Scagliola Columns and Bookshelves, Manchester Reference Library

28 September 2019 · Manchester

Sienna scagliola columns occupy the foreground with the full material weight of the curved colonnade behind them. The shelves lining the curved wall are packed with coloured spines — blue, red, burgundy, green — each row a dense catalogue pressed against neoclassical stonework. The columns do the architectural heavy lifting; the books do the institutional one. Together they make a room that was built to mean something.