city centre

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Dias Rock at the Green Mosque

The Pier Street Mosque, or Green Mosque as many know it as, is probably one of the most recognisable places of worship in Port Elizabeth.  Not many would know though that the open space next to it is called Dias Park, named after the first European to round the Cape and discover Algoa Bay.  Bartholomeus Dias entered the Bay in 1488 and planted a stone cross on St Croix Island.  Today this rock, which has absolutely no link to Dias what so ever…

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15/11/2013
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Public Library facade

The Public Library across the road from City Hall and Market Square in the city centre is my absolute favourite historic building in Port Elizabeth both inside and out.  The library building was opened in 1901 and the interesting part of it was that the front facade was built in England, dismantled and brought down to Port Elizabeth in numbered blocks to be assembled in front of the building.  

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12/11/2013
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Port Elizabeth City Hall tower

The Port Elizabeth City Hall truly is a magnificent building and has pride of place amongst a number of other historic buildings in the city centre.  The city hall was originally built between 1858 and 1862, but without the clock tower.  The clock tower was only added in 1883.

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18/10/2013
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Flyover fountain

One of the first things they did when they started with the Route 67 developement was to open up the section of Strand Street between Market Square and the Campanile.  A new set of steps were built to link the two areas and at the bottom of the steps a fountain was installed to cheer the area up a bit.

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17/08/2013
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The Cross of Prester John

The space between the Port Elizabeth City Hall, Old Post Office Building and the Feather Market Centre in Fleming Square and it contains a monument which is the only of its kind in the world.  The Prester John Cross was unveiled in 1986 by the Portuguese Ambassador and is dedicated to the mythical king-priest, Prester John, and the Portuguese explorers who discovered South Africa. It was the quest for Prester John as a Christian ally that led to expeditions to reach him…

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08/08/2013
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Crane your neck

The Campanile was built to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the landing of the 1820 British Settlers.  The 54 meter high building with its 204 steps were constructed on what used to be the landing beach, today standing between the Port Elizabeth harbour and the Settlers Freeway.  Some effort has been made to try and reconnect it with the city after being "cut off" by the freeway for so long and it was decided to make it the start of…

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01/08/2013
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Looking up at Pleinhuis

Port Elizabeth has some beautiful Art Deco buildings, some in good condition and others in need of repair.  Pleinhuis (plein meaning square as in open space and huis means house) on Market Square is one of the prime examples in the city.  I went to a meeting at Pleinhuis and before I entered looked up at the gargoyles on the side of the building.  It just screamed out to be photographed, so I did.

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18/06/2013
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St Mary’s Cathedral

Up to the time that the British Settlers arrived in Algoa Bay in 1820, the needs of the British garrison at Port Elizabeth had been served by chaplains on passing ships.  By 1825 the settlement had grown to about 500 people.  One of these was Reverend Francis McClelland (the same person who built No 7 Castle Hill).  He was appointed Colonial Chaplain that same year and laid the foundation stone for the Collegiate Church of St Mary the Virgin was laid.  The church was finally…

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08/05/2013
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Harbour and Campanile

Looking across the Port Elizabeth Harbour from the harbour wall to the city centre with the Campanile just to the left of the middle of the picture.  This is a view of the Campanile that not a lot of people have seen.  The Hill Presbyterian Church can just be seen on the left edge of the photo.

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15/03/2013
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St Augustines

Port Elizabeth has two beautiful cathedrals literally a couple of hundred meters away from each other in the city centre.  The one is the St Mary's Anglican Cathedral while the second (in picture) is St Augustine's Catholic Cathedral.   When the first Catholic priest set foot in Port Elizabeth in 1840 (after being shipwrecked in Cape St Francis and having to travel the last 100km to town on horseback), there were only 42 Catholics in the town. In the coming years…

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08/03/2013