The Triangle The Liberal Club
The apex of the triangle is where Victoria Street, Totnes Road and Palace Avenue converge. The sides are formed by Totnes Road and Dartmouth Road. On this site a still imposing structure stands.
The triangular structure known as the Liberal Club was built in 1887. The name survives on the front of the building which sports a fine cupola on its roof. The building featured shops at road level on both the Dartmouth Road and Totnes Road sides.
In 1935 Paignton Urban District Council acquired two floors of what was now the former Liberal Club for use as a library. The opening ceremony was disrupted by a Congregational Minister protesting that closure of the Reading Room at 7.30pm was too early to allow shop workers to make use of the facilities. In 1961 Paignton’s library was moved to Courtland Road.
The “Old Paignton Conservation Area Character Appraisal”
This document includes a description of the building, which falls within the Conservation Area. The link to this document is given below.
https://www.torbay.gov.uk/media/7582/old-paignton-caa.pdf
The narrow triangular island block of 1 – 11 Totnes Road, and 2 – 4 Dartmouth Road, a commercial complex of shops below with offices above, is even more visible than the Lloyds TSB bank to its northwest. Late Edwardian, it is built in a warm red brick, with yellow limestone detailing to the bay windows, sill bands and architraves. The semi-circular second floor windows interpose some limestone in the brick voussoirs which radiate out in sunrays, prefiguring a 1920s motif. The flat roof is hidden by a brick balustrade pierced by thin slits. A cupola is located at the apex of the hairpin on the north; the blank façade on the south was never designed to be visible: it was revealed in the 1960s when the wider southern part of the building was pulled down so that Totnes and Dartmouth Roads could be joined in a gyratory system at this point.