape. The immediate setting of the library has changed, however, since it was first built. In particular, the surrounding buildings have been reduced in number and the area has been reconfigured for road traffic. Furthermore, the addition of the library extension has changed the immediate setting.
In its wider setting, the library forms part of an imposing group of civic/public buildings that have always been in close proximity, but which now are somewhat intervisible with one another since the flanking buildings were removed in the late-20th century and the road layout reconfigured.
Historic interest:
Age and rarity
Libraries are an important part of Scotland's educational and social history and they are among our finest public buildings. There are around 560 library buildings in Scotland and around 360 of these were purpose built, as such, public libraries are not a rare building type. It is estimated that around 300 public libraries are listed.
The foundation of the modern public library system as we know it today began with the passing of the Public Libraries Act of 1850, which was extended to Scotland in 1853. This Act gave town councils the power to raise a half-penny rate through taxation to provide for a library building, its maintenance and upkeep, and to hire library staff (Scotland's Public Libraries, p.8).
The world's first Carnegie public library was built in Dunfermline and opened in 1883 (listed at category B, LB25979). The most prolific period of construction of public libraries was between 1883 and the end of the First World War. This was largely due to legislative amendments to the Public Libraries (Scotland) Act and the philanthropic gifts offered by wealthy benefactors. The most well-known was the Scottish-American steel magnate, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), who set up a library grant scheme. Carnegie made adoption of the Public Libraries Act a requirement to access these donations. There are around 140 Carnegie libraries across Scotland (Carnegie Libraries of Britain). Of those, it is estimated around 50 of them are listed buildings.
Dumbarton Library is of interest for its good-quality construction and decorative detailing both externally and internally. It is probably one of the later examples in Scotland that was built as a 'closed access' library. It was designed with a book indicator, counter and designated areas for lending, reading and research as opposed to 'open access' lending which was widely introduced from the 1910s onwards. Interestingly, Dumbarton Library only switched to open access lending in 1951, relatively late compared to libraries in Glasgow, for example (West Dunbartonshire Libraries).
The survival of its plan form and footprint, including its panelled committee room upstairs contributes to its interest as an example of an early-20th century, purpose-built public library built through the Public Libraries (Scotland) Act and the Carnegie library grant scheme.
Social historical interest
Social historical interest is the way a building contributes to our understanding of how people lived in the past, and how our social and economic history is shown in a building and/or in its setting.
Although subscription, collegiate and private libraries had existed from as early as the 16th century, the Public Libraries (Scotland) Act of 1853 established the new concept of the public library as an institution free for everyone to use.
The mass construction of public libraries had a significant impact on society by providing free access to books, information and life-long learning. The public library became a space to generate a sense of civic pride and urban progress as well as adding to the cultural and educational improvement of the town. Furthermore, literacy rates increased in both adults and children following the Elementary Education Act 1870 and the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872 (Scotland's Public Libraries, pp. 2, 8, 12, 23). Dumbarton Library is a built monument to this social and educational progress.
Another feature of interest that points to the history of the area is a bell-shaped stone tablet, dated 1732 and 1790. This is a dormer fragment that was once part of the Mackenzie House (built 1732) which was located on Dumbarton's High Street. The house (now demolished) was the townhouse of the Mackenzie's of Caldarvan. The tablet was mounted on the east wall of the later extension in 1969 above a fire exit (Gifford, p.410). Prior to being part of the Mackenzie House, the stone was originally part of the fabric of the Collegiate Church of St Mary.
Association with people or events of national importance
This building has an association with Andrew Carnegie who is considered a person of national importance. Dumbarton Library is closely associated with Carnegie's philanthropy which has had a significant impact of Scotland's cultural and social history.
Other information
The first librarian at the new Dumbarton Library was Orkney-born Archibald Macdonald. He had been appointed librarian in 1896 at the previous Dumbarton Library, then housed in the Denny Institute (Orkney Herald, and Weekly Advertiser and Gazette for the Orkney and Zetland Islands).