Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Carnegie Library - Art Gallery Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal CHICK and BARTHOLOMEW: Architect

Date: 1915 Type: Library Status: Extant Street: Voortrekker Street   Click to view large map Coordinates: 27°45'23.89" S 29°55'57.52" E Alt: 1195m

See more photographs A library was first established in Newcastle in 1879 on hired premises in Scott Street. In 1887 it was housed in the Memorial Hall and when that building was converted into Market Hall a permanent building, worthy of its function as a library, was urgently needed. So in 1911 negotiations were entered into with the Carnegie Corporation of New York for a donation to erect such a building. The site chosen was that where the public gallows had been. There is no record of public hanging but tradition speaks of one case. The hangman and townsfolk were sickened by the spectacle and it was decided to erase the incident for all time. The gaol was next door where the Standard Bank now stands. (Anonymous, 1970s:14) Money donated by the Carnegie Library Foundation $7,290. In 1991 the library was converted into an art gallery. References: Anonymous . 1970s. Historic - Historiese Newcastle Natal. Newcastle: Unidentified. pg 14 + ill Richardson, Deirdré. 2001. Historic Sites of South Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. pg 234