The Davis Central City Library, built on the old Queen's Park School site, opened its doors to the Wanganui community for the first time on 4 October 1980.
Generously funded by the S M Davis Trust ($200,000) and the people of Wanganui, it was designed by architect Ron Lamont of Earles, Lamont, Bycroft and Partners, and built by Titter Construction. The original building had seven distinctive gables and was designed to make the best use of natural lighting and the magnificent views of the mountain and river.
Within six years it became necessary to implement stage two of the original plan, the building of a two gable extension to the West (again funded by the S M Davis Trust), adding a further 40 percent of floor space. This new wing was built by Wells and Wadsworth and frames the garden courtyard on the western side.
Implementation of the third phase – the Eastern wing - was put on hold as the planned extension to the Sarjeant Gallery offered challenges of architecture synergy and space availability.