56 CHARLES STREET -STAFFORDSHIRE HOUSE

FRONT OF STAFFORDSHIRE HOUSE

OK......so this is one of those places that is so much a part of central Launceston that I've sort of overlooked it.........I bet I'm not the only one who didn't know the name of this pink building, nor what was inside (someone did venture to guess that as they had never seen anyone coming or going in daylight hours, that vampires were a possibility.)

The plaque helpfully placed on the building by by the council and National Trust (I would love it if there were more of these) reads “Staffordshire House - Regency Style - built in 1833 as a warehouse-building-shop, the only example in Australia extant. Office of Cornwall Chronicle. Early site of Scotch College. Purchased by National Trust, with help of City Council in 1966, and restored.”

In the late 1890s, Staffordshire House was home to Jackson's locksmiths. It is no longer owned by the National Trust

Today, the ground floor of 56 Charles Street houses the Andrew Inglis Clark Law Library. Someone else has done the hard work before me in finding more information about the building so rather than re-invent the wheel, I'd suggest you look at http://matthewbirrell.tripod.com/pg000008.htm to find out more.  

THE LIBRARY, CIVIC SQUARE

One of the ways I like to "explore" buildings is by playing around with my photo editing programmes - trying to preserve the character of the building whilst removing "distractions" - E.g. keeping the building lines, erasing the cabling etc  and sometimes deciding to do nothing at all as the photo says all it need to say.  Its a way of seeing and appreciating the little details.  But what to do about this building............Suffice to say I couldn't really find anything to appreciate about it and the best I could do was give it a bit of an early seventies colour makeover!!!
If you wish to be further depressed go to http://www.adfas.org.au/downloads/schools/Launceston%20Mechanics%20Institute.pdf and see what was there before!!!!  This is actually a great article about the history of the Mechanics Institute, (which was demolished to make way for this building in the early 1970s) and is well worth a look.

The real joy of this structure, is of course its contents - book and photos, historic collections and more plus lovely helpful people to help us find our way around the treasure trove of resources.  It is now part of LINC, but is almost universally referred to locally as "the library."  Further information is available on the LINC website.