The Donkin Houses

he initiative to preserve the Donkin Houses began in 1964 and three years later the houses were granted Monument status. Each house now bears the National Monument Badge and the plaque on Number 21 reads:

"The building of this picturesque terrace of double storied houses was begun after 1860 and completed about 1890. It is a fine example of Victorian Architecture." - The National Monuments Council 1967.-

In what appears to be a major oversight, Number 29 Donkin Street is not and has never been declared a national monument, even though it complies with all the requirements.

Some of the credit for the houses being bestowed with the monument status and thus preserved, goes to a Port Elizabeth family, The Wolffs. It was Sonja Wolff and her son, Dr Nick Wolff, who, after purchasing a number of the terraced Donkin Houses, painstakingly restored each one. The task was a mammoth one as the materials used had to be as authentic as possible. The task was made more difficult as there were no original plans for the houses, because the first builders in the colony had built their structures from memory. The houses also had to be kept subtly unique yet similar. The present day Donkin Street and its terraced houses are testimony to the forebearance of its restorers and ingenuity of the municipality of that time.

The Donkin Street houses are not the only monuments in the area known as Central in Port Elizabeth. The Donkin Trail shows off the uniqueness of the suburb and the number of other buildings preserved by the Monuments Council.