the old library building was as grey as all the others around it , but some effort had been made with its design it was a typical work of victorian greco-roman stature , somehow seeming as if it had been stolen from the grandeur of london 's whitehall and placed , surreptitiously , in this small , provincial town , to let the natives know that they were part of the great british empire and it stood , along with the church , as a reminder of better times past .