Monday, May 12, 2008

Port Elizabeth Station


The beautiful old Victorian Railway Station in PE underwent a renovation in the mid 80s. The round painted panels depicting scenes from the city were commissioned, and painted by Bernard Horn. A great restaurant was opened and the Station Restaurant was the in place for a while. They served all sorts of exotic African meats, like Zebra and crocodile! Sadly it went the way of the rest of PEs historic areas, and urban decay set in. Although the building is still attractive and reasonably maintained, it is in a part of town where most citzens don't really feel safe to go, and the restaurant has long since closed.

4 comments:

  1. Wow! I like that. The curves and lines along with the colors. And the deserted feel.

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  2. It is such a great pity that colonialism has become such a dirty word in Africa. We have such a wealth of truly beautiful buildings from the colonial era - like this one, which looks like Brighton or a number of other medium-sized stations throughout England today.

    I remember a nightclub also in the station in the early 1990s - Traxx or similar. But now I can't believe we though the station was a reasonable place to go late at night! Sad.

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  3. We went there yesterday. We were told by a security life form that we were not allowed to take pictures.

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  4. @Anonymous - This is quite an old post and I haven't been there recently, but it will be sad if you can't go and take pictures there anymore. I'll check it out.

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