The Old Westminster Library in City of Westminster, London, England was designed was one of the most impressive civic designs of its day in London, executed in an intricate Jacobean style by Francis J R Smith. Red brick with extensive stone dressings, tiled roof with crestings. Iron railings in front. Balustraded parapet and ornate moulded brick stacks. All windows with stone mullions and transoms. Projecting central bay over main entrance: stone porch with Ionic pilasters supporting entablature dated 1893 with dedication to the parishes of St Margaret and St John. End bays with single double doors; these and the ground floor windows excepting those immediately adjacent under swan's-neck pediments with lavish volutes; some bays set between pilasters and with relief panels, three per floor, depicting -in medallions -on the ground floor Spenser, Shakespeare and Chaucer, Dryden, Milton and Tennyson; the upper row armorial roundels. The relief panels were executed by Henry Poole and Son. Interior remarkably complete, and small scale includes Screens divide lending library from reading area and entrance. Cast iron balcony round lending library, which retains original panelling and partitions beneath trabeated ceiling and early rare bookstacks. Rarer still is the book lift from the basement, reflecting the original 'closed access' system of storage and selection. - AsNotedIn