Savage Memorial Hall and Public Library, Port Elizabeth

SELECTED DESIGN FOR THE SAVAGE MEMORIAL HALL AND PUBLIC LIBRARY, PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA - The subject of our illustration, now being erected by the contractors, Messrs. Dollery and Strang, at a cost of £23,000, was the result of an open competition responded to by some forty architects from all parts. The site had considerable difficulties, light being obtainable on the front and one return side only, the latter having, moreover, a rise of 22ft. from front to back. The lower or ground floor is devoted to a large chamber of commerce, with secretary's room attached, the remainder being laid out in offices from which a rental of over £1,000 per annum is anticipated, owing to the important position of the building facing the Town-hall and Market-square. On the first floor, a plan of which is given, the library proper is placed, with entrances from the two fronts, despite the levels. The feature is the memorial hall or reference library, and in this and the surrounding rooms, which are intended for sectional subjects, readers are to be allowed to help themselves to books: galleries, therefore, surround the rooms, lined with bookshelves on the wall sides, with convenient staircases and lift access. In addition, extensive storage is provided on an upper floor to the rear, as well as special staff entrance and book-mending room, &c., on the ground floor. The newsroom in the front has an elliptical curved ceiling, panelled, and will have the walls arranged in art-gallery fashion, the present library in townhall having many valuable paintings in its possession. The memorial-hall is in the form of a Greek cross, having a dome to be filled with stained glass in the centre, and arched bays or wings opening out each side, in one of which will be placed a large painted window in memory of the late Mr. John Savage, whose children are contributing handsomely to the expenses of erection. The front and part return to St. Mary's-terrace will be faced with ashlar from the Coega Quarries, S.A., the remainder being brick with cement fronts, the usual method of facing buildings in the locality. Green Westmoreland slates on boarding form the roof covering, and the joinery, dadoes, doors, windows, etc, are principally of teak, polished. Marble mosaic floors and marble columns, with stained glass, are the chief decorative features inside, most of which items are exported from this country, together with the steel joists for the fireproof flooring, electric-light fittings, and numerous other details the colony cannot yet command. The architect is Mr. Henry A. Cheers, of Twickenham. [Building News 27 October 1899 page 547 and illustration]

Cheers never visited South Africa. His design for the Savage Memorial Hall and Public Library, Port Elizabeth won the architectural competition held for the building in 1899.

By 1925 the building was described in the South African Builder as 'this quaintly artistic building ... imposing appearance ... buff terracotta facades ... green Westmoreland slate roof and granite steps' (SAB Jan 1925:13); the building, now the Port Elizabeth Public Library, was designed in free style which employed the Flemish Renaissance order and decoration, and is a National Monument. O MIDDLETON was resident architect for the building.

Reference        Building News 27 October 1899 page 547 and illustration
Reference        Building News 3 November 1899 page 584 – plan
Reference        South African Builder January 1925 page 13