On Peace Day 19 July 1919 a group of Albany residents resolved to build a library as their district’s war memorial. Architect Sholto Smith of Mullins & Smith was commissioned to design the building. Governor-General Lord Jellicoe opened the cottage-style stucco-and-brick structure on 21 December 1922.
The east window of the library commemorates the Great War 1914 to 1918. A brick fireplace inside incorporates a marble memorial tablet which records the names of 23 local men who gave their lives during the First World War (a total of 77 men from the district volunteered). Another plaque honours seven dead from the Second World War.
The building remained in use as a library until 2004. It is managed by the Albany Hall Association and is still available for community use today.
Sources: ‘Albany War Memorial’, Auckland Star, 21/12/1922, p. 8; ‘Albany’s Soldiers’, NZ Herald, 22/12/1923, p. 8; ‘Albany’s Memorial’, Auckland Star, 22/12/1922, p. 7; Phillip D. Jackson, North Shore War Memorials, the author, 1991, T14/1-4; Don Donovan, ‘Library Keeps History Alive’, New Zealand Heritage, Spring 2003, p. 31; ‘Shore landmarks’, North Shore Times Advertiser, 8/11/2002, p. 37; ‘Spinning weaves a spell’, North Shore Times, 17/5/2007, p. 24; Auckland’s First World War Heritage Trail, Auckland, 2014, p. 13.
Community contributions