The JR Clynes Building
Oldham’s original library, museum and art gallery opened in 1883. Today the building has been restored to include the Council Chamber and Mayor’s Dining Room, public exhibition spaces and a new home for Oldham Theatre Workshop.
On this page you can find out about more about the original building and the restoration work that took place in 2024/25.
Glass panels in the floor
These glazed panels were designed to allow light down to the ground floor, which would otherwise have relied on gaslight. The upper floors of the original building relied heavily on natural daylight from large windows. The floor lights were an innovative way to borrow daylight from the atrium above and pass this to the central rooms below that did not have any natural light.
The glass of the original floor lights was inspected by the project team carrying out the restoration. Each had suffered some form of damage such that it was necessary to replace the glazed lights with new units. The new units are made with a triple laminate glass rather than a single glass pane as was the originals.
Light through the windows
Coloured and patterned windows were important and attractive features of this building in 1883. The spaces looking out onto Union Street contain some striking and colourful designs. However the leaded lights in the top floor gallery spaces were boarded over in 1894 to control light levels and give more opportunity to hang paintings. They have now been restored and revealed for the first time in over 130 years.