The magnificent Victorian Gothic style old Main Library building is situated next to Market Square in Port Elizabeth’s city centre. Constructed in 1902, the building’s terracotta facade was manufactured in England, shipped to Port Elizabeth in numbered blocks and rebuilt piece by piece on the present site. The statue of Queen Victoria standing in front of the library building is made of Sicilian marble and was erected and unveiled in 1903 to celebrate the queen’s Diamond Jubilee which took place in 1897. Inside the library has a number of magnificent stained glass windows which is well worth seeing. Public Library
The magnificent Victorian Gothic style old Main Library building is situated next to Market Square in Port Elizabeth’s city centre. Constructed in 1902, the building’s terracotta facade was manufactured in England, shipped to Port Elizabeth in numbered blocks and rebuilt piece by piece on the present site. The statue of Queen Victoria standing in front of the library building is made of Sicilian marble and was erected and unveiled in 1903 to celebrate the queen’s Diamond Jubilee which took place in 1897. Inside the library has a number of magnificent stained glass windows which is well worth seeing. This Post Has 7 Comments
Comments are closed.
apart from being in a fabulous building, this library also has the most fascinating collection of old historic documents and books. Now that Govan Mbeki has had its facelift, and is reasonably safe, we go there regularly, definitely our favourite library!
Love that shot of Queen Victoria and the angle is great, I also wanted to comment on the Lion shot but had a few isssues with wireless connections here, just to say, fantastic shot of a private moment (haha) great comments from my 12 year old !! which led on to an in depth debate and finished with saying “Oh for gods sake Mum, we have covered this at school, you know” Well thats me told !!!
Great angle and shot!
What a great building. Very stately. Your photo with all the activity makes it more real to us.
Love this place. Spent many a Saturday morning here. I love the smell of the books and the old dark staircases and narrow verandahs. Do you have any pics of the inside?
Such a marvelous old building to house books of learning.
Did you know that the terracotta tiles for the facade were delayed due to the Boer War? And that inside id a WWI memorial as well? I love the Library and visit whenever I'm in PE. Thanks Firefly!