History

The building’s purpose was clearly indicated by terracotta friezes on its main façade, reading “Free Library” and “Science and Art Institute.” The Schools of Art and Science opened first in November 1890, followed by the free library in 1891, which had relocated from the old town hall. 

The external appearance of the library frontage has remained largely unchanged, with the main alterations occurring on the west side. After 1951, the sloped exterior above the side entrance was replaced with a sheer wall and flat roof to accommodate a new external fire stair. In 2007, a similar modification raised the roof of a northwest room to fit an internal emergency stair. No significant changes have been made to the frontages otherwise. 

A museum was added in 1897, within the existing footprint, likely in the location planned in 1891. The museum, which opened in 1915 with a new display, remained operational until 1956 when Stoke-on-Trent opened a central museum. 

The School of Art, a branch of Burslem School of Art, closed in 1926, and its space was likely absorbed by the School of Science, which was active until at least 1963. During this period, modern partition walls and suspended ceilings were likely added. The School of Science’s closure date is unknown, but some further education continued afterward. In 2007, substantial investments were made, including internal escape stairs, conversion for sports hall use, and installation of showers and WCs. 

The library, operational for 130 years, underwent various changes. In 1931, it adopted an ‘open access’ system, possibly making the Stacks room surplus. Over time, specialized spaces became redundant, and the library transitioned to more multifunctional spaces, especially in the postwar period when children’s spaces were reimagined. Staffing levels likely declined, and partitions between library rooms may have been removed. The boundary wall, gate piers, and garden area in front of the building were altered, likely due to the construction of a subway during the 1960s-70s reconfiguration of Scotia Road. 

The baths building opened in 1890 and operated as a fire station and a washing facility for the public to use. 

The Baths building experienced four main construction phases: 

1. The original planned scheme. 
2. Additions to the side and rear by 1922. 
3. Infill of the passageway for modern WC and shower facilities, plus a northwest addition between the 1950s and 1970s. 
4. Post-1970s addition of an accessible entrance/link building/fire escape, with a ramp added around 1997. 

The Turkish bath and wash house were likely out of use by 1918, leaving only the swimming bath and 10 slipper baths. The slipper baths’ end of use is unclear, but similar facilities were still open elsewhere in 1963. By the 1990s, the bath rooms were converted into a dance studio. 

A refurbishment in 1988 included unspecified upgrades, likely adding female WCs under the Education Room. Scattered alterations include: 

• Swimming bath: altered access, new window. 
• Southwest building: new entrance to the south. 
• First-floor flat: converted to offices, loss of domestic features. 

Late 20th/early 21st-century changes include: 

• Reception: new floor tiles and TV screen. 
• Stairs: new tiles and additional banister rail. 
• Swimming bath: retiling, updated changing cubicles, metal staircase, extraction duct, roof replacement, and decorative updates. 
• North building: converted WCs to emergency exit. 
• Boiler room: relocated boiler and plant. 
• First-floor flat: modern water tank and plant/store room, removal of partition walls. 

By 2008, Tunstall was one of 14 still-operational Victorian and Edwardian swimming baths in England. It closed to the public in 2011 and without use since. 

Tunstall had approximately 350 purpose-built drills constructed before 1900, with about 150 of these still existing today. The Drill Hall in this site, was likely to have been built for the 5th Battalion (Prince of Wales’s) North Staffordshire Regiment (D Company) up to 1925, however, any changes before this time are unrecorded. 

By the mid-1950s, it was used as a general community hall, and by the mid-1970s, it may have housed a small supermarket. The first shopfront likely appeared then, necessitating the requirement for WC and kitchen facility upgrades. Planning records from 1976 suggest it might have been a warehouse, and the 1980s saw a planning permission for its use as a dance studio. 

In the early 2000s, it operated as an appliance and furniture shop and by 2007, the main hall had a shopfront and minimal internal features. 

Converted into Crompo’s Pool and Snooker Centre in 2007/08, the building saw the addition of a counter, seating, a kitchen, new WCs, and an extended yard structure for a beer store. The shopfront and fire escape doors were also replaced. No significant changes occurred after this conversion.