Bebington Central Library

The practice of Paterson Macaulay & Owens has its roots dating back to 1957, where it was originally established as a partnership in Bebington, on the Wirral, and later expanded to Mold in North Wales. As well as the library a host of other council functions were accommodated in adjoining wings. This civic grouping is, in some ways, typical of the late modernist regional idiom, seeing a generation of British architects overtly reference the works of Corbusier. The scheme, designed by Ken Paterson with his ‘signature nautical trademark!’ [1], in the form of porthole windows, adopts these and other formal motifs of the period in an original but familiar composition. Sections of hard banking are used to efficiently negotiate site levels, also providing robust security and the sense of a podium. The oversailing box of the upper floor is carried by deep fin like columns, with more than a nod to the Capitol at Chadigarh; the rooflight, boiler flue and lift housing are gestures borrowed from Unité. The building reminds me of the way that Ryder & Yates, Cruickshank & Seward and a handful of borough and county architects would put things together, discernibly modern, riffing on heroes, and navigating the realities of provincial finance. From certain angles, this modernist negotiation of style, influences and budget has proto-PoMo vibes – there’s a hint of Venturi creeping in and the implied podium, column, entablature arrangement of the facades may be read as the interpretation of classicism commonly advanced by post-modernists. The library was listed Grade II in April 2015.

[1] https://www.pmoarchitects.com/blog-1/001