‘Temples of Knowledge: The Classical Architecture of Public Libraries and Mechanics Institutes’

Pears, Richard

Abstract

Wealthy Britons of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries embraced the classical world through their education in public schools and universities, and Grand Tours of classical monuments in Europe. They lived, ruled and played in classical-style country houses, Anglican churches, law courts, assembly rooms, theatres, and recreated rural and urban landscapes of antiquity.
Classical architecture was also used for buildings of working people. Many non-conformist chapels were built in classical styles, eschewing the Gothic architecture that dominated nineteenth-century Anglican church design in the nineteenth century. The scriptural focus of Protestantism needed by literate believers, hence the education initiatives by non-conformists such as Unitarians in Newcastle upon Tyne. Capitalists’ recognition that knowledge and education were essential to provide the literate and numerate workers required by the Industrial Revolution led to the foundation of subscription libraries, mechanics institutes, museums and public libraries. It is notable that many of these buildings were constructed in classical styles evoking temple architecture: larger examples such as Manchester Central Library make direct reference to the Pantheon in Rome, whilst many others, including the Newcastle Lit & Phil, Middlesbrough and Annfield Plain libraries, employed classical detailing for exteriors and for bookcases and furniture. Education and knowledge were presented in sacred form, instilling classical ideals of order, civic society, debate and democracy in the minds of those who studied within. However, choices of architectural design were rarely made by the users of the buildings, and the employment of classical forms may be seen as further reinforcement of existing hegemonies: workers were to be educated, but to fulfil the purposes of the wealthy, and in environments of control through architectural allusion as well as the rules that governed many of these institutions.

Citation

Pears, R. (2023, July). ‘Temples of Knowledge: The Classical Architecture of Public Libraries and Mechanics Institutes’. Paper presented at Classical Presences in North-East England, St Chad's College, Durham University

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Classical Presences in North-East England
• Start Date: Jul 7, 2023
• End Date: Jul 8, 2023
• Deposit Date: Aug 25, 2023
• Keywords: classics, architecture, library, literacy, working class, classical reception
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1724350
• Additional Information: Publication forthcoming