Central Library is situated in the City Hall, Darling Street, Cape Town.

The Building
The foundations of the City Hall were laid on 29th August 1900, and the building finally opened on 25th July 1905, by the Mayor Alderman Hyman Lieberman. It is built in an Italian Renaissance Style with a classical facade in a handsome campanile towering to a height of some 200ft. The exterior stonework is of sandstone and granite. The facade facing on Darling Street has a central feature surmounted by a pediment rising 82 feet above pavement level, the wings on either side are about 60ft in imposing clock tower houses the four-sided City Hall clock built to scale and half the size of London's Big Ben. The building is divided longitudinally, with one half of the building housing the Grand Hall and reception rooms while the portion originally housing Municipal offices and which fronts onto Darling Street is the home of the Central Library of Cape Town

A stone set into the base of the building in front of the main balcony has this inscription: "upon release from prison on 11 February 1990 and on his election as President of South Africa on 9 May 1994 Nelson Mandela addressed the nation here"

Entrance
A magnificent entrance is given by the imposing main staircase leading from the Darling Street double doors to the second floor. However, for security reasons access is no longer through this entrance but through the smaller entrance to the side of the main staircase. On entering one notes the original mosaic flooring which constitutes the flooring of all main passageways within the building. The old fashioned lifts have been in operation for almost a half century.

First Floor

At the end of the passage and to the left of the lift is the entrance to the Art and Music libraries.

Art Library

On entering through the turnstile of the electronic alarm system, one sees, to the left, the Art Community Notice board where patrons can keep in touch with 'what's on' in the Art world. In the centre of the room opposite the issue and enquiry counter is a long oak table with its simulated leather inlay which was built to match the furniture in the original Mayor's Library.

The lack of notable architectural features in this section is an indication that the original purpose of these rooms was a purely functional one.

Further along the passage, to the left of the Grand Marble Staircase is the Friends of Central Library's "Second Hand Bookshop' run by volunteers and open, at present, only on Saturdays during library open hours. This little room was built in under the staircase and used as a kitchen/serving area for the mayor's parlour specifically refurbished in honour of a visit to Cape Town in 1947 of Britain's Royal Family.

One enters into what was originally designed for use as the Banqueting Hall. Its Oak panelling and twin fireplaces at opposite ends of the hall are reminiscent of a bygone era of elegance. The double doors to the left of the entrance lead to the Study Hall. Again one is aware of the faded elegance of this space with its high ceilings and beautiful designed oak fireplaces inlaid with tile and marble at either end of the room. On the far wall of the hall is a banner with the library's motto, reading. "Libraries: your lifeline to life sills through lifelong learning." This area provides essential study space for the nearly 150 students and readers, many of who, have little access to the privilege of quite study facilities in their homes. It is also where once a month the library's SMME Breakfast Club meets.

On the east wall on the other side of the entrance is a large needlework tapestry depicting a typical Cape Town scene: Flower sellers on the Parade. Completed and given to the library on permanent loan in 1981, it is one of a series in the Folk Tapestry Project. This particular tapestry, was worked by the Rondebosch branch of the Women's Agriculture Union.

The doorway between the reference sections and the display area leads one through to the seven interleading rooms housing the library's general fiction and non fiction loan collection. As expected of a central metropolitan library the loan collection covers the various subject areas in greater depth and breadth than can be housed in smaller community libraries. Since the establishment of the collection in Long Street there has been an emphasis on the applied and social sciences. And with the establishment of the Library Business Corner - special attempt is made to acquire material of interest to small businesspersons.

Coming into Room 3 one is immediately struck by the grandeur of this room which was the original City of Cape Town's Council Chamber. It is 56feet long and 31 feet wide and 32' feet high. It has a coved and decorated ceiling and cornices. The room is panelled in stinkwood with two fine fireplaces at each end of the room, each bearing the city's crest carved into the wood. The chandeliers are of 1930's vintage and have been converted to light upwards. The windows and French doors leading out onto the balcony overlooking the Grand Parade are of leaded stained glass. It is here in 1994 (prior to the reorganisation of the library in 1997), that Nelson Manuela fresh from his election in parliament as President of South Africa walked, greeting city officials, on his way to the balcony from where he addressed Cape Town's rapturous public. Opposite, high above the panelling on the South Wall are the carved stinkwood balustrades of the Public Gallery which could be reached from the third floor of the building.

Room 7, originally the Mayor's Library, was fitted with built-in cupboards with leaded glass doors. At the East end of the room is a curved leather seat built into a matching teak frame and shelves. The matching table has been removed and can be found in the Art Library. This section of the library is situated at the North East corner of the building immediately above the spot which has been identified as the Nodal Point of the Unicity of Cape Town .

Ground Floor

Children's Library
The Children's library is at the far east side of the building on the Ground Floor. The library is spacious but crying out for fittings and furniture more suitable for children. The library boasts a good non fiction and reference collection. The lunch hour is when working mothers come to the library to find books and information for their children, from two o'clock on the library fills with school children - some doing homework and projects, others using the library as an 'after care facility' waiting to be collected by parents working in the CBD. Provision is made for these children to draw and colour-in, to play board games and tackle jig- saw puzzles. It is on Saturdays that this library becomes a real family library.

Conclusion

It is hoped that this brief description conveys some idea of the wealth of architectural features to be seen as well as the treasure house of information resources available behind the imposing facade of the City Hall.
On 16 November 2000 the City Council passed a resolution declaring that:

".... the library be renamed the Nelson Mandela Library and Reading Room and that the private sector finance be leveraged to upgrade and extend the library and to contribute to its funding on an ongoing basis. This would include more study facilities, a better reference room, more computers and funding for more staff."

However there is no indication to date this resolution will be implemented. In recent years the roof and external features of the building have been refurbished. Decision to refurbish the interior will be delayed until the future use of the City Hall has been decided.

The Friends of Central Library, together with the Art Library Support Group have a millennium vision - a refurbished City Hall housing, on the Darling Street frontage, a dynamic Metropolitan Community Information and Cultural Centre, with facilities for the display of Municipal works of art, artifacts and memorabilia - accessible, by being part of this library, to all people who live and work and visit the Unicity