Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/231

Rh At the right hand side is the "Braithwaite" Hall, which is used as a reference library and magazine-room; it is 64 feet long by 36 feet wide, and 43 feet high. The walls are faced with Ancaster stone, and it has a panelled dado of oak 8 feet high; the fittings and the fine open timber hammer-beamed roof are also of oak. Below the windows runs a continuous band of stone, divided into five panels sculptured to illustrate the philanthropic aims of the late Rev. J. M. Braithwaite, vicar of Croydon.

Dying suddenly in the midst of his beneficial labours, a committee was formed to provide a suitable memorial, and they handed over to the council the sum of £2000, on condition that it should be expended on permanent decorations to the principal room of the library, and that it should be called the "Braithwaite" Hall.

Along the south side is a gallery with open arcaded balustrade, in which is a range of bookcases containing the reference library. At the west end are three windows, containing figures in stained glass representing the "Aims of Knowledge"; Religion is in the centre, with Science and Art on either side. At the east end the three corresponding windows have heads in medallion, representing the "Means of Knowledge"; Thought in the centre, with Reading and Writing at each side. The five windows along the north front also contain heads in medallion, with symbolical representation of the "Branches of Knowledge"; Geography, Natural Science, History, Law, Philosophy, Theology, Mathematics, Physics Medicine, and