1 1-------------

B U IL D IN G .
' 1

T H E  JOURNAL OF T H E  ASSOCIATION OF T R A N SVA AL ARCHITECTS 
AND OF T H E  NATAL INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS.

N o .  2 2 .  V o l . V I -  J U N E ,  1 9 2 1 .  [ olS S S ly]  P r i c e  1 / -

b u s in e s s  M a n a g e r —

MURRAY K. CARPENTER,

67, EXPLORATION BUILDINGS, 

Co m m is s io n e r  s t r e e t .

RO BOX 2266, JOHANNESBURG
PHONE 5 S 21,

E D I T O R I A L  N O T I C E
The Editor will be glad, to consider any M S S , Photographs or Sketches submitted to him but they should 

be accompanied by stamped addressed envelopes fo r return i f  unsuitable, in case of loss or injury he cannot 
hold himself responsible for MSS., Photographs or Sketches, and publication in the Journal can alone be taken as 
evidence of acceptance. The name and address of the owner should be placed on the back of all Pictures and M SSl

The A ssociation does not hold itself responsible for the opinions expressed by individual contributors.
Annual Subscription per post 5j-. This Journal may be obtained from the principal Railway 

Bookstalls throughout the Union, or direct from the Business Manager-

e d it o r —

e . m . p o w e r s , f .r . i.b .a 

A s s is t a n t  e d it o r s —

E. H. WAUGH. A.R.I.B.A., M.S.A 

R. HOWDEN. A.R.V.I.A. M.S.A.

First Q uarterly Meeting of the Association ... 
Students Competition 
Letters to the Editor 

Architectural Conference ...
Reinforced Concrete Design and C onstruction 
Some Glimpses of Australia 
The Natal Institue of A rchitects 
Seed Time

C O N T E N T S .

457 Assessor’s Report on studen ts Com petition ... 471
45s Party Walls 472

... 458 Durban W ar Memorial 473
4(10 Journals W anted ... 473
4 6 1 Chair of A rchitecture ... 473

... 464 The Second South African Academy 474
46 7 Town P lanning Association (Transvaal) 477
468

F ir s t  q u a r t e r l y  m e e t in g  o f  t h e

ASSOCIATION.

The first quarterly meeting of the Association 
was held in the Scientific and Technical Club, 
Johannesburg, on Thursday, the 2nd of June, 
ig2i, under the chairmanship of the President, 
Mr. E. M. Powers, F .R .I .B .A ., at which there 
were over fifty members present.

Prior to the meeting some thirty members and 
their wives sat down to dinner in the club dining 
room, a pleasant little function which will be a 
future feature of these quarterly meetings.

After dinner members were keenly interested 
in a lecture delivered by Mr. Gerard Moerdijk, 
A .R .I .B .A ., who took as his subject “  Old Cape 
Architecture.”  The lecture was illustrated bv 
nearly 150 lantern slides, depicting some of the 
beautiful old structures which were erected in the 
Western Province a century and more ago.

Wj



“ Building .” 458 [June 1921.

At the conclusion of the lecture a short discus­
sion took place, and questions were answered by 
the lecturer.

Following the questions the President gave a 
resume of the work done by the Council since the 
annual general meeting last February, pointing 
out that the establishment of the Chair of Architec­
ture at the University College, Johannesburg, 
necessitated the immediate calling in of the dona­
tions promised by members for this object; fur­
ther, he called upon all members who have not yet 
communicated the amount of their donation to im­
mediately do so to the Registrar.

After referring to the “  Conditions of Con­
tract ”  which was to form the main subject of a 
conference of all South African architectural 
bodies at Johannesburg in September next, the 
President proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. 
Moerdijk for his interesting lecture.

The next quarterly meeting of members will 
be held in the Scientific Club on Wednesday, 24U1 
August, and will be preceded by an informal din­
ner to which ladies are specially invited. All 
members desiring to attend should forward their 
names to the Registrar.

On this occasion Professor G. E. Pearse, 
A .R .I .B .A ., will deliver a lecture on the Archi­
tecture of Mesopotamia, which will be illustrated 
bv lantern slides.

On account of the excessive postages now im­
posed, members are asked to note the foregoing, 
because the usual circular may not be issued in 
this connection.

STUDENTS’ COMPETITION.

A prize of books or instruments to the value 
of five guineas, kindly donated by Mr. John Perry 
of Capetown, will be awarded to the Second Year 
Student who submits the best design on the fol­
lowing subject: “ A  Tram Shelter.”

Governing conditions of this competition, to­
gether with site plan, may be obtained from the 
Registrar not later than the 15th July, 1921, and 
all designs must reach that official on or before 
the 15th November next.

Letters to the Editor.

C IV IC  C E N T R E S  AND C E N T R A L  

S Q U A R E S .
Dear Sir,

From the earliest period of civilisation of 
which we have records, down through the ages to 
the present time, it has always been recognised 
that a civic centre, open space or market place is 
necessary and essential to add character and dig­
nity to every city, town or village. Throughout 
the civilised world in most cities and towns it will 
be found that the civic centre or open space is 
really the heart of the city, and this centre should 
be if possible not only the administrative centre 
but the centre for the communal life of the inhabi­
tants. Considering the great importance of our 
central squares and open spaces and the important 
part they have played in past history, it is ex­
tremely disappointing to find that the only open 
space that is left in the heart of your city is now 
to be occupied by a public library. If it is not 
too late it is to be hoped that the greatest public 
effort will be made to prevent such a serious mis­
take being made.

This open space immediately adjoining your 
Town Hall lends itself very well to an interesting 
form of treatment, and could be made a very im­
portant centre in the life of your people.

I understand that the main arguments put 
forward in favour of this open space being utilised 
for other purposes is that the ground will become 
a receptacle for all sorts of rubbish, and also an 
open space of that nature will be the cause of con­
siderable trouble by creating dust storms.

I would suggest that the gentlemen who pro­
pose to allow a building to be erected on this area 
would consider for a moment the pleasure that an 
open space like this can give to the citizens who 
for business reasons are compelled to live in the 
heart of your city. If this open space were care­
fully laid out with, sav, a pergola running down 
either side between the existing trees, and recesses 
were made for seats which could be protected bv 
groups of flowering shrubs or trees, it would then 
fulfil a very useful purpose, and would give a little 
touch of colour to the square.

The importance of a central point like this in 
the heart of your city can hardly be exaggerated,



“ Building ” 459 [June, 1921.

and if preserved it would probably be found in 
years to come that many of your future important 
buildings could be grouped around this square, 
and it would become a focal point not only for 
your main lines of internal traffic, but a place 
where your people would tend to congregate and 
take full advantage of any pleasant facilities cre­
ated. I would suggest that a very suitable place 
for your public library would be at the bottom of 
this square, where there are a series of somewhat 
unsightly existing buildings. 1 do not know 
whether these particular sites now in use are avail­
able for purchase, but I feel very strongly that the 
ratepayers’ money could be used with advantage 
in purchasing old property for a library site, rather 
than in using up an important central square.

If this open space is retained it would con­
siderably enhance the value of your Town Hall 
as a public building. A circulating traffic centre 
could be arranged for your trams between this open 
space and the Town Hall, which would probably 
obviate many of the difficultes now existent in 
Market Street. 1 would suggest that a carefully 
designed Kiosk to harmonise with your Town 
Hall should be arranged on either side in the cir­
culating traffic area, which could be used as wait­
ing rooms and other useful purposes. The de­
velopment of this open space and other matters 
suggested above might become the subject of vert- 
interesting architectural competition.

I he general effect of important public build­
ings is often lost if they are scattered indiscrimi­
nately about the citv ; the details of their design 
are often imperfectly seen when placed in ordinary 
streets, and no general effect is produced such as 
would be obtained by grouping them in central 
places or squares. If grouped in this wav the 
buildings will tend to help one another, and if 
these buildings are well arranged the total result 
obtained will be of a character to impress the ima­
gination and of an extent to form a genuine cen­
tral feature in the heart of the city. Finally, one 
would point out that considerable sums of money 
are annually being spent in creating these open 
spaces in cities and towns in other parts of the 
world, but in your case it is the reverse. You 
have got the open space, but you are proposing to 
destroy it, and I am afraid this will not be a very 
pleasant legacy to leave for the future generations, 
and it would not be considered a striking example 
of the way your Governing Bodies are looking 
after the civic dignity of your city.

A. J. TH OM PSON '.

The Public and Architects. Architects and the Public.

Dear Sir,
To the public in general the Architect does- 

not occupy that status enjoyed by other profes­
sions, such as the doctor and the lawyer, although 
it is improving. The Press to some extent re­
flects the voice and taste of the people. More 
often than not one sees a report of some building, 
and the architect who has conceived the structure, 
worked it out in all its details, and had the worry 
of it, is no more referred to than the boy who- 
mixed the mortar or cleaned the windows. If any­
thing goes wrong, however, he gets all the blame, 
so in all fairness he should get some of the credit.

When a book or article is reviewed, the 
author’s name is never by any chance omitted, and 
surely it should be as much the duty of the jour­
nalist to discover and publish the name of the 
architect in the one case as of the author in the 
other.

Io the uninitiated the analogy may appear 
out of place due to the fact that architecture, speak­
ing generally, is a neglected art by the public, 
though in Europe there is a distinct improvement, 
its study being followed if only from a historical 
point of view by an increasing number of the 
public, attending classes and lectures and visiting 
best examples under the direction of leading archi­
tects and professors.

I here is in the Homeland also an apprecia­
tion of good architecture, and the architects are 
being recognised as they should be, as reports of 
building operations and architecture generally 
show.

It sometimes happens that the journalist mav 
be personally acquainted with an architect of a 
certain structure, or ntavbe the particular archi­
tect is one of those few prominent names in h: 
mind, and is accordingly recorded. On the other 
hand, he may have taken a dislike to the practi­
tioner, as the student did to Dr. Fell, and the news­
paper man seizes his chance. But surely that is 
“  personality ”  of which the Press should not be 
guilty. I ruth and justice are impersonal. If is, 
of course, not implied that the Press has any real 
intention to be unfair.

A few months ago the foundation stone was 
laid of a Dutch Reformed Church not a hundred 
miles from Market Square. A detailed report of 
the proceedings was given, and the name of one 
who was not on the Register of Architects at all 
was mentioned. Possibly the report was sent in



‘Building .” 4C0 [June 1921.

by the person himself, and the busy newspaper 
office had no time to verify.

A month or two after another stone was laid 
for a church of a different denomination. Both 
architect’s and builder’s names were omitted, 
though the former is an old registered practitioner 
whose work has been considered good enough for 
the walls of the Royal Academy and for publica­
tion in the leading professional papers at Home.

Were a journalist as interested in architecture 
as in literary matter he would not fail to be as fair 
to the architect as to the author, for the former is 
not permitted to advertise, and it is one of the few' 
chances of his name being noticed as the one who 
conceived the structure.

Architects are not altogether blameless in the 
matter, for, like musicians, they divide up the pro­
fession into classes. There is unfortunately not 
that esprit-de-corps found here as in the older 
countries among professional gentlemen. In the 
first class—in which the speaker never by any 
chance omits himself if disparaging others—are 
those w'ho have or are flourishing more by influ­
ence. The second class are those who have had 
to rely more on merit than anything else, and not 
altogether flourishing like a green bay tree. “  Just 
a small man you know,”  the first class man re­
marks as he curls his moustache or strokes his 
nose, and acknowledges the second class man only 
in the suburbs. There is a humorous side. The 
rest are “  no class,”  and were only put on the 
register because the law did not allow interference 
with 11 vested interests ”  provided the practitioner 
was pursuing an honest career.

The laymen and subordinates hear these 
things on the quiet or are even told directly, and 
without being in a position to judge, act on such 
information, and cause injury where it is unde­
served. “  We don’t call on Mr. So-and-so, that 
would be infra d ig ; he is no more than us—in fact 
not so good.”  ,More humour.)

A good many have an idea, unless others 
have gone through the particular system of train­
ing the speaker has—though it may be as obsolete 
as the “  dodo ” —he is no good. Demonstration 
is, after all, the only true test, and not trumpet­
ing. If one possesses the ability of hand and eye 
with necessary knowledge to satisfy those capable 
of judging, it does not matter one iota by what 
means he acquired that knowledge. But is it not 
another way, if only a modest one, of saying “  I 
am a first-class architect myself.”  Only recently

an instance of this sort of thing was brought to the 
notice of the writer by a prominent citizen regard- 
fug another architect. He may, of course, have 
misunderstood, and that is the danger of discuss­
ing with laymen purely professional matters. If 
an architect feels he has a grievance against his 
brother architects, let him air his grievance in the 
proper place and not to the public (individually or 
collectively), for these people cannot be expected 
to judge the merits of the matter. There is, of 
course, only one motive in such an attitude—desire 
to injure another to gain an advantage.

One of the qualifications for admission to a 
professional society w'as that the applicant must 
be a gentleman.

Let us one and all trv and practise that esprit- 
de-corps found in the old countries among honour­
able professions, and as we respect one another 
so shall we gain the respect of the public, and the 
status of the architect will greatly improve, the 
public be more inclined to employ the professional 
man for complete service. It is quite a common 
thing for clients to dispense with supervision, even 
m fairly large works, because they sav it is too 
“ expensive,”  whatever they may mean by that. 
The Committee that sat on the Architects Bill re­
vealed deplorable evidence, and the public became 
aware of this, and the innocent have in this world 
to suffer for the guilty. The suffering of the latter 
is only postponed, and will perhaps be of a more 
permanent nature for degrading an honourable 
profession.

“ JU S T IC E .”

Architectural Conference.

It is proposed to hold a conference of all the 
Architectural Bodies in South Africa at Johannes­
burg early in September next, at which the rating 
of a general form of Conditions of Contract for the 
Union will come under discussion.

Any other matters of interest to the profession 
generally will be included in the agenda if sub­
mitted to the Registrar bv the 15th July next.



‘-Building.’ 461

REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN AND 
CONSTRUCTION, III.

S H E A R .

The shearing stresses in a concrete beam are 
of great importance, and all concrete beams 
should be carefully designed for shear, otherwise 
cracks are likely to develop and the beam may be­
come unsafe.

At any point in a beam the unit shearing 
stresses in the vertical and horizontal directions 
are equal. They are zero at the' upper edge and 
leach their maximum value at the neutral axis. 
Below the neutral axis the tension in the concrete 
is neglected, so then the shearing stresses up to the 
reinforcing steel remain constant, where an equali­
sation of the horizontal shearing forces through 
the adhesive stresses upon the steel takes place.

For a beam of width (b) the unit shearing 
stress per sq. inch (v) in any one fibre parallel to 
the neutral axis is

v s
v  = ---  (IS)

lb

[June, 1921,

M times. Subsequently the value of At from equa­
tion (4) in (14).

1)X2 X
1 = ---- (k — ) (15)

2 8
V

or v = ------------(1 6)

b (h -  -)
3

The adhesive stress or resistance to slipping 
of the reinforcing steel boss is determined as fol­
lows : The tension T must be taken up in the first 
place through the adhesive stress upon the cir­
cumference n, of the reinforcement, and in the 
second place through the constant shearing stress 
v of the concrete between the reinforcement and 
the neutral axis. For a beam, in one foot length 
(the shearing stress in this length being assumed 
constant), therefore

T - au =  vb or 
vb V

a =  -  = ------------ (17)
u x

u (h -  -)
3

The same formulaes applv to beams reinforced 
for compression as regards shear and adhesive 
stress.

lu which V — the total shear inpourd,

S =  statical moment of area of cross 
section on one side of neutral axis 
about the neutral axis,

I =  Moment of Inertia of the cross- 
section about the neutral axis.

S h ^ e s s  /D /crcjrcrm . S h & c r r  D / a t fr & m .

The width, b, of the behtn is ordinarily deter­
mined according to the number of reinforcing 
bars provided, and as they do not help to take up 
the shearing stresses some of the bars must be 
bent up, or stirrups may be used. This bending 
up of the bars should be done preferably at about 
45 degrees, and also from the point in the beam 

where the shearing stress attains exactly its permissive 
value v.

Hie design of a beam for shearing stresses is 
accomplished in three ways :

(i.) The concrete takes up part of the shear.

(ii.) The stirrups take up the balance of the 
shearing stress, or

(iii.) The bent-up rods take up the balance of 
the shearing stresses in the form of ten­
sion .

x bx2
Then S =  bx -  = ---- and

2 2 
bx3

I -= ----+ in Afc f 1 i — x)2 (14)
3

in which the area of the steel reinforcing is increased

When both stirrups and bent-up rods are used 
only one system should be assumed as acting.

The design of the stirrups : Let V represent
the average unit horizontal shear over a part, s of 
a beam, then the total shear over any horizontal



“  B uilding .’ 462 [June 1921.

plane will be vbs, and
Vs

vbs “ = ----- ;— from (16)
x

(h -  -)
3

The function of the stirrup, either inclined or ver­
tical, is to resist by their tensile strength that por­
tion of the shearing stress which is not carried by 
the concrete. Assume a vertical stirrup to he 
placed in the centre of the part S . 1 he total stress

in the stirrup is Ats, and is produced by that part 
of the total shear over the horizontal plane B S  not 
taken by the concrete. Therefore 

Vs
Atf =  vbs = -------- and the spacing

x
(h -  -)

S
x

Atf (h -  -)
3

of the stirrup or S =  -------- ------  (18)
V

Diagram 2
Values o f  Shear erf aau Point in or Concrete Beam

— 50



“ Building ,” 463 [June 1921.



‘Building .” 464 [June 1921.

When the concrete is taken into consideration 
the denominator in the above equation becomes 
V-Vc, in which Vc is equal to

i
Cb (h -  - )

3

wherein c is the unit shear in the concrete of 8o 
pound per square inch.

From diagram No. 2 the shear at any point 
of a concrete beam can be readily found, and then 
from diagram No. 3 the required spacing. These 
diagrams to be used in the same manner as de­
scribed in Article II. It will only be necessary to 
find, say, three points, one at the suppo'rt, an­
other where the concrete takes up all the shearing 
stress, or Q = 0  and one between. The balance of 
the stirrups can then be spaced approximately. A 
graphical diagram will be given in the next article 
for the stirrup spacing, which can be used in con­
nection with the bent-up bars to be considered 
next.

Central Housing Board.
Circular No. II.

(Published by Authority.)

The following circular was issued on the 9th June, to 
each local authority in the Union:—

The H o u sin g  A c t  h o ,  3 5 ,  o f  1 9 2 0 .

I am directed to inform you that the Government 
has notified the Board that in view of the stringent 
financial position it will not at present be possible to 
provide funds for advances and housing loans beyond 
those required to meet applications approved by the 
Board up to 31 st May 'la s t; the Government will, 
however, be prepared to review this decision at the 
end of the present calendar year in the light of the 
financial position then obtaining.

Under these circumstances, while the Board is 
prepared to consider and advise on further schemes or 
housing loan applications, any recommendation in regard 
thereto will be conditional on funds being available 
at a later date.

R. S. GORDON, 

Secretary, Central Housing Board,

Some Glimpses of Australia.

Some months ago we had the pleasure of re­
visiting old scenes in the great island continent, 
voyaging in the good ship “  Ulysses ”  (14,500 
tons), and making Adelaide from Durban in a 
fairly quick trip of 17 J  davs, wharf to wharf, carry­
ing with us a pleasant remembrance of “ Joe- 
burg ”  architects in the fragrant form of a basket 
of ostrich feather fern and cyclamen, very gra­
ciously presented to my wife at Park Station on 
our departure on October 2nd. This little group 
of botany stood the sea air splendidly, and, 
guarded with kindly care, was placed in the draw- 
ing room of my aged mother, who received this 
piece of South Africa with the greatest pleasure.

M E L B O U R N E .

It was hard, when approaching the imperial 
looking city of Melbourne, stretching its suburbs 
out to twelve miles in every direction, to realise 
that this great city did not exist, and was the 
abode of black fellows, when my maternal parent 
was born in 1836, and although it is now eighty- 
three years old it almost inspires awe by the gran­
deur of its noble streets and magnificence of its 
commercial palace.

Fifteen years had passed since I last saw it, 
and in those years it had grown nearly as much 
as it had in its previous fifty-eight years of his­
tory. In this city, with past architectural tradi­
tions of a very high order, more recent work has 
carried on the spirit of a noble heritage, and it is 
impossible to refrain from praise of a race who 
have shown such noble conceptions of creative art.

Well termed the “  Queen City of the South,”  it 
well becomes the name as the womb of the eaily 
Commonwealth Parliament, which still sits in the 
regal-looking home of the old Victorian Parlia­
ment, which, standing on the Eastern Hill, over­
looks the whole city and closes the upward vista 
of one of its broadest streets.



“ Build in g .” 465 [June 1921

One of the first impressions one felt was the 
inevitable feeling, “  How much larger this is than 
Johannesburg?”  And the general appearance of 
the place indicated a greater prosperity and ab­
sence of apparent poverty than one is accustomed 
to in our own ‘ ‘ mile h ig h ”  town. Here are no 
bywoners, no poor whites, no tramps nor outward 
signs of an “ underdog”  world. The people 
speak with a somewhat strange accent, more cock­
ney than anything else, and the men appear, al­
most without exception, to treat life as a joke and 
everyday work as the sport of a king. They seem 
unaware, pleasantly so, of their glorious achieve­
ments in the latter part of the war, when kicking 
footballs forward they attacked one day at 4 a.m. 
and drove in the German front, and with their 
skirmishing cavalry had reached by 11 a.m. to a 
distance of nine miles from their start.

A S O L D IE R  A R C H IT E C T .

I met Sir Charles Rosenthal, F .R .I .B .A ., the 
General who was in charge of this assault. We 
had not seen each other for 23 years. We served 
our articles together long ago, and I found him 
in Sydney back in practice as a private architect. 
We met with great pleasure, and exchanged 
mutual accounts of our doings. I found him 
glowing with pride in his “  men,”  but very modest 
as to his own great military abilities. I believe 
he is the first architect in the world to attain Gen­
eral rank, and now, in addition to being a private 
architect, he still commands the troops in the north 
part of New South Wales.

It is verv interesting that out of five Divisional 
Generals of the Australian Army, tw'o were prac­
tising architects, my friend and Sir Talbot Hobbs, 
both very distinguished in the war in France.

H O B A R T .

In addition to visiting Melbourne, Hobart, 
and Sydney v7ere included in the itinerary. Ho­
bart, capital of the prettv island of Tasmania, 
situated on the most wonderful harbour in the 
world, finer even than Sydney’s, which is saving 
much, with its wondrous environment of great 
mountains and marine lakes, forms a “  pearl set 
in the silver seas.”  Our great ship’s nose lay 
almost touching the shore in 60 feet of water and

a long stone’s-throw from the Post Office. This 
beauty town has lain for a century semi-dormant, 
and now the great hydro-electric scheme has, 
Aladdin-like, brought about quick movement by 
the bestowal of the wonder-working cheap power. 
In the centre of Tasmania, and about fifty miles 
from Hobart, is a great plateau, 3,000 feet high, 
surrounded by High mountains, which pour their 
waters into lakes, one—the largest—called the 
“  great lake.”  The great lake in its turn pours out 
through the Ouse and rushes down the plateau 
slopes to the ocean. It has been harnessed by the 
largest water turbines in the world, and thus elec­
tric power is generated, and it has galvanised into 
new life the long sleeping city with new manufac­
tures. The Avon river is being joined to the 
Ouse, and the resultant electric capacity will be 
500,000 kilowatts, which can be taken easily any­
where in Tasmania. To the practical prophet the 
future lies with countries with available water- 
powder, more perhaps than with those wfith coal re­
sources, and Norway, Sweden, Tasmania, and 
other backward countries are likely to stride for­
ward into the front rank of the manufacturing* 
forces. It is cheaper to transmit power than to 
dig and haul coal, and Tasmania, once referred 
to by Sir David Hutchens as the “  lost corner of 
the empire,”  will soon be coming forward and 
pressing into the world’s markets. After 120 
years she only has 200,000 people, so there are 
acres of room for more, as she is nearly as large 
as Ireland. So may it be! She has one of the 
kindest peoples on earth.

S Y D N E Y .

Sydney is a horse of quite another colour. 
She is exultant in her greatness, numbering close 
on one million people, and with infinite capacity 
for growth. She is not unlikely in time to come 
to rival London itself, a metropolis to which old 
Sydney bears a most marked resemblance. 
Sydney sprawls itself across slightly undulating 
country further than the eye can see. Her street 
planning is atrocious—the worst by far I saw in 
Australia—as bad or w-orse than London. The 
great highways are most inadequate and unsatis­
factory, and little foresight seems to have been 
shown—a great contrast to Melbourne, which in 
the main is planned imperially. Of course, Syd­



“ B uilding .” 466 [June 11)21.

ney cannot be thought of without the famous har­
bour, which even close to shore is 60 to ioo feet 
-deep. It is called Port Jackson, and is one of the 
largest ports in the Empire. Mr. Jackson, tiie 
Harbour Board architect—the Board owns much 
shore property and the architects’ department is a 
busy one—kindly invited us to .see the port, and 
with one of the port officers, Captain IIilderband 
in charge, we were swiftly conveyed in a steam 
launch up several of the great arms of the har­
bour. As a port it is wonderful, so protected and 
so deep—they have to splice the piles for the 

wharves to reach bottom—but the surroundings 
disappoint one. In their primeval state they were 
covered with low trees of monotonous shades of 
gum leaves; now they are mainly desecrated by 
countless houses with most glaringly aggressive 
red tiles, which when the sun beats fiercely down 
weary the eyes; one longs for a few shingles to 
ease off the tone. The angry reds of all the Aus­
tralian tiled roofs makes one wish for a little softer 
tone. There are such countless thousands of new 
buildings mostly covered with these—both in Mel­
bourne and Sydney—that one cries out for cool­
ness and quiet. Even painted iron seems pardon­
able instead of this garishness.

The style of building houses has a distinctly 
American flavour. Red walls, red roofs, and 
steely hot sky, however, do not attract; perhaps in 
America’s cooler shades these reds may brighten 
up the landscapes. In Australia they make one 
wonder why every architect seems to wander along 
the same path. The country is sated. The style 
is good for houses if toned down, and if it was not 
repeated for ever with endless variations. One 
would like to see more of what we know here as 
the Mediterranean spirit, and which has been more 
or less the line we are properly following in this 
country for some years.

The street fronts are more agreeable than the 
houses, and it is in these that Australia in her 
larger towns is eminent. The earlier architects, 
many of them, were cultured men of the school of 
Cockerill and his contemporaries, and they have

left works of the very highest merit and in large 
numbers, and consequently there is in public 
buildings, a better tradition than we have formed 
in Africa. In Australia business men expect a 
fine facade. The architects started there well, but 
in Africa the start was often halting and mean, 
and there has been little to work up to. Our stan­
dard should in this respect be raised by educating 
our public, but in house building our standards 
in better class villas are more suitable for our cli­
mate than the Australians for theirs, and are of 
superior artistic merit.

A D E L A ID E .

I have not mentioned Adelaide, once called 
the “  fairy princess ”  of cities. Famous she de­
servedly is as one of the best laid out cities, with 
a great broad ring of park lines encircling the city 
proper and kept inviolate for ever, except where 
the main arteries pass through, one one of which 
is the statue of its planner, Colonel Light. I have 
left her to the last, as she was both the first and 
the last points we touched at. In town planning 
she excels—a truly fine example for study. How 
wise her people we it : and are ! They have handed 
their wisdom from generation to generation, and 
they have reaped as thev have sown—a noble heri­
tage of a beautiful heathful city.

A somewhat slow return voyage landed us 
with our many shipmates all glad to see Afric’s 
shores once more, and to enjoy the superior com­
fort of the S .A .R . on the night mail from Durban.

Amongst others I met in Australia I was de­
lighted to see our old friend, Mr. Wm. Lucas, who 
had many enquiries to make for his South African 
brethren, to whom he sends the kindest wishes.

E . H. W A U G H .

i <*» <s>

We congratulate Mr. Allen Wilson, of Jo­
hannesburg, on his having had accepted and hung 
at the Royal Academy, London, a perspective 
drawing of the new Standard Bank premises now 
under course of erection in Eloff Street, Johannes­
burg.



‘•Building .” 4(17 [June, 1921.

The Natal Institute of Architects.

The Annual General Meeting of the members 
of the above Society was held in the Architecture 
Room, Technical College, Durban, on the 3rd 
Mav, 1921, at 8 p.m. The President, Mr. B. V. 
Bartholomew, A .R .I .B .A ., in the chair. 1 he 
President said :

Gentlemen,—It gives me great pleasure in 
presenting to you this evening a report on the 
year’s work. The year has been a strenuous one 
for the Council, 'and  the following matters 
amongst others have been dealt with. 1 had the 
honour of representing the Natal Institute of Ar­
chitects on the Engineering Advisory Committee 
called together by the Technical College.

The Institute’s advice and recommendations 
were sought by the Municipality upon the pro­
posed new Bye-laws governing reinforced con­
crete construction.

A conference was held between nominees of 
this Institute and the Master Builders’ Associa­
tion relating to and in explanation of the wages 
liability clause, and vour Council agreed to the 
clause on the condition that a corresponding de­
crease of 1 per cent, per id. on wages on the un­
completed portion of the contract be made.

The important question of the registration of 
qualified architects was again under discussion, 
and in conjunction with the Association of I rans- 
vaal Architects this Institute petitioned the Min­
isters and local Members of Parliament. In this 
connection it might be profitable to define what is 
an architect, as a large number of the public ima­
gine many vain things and their ideas are parti­
cularly hazv. d'he definition given by the Dic­
tionary of the Academic Francaise is as follows : 
An architect is “  the artist who composes build­
ings, determines their proportions, distributions, 
and decorations, directs their execution, and con­
trols the expenditure upon them.”  Modern con­
ditions demand qualified men to deal with their 
complex requirements. Requirements as to plan­
ning, arranging the various parts most convenient 
for the purpose in view, having due regard to eco­
nomy and soundness of construction ; its demands 
for lighting, heating, ventilation and sanitation ; 
the respecting of bve-laws; the various legal enact­
ments affecting employer and employee, etc .; the 
choice of and the knowledge of materials, their 
strengths, costs and uses, and having regard to 
all this to design and finish a building in such an 
artistic manner as to conform to the standards of 
convenience, economy, utility and beauty. To at­
tain to these standards and to safeguard the public 
it at once becomes apparent that qualifications are 
necessary just as much as for the doctor or the 
lawyer. I need hardly remind you that in the 
Transvaal all architects are registered, and five 
of the municipalities of that Province refuse plans 
unless prepared bv registered architects, an ex­
cellent by-law which safeguards the public as

much as the demand for a certificate of qualifica­
tion for the plumber who lays the drains.

A good deal of work was accomplished by the 
Council in connection with the Durban War Me­
morial site, and after much correspondence and 
many interviews your Council, in conjunction 
with the Committee appointed by the Municipality 
to advise them, was influential in reversing the de­
cision of the Town Council. This Institute, as a 
body of qualified professional men and as bur­
gesses, would have failed in its duty had it not 
at once publicly voiced its opinion respecting our 
greatest civic monument and strenuously fought 
against what it considered a great mistake.

Your Council, at the request of the Durban 
Municipality, prepared the Conditions of Compe­
tition for the proposed Durban War Memorial, 
and I feel certain that when the designs are pub­
licly exhibited that the recommendations will be 
generally approved by the general public in that a 
fine civic centre will be our proud possession.

At the request of the Municipality your Coun­
cil acted upon the Advisory Committee of the 
“  General Botha Memorial ”  and selected the site 
for same. You did me the honour of electing me 
to represent the Institute in conjunction with the 
sculptor, Mr. Anton van Wouw, in designing the 
pedestal and lay-out of the site. Your Council 
actively participated in the Durban Housing 
Scheme condemning the original scheme prepared 
by the Municipality, which action was confirmed 
bv the Government Housing Board, who, recog­
nising the necessity oT commissioning qualified 
men, advised the Municipality to select four archi­
tects from the Natal Institute of Architects to 
carry out the scheme.

During the year this Institute has amalga­
mated with the Natal Societv of Artists, the Natal 
Society of Artists’ Sketch Club, and the Art Sec­
tion of the Technical College in organising 
monthly lectures in art and architecture, each 
Society being represented on a Joint Committee to 
prepare and carry out a syllabus of meetings.

I he question of raising the professional scale 
of charges to come into line with the Roval Insti­
tute of British Architects was discussed, but it was 
decided 'to adhere to the present scale.

Your Institute raised ,£100 amongst its mem­
bers, which was donated towards the Durban War 
M emorial.

During the year two Associates were elected, 
and I trust it will be to our mutual help.

The finances of the Institute are reflected in 
the Treasurer’s report.

Co-operating with the Technical College, an 
Architecture Room was formed at the College, 
and this Institute donated a sum of ^25 towards 
the purchasing of model casts and photographs.



“ B uilding ’’ 468 [.lane, 1921.

and it is hoped that much may result from this 
small beginning.

Members of this Institute have been granted 
the free use of the Architecture Room and Library 
at the College, and it is hoped members will take 
advantage of this kind offer.

This year the minutes of the Council meet­
ings have been sent to all members, as also the 
quarterly periodical, “  Building,”  the official 
journal of the Association of Transvaal Architects 
and the Natal Institute of Architects, and much 
appreciated.

It is anticipated that your new Council will 
petition the Town Council to form a strong towns 
planning committee, as we are conscious that our 
rapidly growing towns, with its industrial centres, 
its beach, eastern vlei. Esplanade developments 
and housing problems; its traffic, roads, and main 
thoroughfare; street corners, garages on street 
fronts in residential areas, etc., etc., problems 
greatly and unconsciously emphasising our civic 
life, demand careful consideration, and as an In­
stitute, in co-operation with others, we are willing 
to give to the town our best efforts.

In this connection your Council are arrang­
ing for lectures on town planning by an expert 
from the Homeland.

In conclusion, there is much this Institute can 
do towards influencing the general public in 
things appertaining to architecture. I trust that 
the new year will be fruitful of much good work. 
To the gentlemen of the Council and to our un­
tiring and devoted Secretary, and to the Proprie­
tors of the newspapers and others who have so 
worthily assisted this Institute I beg on your be­
half to tender our sincerest thanks.

A heartv vote of thanks was accorded Mr. 
Bartholomew for his year of Presidentship.

The following gentlemen were elected to the 
Council for the ensuing year : Messrs. B . V . Bar­
tholomew, A .R .I .B .A . (President), G. T . Hurst, 
D .S.O . (Vice-President), E. O. Payne, A .R .I .B .A . 
W . S . Payne, A .R .I .B .A ., Lowell Mason, F . J. 
Ing, Wallace Paton, F .R .I .B .A .

Seed Time.
By G. W . N IC O LA Y , M .S.A .

The fall of the Roman Empire, which was the 
result of an attempt, conscious or not, on the- part

of a section of the world’s inhabitants, to rule by 
main force the remainder, which not only out­
numbered it many times, but had again on its 
constantly increasing boundaries great hordes of 
humanity, primitive and uncivilised, and not only 
unconquered but unknown. Their habits were 
not unlike those of the Romans themselves, 
though from totally different causes. The various 
tribes living generally in territories amply suffi­
cient for their maintenance and in numbers suffi­
ciently small to avoid the embarrassment of their 
government, which was patriarchal, here and there 
from time to time increasing so as to subvert these 
conditions, split up into sections, of which the 
most recent pushed out into the surrounding coun­
try to find new quarters; not for conquest but to 
relieve pressure which the limits of their territory 
began to impose upon their resources, thus re­
peating the methods of their Aryan ancestors 
when they overran the primitive world.

The Roman, it mav be said, governed his 
world by establishing and maintaining lines of 
communication. His straight well paved roads, 
as the proverb has it, “  all lead to Rome ”  ! His 
castra at intervals along them were camps and 
depots, where troops stationary or on the march 
were constantly maintained. The civilised world 
was, in appearance, a vast training ground for sol­
diers, more decidedly than it had ever been before.

But the Roman had become cosmopolitan; 
his legions contained soldiers from many coun­
tries. Rome, once centripetal, all roads leading 
people eagerly to it, had become centrifugal; 
Romans went elsewhere to seek fortune and per­
manent homes, and sold the citizenship to aliens 
for money. The end had come. The division of 
the Empire, the gradual withdrawal of the Im­
perial forces homewards as one province after an­
other was lost. The sack of Rome itself and im­
position of a barbarian king, made the Roman 
Empire a thing of the past, and her great works 
swiftly followed. Buildings such as their great 
baths, theatres, and amphitheatres, their palaces 
and halls of justice were no longer required, and 
in many cases fell into ruins or even pulled down. 
The whole system had failed and been effaced by 
the overwhelming incursion of barbarians from 
the unknown lands whose numbers were the chief 
causes of their success, though they were not de­
ficient in courage or even in military genius.

Where regular government with strict admin­
istration of laws and the customs of society had 
continued for centuries, disruption, confusion, 
and disorder prevailed, and the greatest organisa­



■‘B uilding .” 469 [June 1921.

tion ever known broke up into a number of hostile 
States, the boundaries of which were ill-defined, 
all in a state of fusion and transition, and have 
remained more or less in that condition ever since.

Architecture was not likely to flourish under 
these conditions. Under the patronage of those 
in temporary supreme power, Emperors of rem­
nants of the late Empire, K ings of growing or tot­
tering states and nobles governing provinces or 
cities, it showed a stunted growth, in some cases 
worthy of notice, but for the greater part making 
no mark even at the time and leaving scarce a 
trace for future centuries.

The result was not surprising. Influenced bv 
the splendour of the great church at Constanti­
nople a few buildings were designed which aimed 
at the same freedom, both in plan and general 
treatment, though without success. But still, 
though Saint Sophia stands to this day the only 
building which fairly represents the apparent aims 
of its Architect or of the Emperors who were, as 
we should sav, his clients, the manner of the work 
and especially the detail, both of arrangement and 
enrichment, appear and reappear in the succeed­
ing times as late as the thirteenth and possibly the 
fourteenth century.

Consequent, no doubt, upon the unstable con­
dition prevailing all through a world of convul­
sions, so much more serious than those attending 
the triumphant progress of the Roman advance 
upon Greece, recovery after conflict was slow. The 
Roman work was orderly in its methods, in its 
victories and occupation of one country after an­
other, and administration of them, and though 
success only whetted the appetite for military ad­
venture, the masterly consolidation of everv step 
left in each country the people content to settle 
under the government they imposed, even if not 
enamoured with it, and so the various countries 
became freely accessible one to another, and the 
arts, particularly architecture, made extraordinary 
progress in all directions.

But towards the close of the sixth century, all 
was confusion, and though there must have been 
great numbers of people accustomed to not only 
civilised but luxuriant living, their shrunken con­
dition for the most part forbade any great encour­
agement of the arts. Likely enough the existing 
buildings were more than sufficient for their wants, 
and equal to suffice all their ambitions. On the 
contrary, the barbarians began in confusion, suc­
ceeded with it, and left it behind them.

I he thin streams of immediate Byzantine in­
fluences flowing gently here and there and form- 
ing pools, as may be said, filtered through Asia 
Minor into Syria, and along the northern littoral 
of the Adriatic, then northward to Ravenna and 
southward to Venice, and from these lines hither 
and thither to any place where there was possible 
escape from the confusion of the times.

Rome was reduced to insignificance, and R a­
venna, where the government of the Western 
Empire had been re-seated, was in the hands of 
the barbarians by the end of the fifth century, and 
the Empire of the West at an end.

During the fourth century the great church of 
St. Peter at Rome was perhaps finished. It was 
designed on the lines of the Roman basilica, but 
with considerable and not very successful varia­
tions. It had a wide central space, like that after­
wards called the nave, and two lateral spaces on 
each side of it just as they were usually arranged 
afterwards, and called aisles. At the west end 
was a spacious transverse member, the transept of 
later days in the centre of which an apse was 
placed on the axis of the nave, and in front of it 
stood the Altar.

These two churches, Saint Sophia at Constan­
tinople and St. Peter at Rome, supplied the ma­
terial out of which were wrought the great, so- 
called, Romanesque and Gothic schools of archi­
tecture, the church at Constantinople supplying 
the spirit of adventure and freedom, that at Rome 
the reverence for traditions and love of the times 
that indeed were past, but were much too great 
and glorious to be forgotten.

It is remarkable that both these churches re­
tained and rejected parts of the old basilica. S. 
Peter’s retained the collonade and rejected the in­
termediate floors or gallery in the aisles, S . Sophia 
kept the galleries and refusing the collonade 
adopted the arcade in its stead, and besides worked 
out a new and elaborate plan and used the counter­
fort or buttress. The plan of S . Peter based on 
right lines; that of S . Sophia on the elipse and 
circle.

Out of all the troubles and turmoils of the 
times emerged the feudal system of which it need 
only be noted here that it established a new type 
of military building which for a considerable 
period was the only domestic building, if the term 
may be allowed, which in any way competed with 
the buildings of the church. The Roman castra, 
with which architecture had but little to do, passed



‘ Building .” 470 [June 1921.

its name on to the feudal castles which soon be­
came the most important buildings to be found 
anywhere, in many cases containing within their 
walls a very considerable population besides the 
garrison. The face of the country was quite 
changed everywhere. Instead of the low earth­
works of the Roman fortress was now seen high 
walls with towers at intervals of the outer defences, 
within which were other similar lines of defence 
according to the size and importance of the place, 
and notably the great tower or last defence, which 
was the Keep or residence- of. the owner or his de­
puty. The important towns were also enclosed 
with walls, and had their towers and gates as of 
old, and between these lay the smaller open towns 
and villages, and the religious homes which were 
also enclosed with walls, but not for military pur­
poses.

Greater changes were being made than had 
ever been made before over such an extended area. 
It was a transformation scene. The buildings 
which all over the world had so exactly suited the 
Roman were comparatively useless to Rom e’s new 
masters. The Roman power was at an end. The 
Roman civilisation withered before a storm of bar­
barism.

The Roman buildings, disintegrated, drifted 
as building materials into the hands of those who 
were interested in effacing even the memory of 
their luxury, tyranny or cruelty.

During this period of change architecture was 
in the general view a lifeless thing, but the thin 
streams and pools to which the new thinking in 
architecture has been compared carried, like some 
rich veins in a mine, immense values with them. 
The influence of the great Greek artists was alive 
in it, passing on and seeming to have, as it were, 
its revenge for the Roman spoliation and subse­
quent degradation of its heart-work, to move for­
ward its spirit to a day yet five or six centuries 
away that perfection traceable in the finest mediae­
val sculpture, and meanwhile, though buildings 
were comparatively mean in size, the decorative 
work of Byzantine artists was preparing the cvay 
for an entirely fresh type at least as beautiful as 
any that preceded or which followed it.

It is at least remarkable that the architecture 
gradually developed from the fusion of the Bvzan- 
tine and Roman work of which the most notice­
able contribution from Rome was the “  long drawn 
aisle,”  should have been given by our modern 
critics and editors the name ‘ ‘ Romanesque.”  The 
arcade as above noted was a contribution from 
Byzantium, so was the buttress, so was the living 
part of the sculpture and decoration, and even the 
remarkable collonade of S . Peters, kept rather

strictly to traditional inter-communication, was not 
repeated, but the spaces between the columns 
speedily became wider and wider as the traditions 
of columnar architecture retired into the past.

That tradition lingered about Rome like some 
disquieted ghost, and never quite relinquished its 
hold upon the city and its neighbourhood, and this 
is perhaps attributable to the establishment of the 
Pope as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

From the sixth century, when S . Sophia was 
built, to the tenth century, the architects were try­
ing to do new things in a manner not perhaps very 
different from our own. Architecture was dis­
creet, eclectic, becoming freed from the trammels 
of the past. During the period from the 5th cen­
tury until the completion of the first millennium 
all sorts of experiments and trials were made, and 
then in the next century the question of style was 
settled, at least for Europe, and produced a period 
of building activity unparalleled in previous times.

The finest Byzantine influence has its most 
characteristic development at S . Vitale at Ravenna 
and S . Mark at Venice; the former using the cc 
tagon and the semi-circular exedra as at S . Sophia 
and the latter using the square, with inner features 
of the plan arranged very simply in the manner 
of a Greek cross with straight arcades. Both 
these churches are finished in the most sumptuous 
manner after the model of the great example at 
Constantinople. They stand alone, however, and 
probably S . Marks, which is the later of the two, 
was the last example of the type.

Something much cheaper than that was re­
quired. The whole population of vast territories 
had become Christian, and the form of the build­
ings required for religious and military purposes 
was rapidly developed, and at the opening of the 
eleventh century the arrangement of churches was 
settled on a normal basis, not much altered from 
the plan adopted at S . Peter’s at Rome.

This plan consisted of a nave with two or four 
a:sles, a transept and an apse, the apse beir 
pushed out a little from the transept by a space 
corresponding to the eastern bay or two bays of 
the nave. There were, no doubt, churches built 
which had no particular type of plan, as there had 
been from the first and ever since; just a parallelo­
gram or that with a small apse or a semi-circular 
end to serve as a sanctuary.

Such then was the beginning of the architec­
ture developed bv Christians for Christian wor­
ship, and which gave its tone and general charac­
ter to all the buildings of the subsequent ages, 
except where districts were out of the general run 
and traffic of the times.

The old systems were passing out of sight 
and even remembrance, and new thoughts and as­
pirations as to architecture were busily maturing 
under conditions having in the nature of them far- 
reaching and most exalted ambitions moving pace 
by pace with development of the feudal powders.



“ B uilding .” [June 1921.

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“ Building .” 471 [Jane 1921.

Assessors’ Report on Students’ Competition.

The designs submitted, from the point of view 
of both design and draughtsmanship, are highly 
creditable, and are evidence of the keenness of the 
students in their work.

It is regrettable that there were so few entries 
for the subjects of “ measured draw ing”  and 
“ groined roof,”  both of which, though necessi­
tating some hard work and study, were of more 
use to the student than the competition for the 
residence, and it will be quite evident to those com­
peting in these subjects that they have gained a 
considerable amount of knowledge as a result of 
their painstaking efforts.

The design for the residence was, judging 
from the number of exhibits, evidently a favourite 
subject, but the majority of the competitors lacked 
the essential factors which after all can only be ob­
tained bv long experience in the study of house 
planning, and if we might suggest as a result of 
the studv of these plans that a subject of this kind 
is tending to encourage the student to run before 
he walks.

It is not necessary to dilate upon the number 
of weaknesses exhibited in the many designs, as 
by enumerating the good points of the design 
placed first the unsuccessful competitors can see 
for themselves where they failed in their respec­
tive designs.

The design placed first is a compact, well 
thought out plan with a minimum of waste space, 
as compared with others with straggling rooms 
and waste spaces in passages, etc.; the rooms are 
of a good size and proportion, and so arranged 
that all the walls of the first floor rooms are over 
the walls of the rooms of the ground floor; the 
shape of the plan suggests a minimum of external 
walls, and a simple dignified roof. Every room at 
some time of the day receives direct sunlight, as 
compared with others having rooms that never get 
the sun all the year round. The service from 
kitchen to dining room is private, and yet the ser­
vant has direct access to the entrance door, as com­

pared with others that necessitate the servant pass­
ing through the hall to get to the dining room, and 
then through the only door which is used bv the 
family.

The bedrooms are self-contained, and can be 
approached by the servant without going through 
the reception rooms, having direct access from the 
kitchen lobby, while the family can get access 
from the bedrooms to the yard without having to 
go through either the reception part of the house 
or ihe kitchen. These are especially important 
features in a house in this country, where native 
servants are employed, and it is essential that 
members of the family can go from bedrooms to 
bathrooms, etc., without being exposed to view 
by the native servant, who should have access from 
dining room to kitchen entirely screened from the 
bedrooms.

Sleeping balconies are provided with access 
from all the bedrooms, and advantage has been 
taken of a northern aspect for both stoep and bal- 
cony which can have their outlook on to a north­
ern garden separated from the tradesmen’s en­
trance and varc! by a hedge or stockade fence en- 
tirelv enclosing the latter and making it self-con­
tained.

On the whole this design is a clever and well 
thought out scheme, and the draughtsmanship, 
though not as perfect as some of the others, yet 
well above the average, and very creditable for 
students’ work.

We have much pleasure in assessing the fol­
lowing as the best designs submitted for the re­

spective schemes :

(0 Measured Drawing Design No. I

(2) Groined Roof Design No. I I

(3) Residence Design No. 18

IT G. V E A L E ,

R. H O W D EX ,

Assessors.



'B u i l d i n g ” 472 [June 1921

Party Walls.

A SERVITIUDE

When one considers the present-day value of 
property in the centre of our metropolis and the 
consequent demand for space economy in plan­
ning, it is surprising to find that the advantages 
of joint party walls have received so little con­
sideration, and are not more popular than they 
have been in the past.

As a consequence, it would hardly be an ex­
aggeration to say that thousands of pounds and 
as many superficial yards of precious space have 
been put to no useful purpose whatsoever. By 
sharing party walls with its neighbours the floor 
area of a 50 x 50 foot stand is increased by about 
75 superficial feet, or roughly 3,750 cubic feet in 
the case of a four-storeyed building.

The dimensions of a stand such as we have 
under consideration are by no means generous, 
and every inch counts in adjusting the walls of 
the different apartments so as to get the utmost 
value out of the area at the architect’s disposal.

One has in addition to take into consideration 
the initial cost of duplicating the walls, an amount 
which in the case of a twofold wall 50ft. high ac­
counts for no less than 108 cubic yards of brick- 
.work, or at present-day prices £ 3 2 4, exclusive of 
brick footings, concrete, and excavation.

Bu this is not the main issue., By far the 
most important consideration is one of construc­
tion. Here again everything favours the joint 
wall—with one exception, and that is when a great 
depth of compressible subsoil is encountered and 
the uneven settlement of buildings has to be dealt 
with.

On normally good ground, such as the gravel 
and rock met with in the city, the architect in de­
signing new foundations of a building is faced 
with three alternatives.

(1) That of placing his wall centrally on his 
footing and keeping the whole within the limits 
of his client’s boundary.

> : v A

1
♦ -v: 
S - V c
■ A’ 4

N c * 1 * 
C, -  C .. 0 / .
: < A :

fcn . . .

£ 3 o V A /D f7 R y  J ./ A / 6

PREJUDICE.

(2) That of building the wall close to the 
boundary and having a one-sided footing.

with a view to placing it centrally over the boun­
dary and distributing the footings evenly over 
both properties concerned.

Structurally the first method is sound, but it 
will readily be seen that the waste of ground in­
volved places it out of bounds for all ordinary 
purposes.

I he second is that which has been generally 
adopted in Johannesburg. Obviously a footing 
of this description does not complv with statical 
requirements, and should be condemned once and 
for all by our building bye-laws.

Although such foundations under certain con­
ditions hold good, they more frequentlv fail, and 
are doubtless the cause of a good many of the de­
fects that make their appearance in the super­
structures after their completion.

Our only alternative, therefore, is to advocate 
the joint party wall. It is structurally sound and 
economical, it permits of the simplest form of 
underpinning, and dispenses with the necessity of 
shoring as well as underpinning in adjoining wall 
during building operations below ground level.

The reason for the unpopularity of the joint 
party wall is mainly due to the imposition of a 
servitude on the properties concerned. However 
beneficial it may be, a servitude on a property is 
seldom looked upon with favour; more often than 
not it is in the nature of a bond or other unpleasant 
limitation, and necessitates a reference to the



473 [.Tune, 192

Heeds Office, with its attendant loss of time and 
often fruitless expense.

My plea, therefore, is for the standardisation 
of a model party wall agreement either by the 
Municipality concerned, or, better still, by the 
Provincial Council. This should be gazetted and 
published throughout the Province as the stan­
dard “  Provincial ”  or “  Municipal ”  (as the case 
mav be) “  party wall servitude.’

Properties subject to such an agreement com­
ing under the auctioneer’s hammer may be guar­
anteed subject to this particular servitude onlv, 
and with a knowledge of its many advantages the 
present-day prejudice will be dispelled.

To some of us it may seem rather late in the 
day to introduce a change; nevertheless, it is not 
too late to prevent other towns, home of them in 
ihe making, from benefiting by our experience in
this respect.

GORDON L E IT H , A .R .I .B .A .

“ B uilding .”

l o r n u j j b  o f  © u r b a n .

Durban War Memorial.
The Town Council of the Borough of Durban invite 

designs from Architects and others for the Durban War 
Memorial to be erected in the Town Gardens or Square 
bounded by Church Street, West Street, Smit Street and 
Gardiner Street.

Conditions of Competition and Instructions to Com­
petitors. together with plan of die site and surrounding 
buildings and photographs, may be obtained from the 
Office of the Town Clerk upon the deposit of One Guinea, 
which sum will be returned on receipt of a bona fid e
design.

The following premiums will be paid subject to the 
■Conditions of Competition:

To the author of design placed 1st. 300 Guineas.
„ „ 2nd 200 „

” ” ” ” „ 3rd 100

Drawings and relative documents submitted for the 
-competition must be delivered to the Town Clerk, 
Municipal Offices, Durban, on or before the 31st 
August, 1921.

By Order of the Corporation,
JOHN TAYLOR.

Town Clerk’s Office,
Durban, 29th March, 1921.

Town Clerk.

G E O M E T R Y  EOR B U IL D E R S  AND A R C H I­
T E C T S . Bv J . E. Paynter. (Chapman and
Hall, Eld., i i , Henrietta Street, W .C .2.)

Price Id  -

This work, as stated in the Preface, is in­
tended as a (ext book for the Architect, Suiveyor, 
and Student, and will be a welcome addition to 
the Architect’s library.

A sound knowledge of this subject is essential 
to the Architect, and he will find in this book 
many useful diagrams dealing with those prob­
lems in geometrical design and construction met 
with in practice.

To the students of Design and Building Con­
struction it should prove particularly valuable, 
especially, as stated, to those who have not the 
advantage of studying under a competent teacher.

The author is well known as a lecturer in 
Building subjects at the Goldsmiths’ College, Lon­
don, and he has dealt very comprehensively, 
clearly and concisely with his subject. I he chap­
ter on Geometry as a basis of ornamentation is 
interesting in view' of the fact that the C lassie and 
Renaissance architects applied geometrical propor­
tions not only to their ornament but to their com­
positions.

Journals Wanted.
Copies of the following issues of this Journal 

are urgently required bv the Business Manager. 
Members willing to release the copies sent to them 
are asked to communicate with the Registrar as 
early as possible.

No. ii Issue September, 1918.
No. 15 Issue September, 1919.
No. 21 Issue March, 1921.

Chair of Architecture.
Donations towards the establishment of this 

Chair at the Johannesburg University are urgently 
required, and may be forwarded to the Registrar 
made payable in the usual way.

All members who have not yet promised are 
asked to do so without delay, and those members 
who have already promised a donation are asked 
to kindlv post their cheques for the sums promised 
by return post.



“ B uilding .” 474 [June, 1921.

The Second South African Academy.

SO M E CA N D ID  C R IT IC IS M .

I have been asked to say something about the 
recent Johannesburg Academy. In doing so, I 
should like to sefer briefly to some aspects of Art 
on the Rand and in South Africa.

To some people the bare idea of associating 
Art with the Rand is an absurdity. It has been 
said that Johannesburg will not buy pictures; 
that, if it does, it only buys potboilers; lastly, that 
it is no use trying to raise its artistic standard— 
so-called. In fine, that artists must paint down 
to it, play down to it, write down to it, and, if 
possible, live down to it.

There is a certain truth in these statements, 
but not the whole truth. It is true that some 
people in Johannesburg pay grossly inflated prices 
for ephemeral pictures; that they prefer pretty 
pink post-cards to genuine, if sometimes crude, 
artistic effort, that its buildings and furniture are 
too often tasteless and blatant, that its literary as­
pirations seem to be satisfied by Elinor Glynn and 
Louis Tracey.

1 may be an optimist, but 1 have always 
thought, and still think that this is largely the 
fault of our so-called artistic people. If they, like 
the Pharisee, pass by, it is scarcely helpful to the 
casualty by the roadside.

Now the Association of Transvaal Architects has 
had the usual experience of most well-meaning and 
disinterested people. Its motives have been im­
pugned, its audacity has been damned. The ar­
tists looked down on the Academy because it was 
mooted by architects; minor faults of organisation 
were magnified, and the sensitive and somewhat 
provincial souls of many .of our leading painters 
and craftsmen turned in abhorrence from the aw­
ful spectacle of a society of Philistines daring to 
tamper with their sacred rights and privileges.

Now I have no intention of taking up a brief 
for the Architects, even in their own paper. I 
am simply offering a free and untrammelled 
opinion. The intention was, as I understand it, 
to begin the nucleus of.a permanent centre of ar­
tistic work. The fact that the Association has 
borne the verv heavy expenses of two exhibitions 
should have been enough to win a little sym­
pathy. But the average South African artist has 
a soul above mere sordid considerations. A'lonev 
has no weight with him-—except at auction sales. 
Like all really artistic temperaments, he is a law 
unto himself. He prefers to go on manufacturing 
what, in his inmost heart, he knows are potboilers; 
to fout, as some seem obliged to do. for orders; 
to commercialise his art. All this, rather than 
climb down from his pedestal, to accept what even 
from his highly artistic standpoint might have

been a very advantageous offer, to enjoy his splen­
did isolation.

But to return to the second Academy. 1 
have been moved to these criticisms because a 
large number of leading painters boycotted this 
exhibition. Men like Amschewitz, Rowarth, 
Goodman, Paton, and Pierneef, and even the ubi- 
quitous Volschenk, were all unrepresented. It 
was not that they were rejected. One trembles to 
think what would have happened had the Johan­
nesburg Academy treated them as the Royal Aca- 
demv treated the “  old men ”  only this year !

Why they did so is locked within their 
bosoms. I know there are troubles of time and 
distance. Some, no doubt, had perfectly legiti­
mate excuses. Some perhaps wished to give the 
younger artists a chance? It is even whispered 
that the omission of the magic word “  auction ” 
influenced others? Posterity will only wonder.

Another rumour asserted that some would-be 
supporters feared the judges. I was neither a 
judge nor a competitor, but had I been either, I 
think the three artists chosen would have had my 
confidence for fairplay and technical knowledge.

I have onlv one criticism to make as to their 
selections. They worked conscientiously, and 
there was a very large number of rejections. The 
result represented a good average, but the judges 
went scarcely far enough or too far. Some works 
•were included that made one wonder what the ex­
cluded were like, and whether an original but bad 
picture, from the technical point of view, is not 
better than a hopelessly commonplace and taste­
less production. Vet those I saw of the rejected 
certainly deserved their fate.

d'he results were, to be candid, that there was 
much mediocre work and a suggestion that the 
judges nodded at work which was more or less 
correct but hopelessly dull in order to fill up 
spaces.

Fortunately, there were compensations. If 
one missed Volschenk’s tonal platitudes, Ro- 
wortfrs charming “  facilities,”  and Goodman’s 
clever mechanism, there were many indications of 
intelligent effort. There-was very little difference 
of opinion, I think, as to one artist. Partly be­
cause her work was new to most of us, and had, 
moreover, a pleasant freshness. Change is good. 
It is safe! that a local picture-buyer who paid a 
long price for a drawing-room picture-spon trans­
ferred it to his dining-room. When I last heard 
of it, it was in the bathroom. Mrs. K a v ’s work 
had vitality about it and power. She shone, too, 
by beinv less conventional than many of her 
fellow-exhibitors. “ Market-carts”  and “ T a x is ” '



[June 1921.

suggested imagination and a point of view. There 
was a delightful freedom and charm about “  The 
Pink Bonnet ”  and, to a lesser degree, in “  The 
Silver Lam p,”  which erred a little on the side of 
prettiness. Her portrait of “  H. Christie Smith ”  
was quite good enough to have been better, the 
accentuation of the black spoiling what was, in 
any case, a line piece of character-study.

John Ferguson had some capable work in his 
“  Passing Shower.”  “  Low Tide ”  dealt with a 
hackneyed subject in a very agreeable way. In 
both, however, he lacked a little of the “  outdoor 
feeling.”

J .  W . D. Muff Ford did not come up to the 
achievement of the preceding year. 11 My 
Mother ”  was intelligent and vital, but the flesh- 
tints seemed to me unpleasant.

A. E . Gyngell is an exasperating' artist. The 
technique is his and the knowledge, but he is 
bound to convention. You can see him hesitant 
on the artistic brink. The background of what 
was, in many respects, an excellent portrait of 
“  G. W. Nicolay ”  gave the whole a certain timi­
dity. It looked as if the artist had got weary of 
well-doing, and put in the background as an after­
thought.

Crossland Robinson sent one or two oils, 
landscapes, a “  Voortrekker ”  portrait, a strong 
but rather toneless bit of painting. Madame Pi 1- 
tan’s work was efficient but not always adequate. 
Clement Senecjue, a name new to me in exhibi­
tions here, sent some promising oils, while Na­
talie Seeker seemed to have gleams of the right 
spirit. J .  Pohl still finds it difficult to emancipate 
himself from the idea that the cattle are all-impor­
tant. Would it be presumption to remind him 
that even animal painters must have a well- 
painted background, unless, like Landseer (absit 
omen), they must tell a story to cover their ar­
tistic nakedness.

It is pleasant to record the strength of the ar­
chitectural section. Gordon Leith’s drawings were 
quite some of the best things in the exhibition. 
If architecture is not art, it can be a plausible imi­
tation ! The serenely technical drawings from the 
Flavian Palace and the designs for a War Me­
morial are both instinct with genuinely artistic 
feeling, apart from their architectural merits. 
Here they represent the work of one of South 
Africa’s cleverest architects, whose work has not 
yet received the recognition it deserves, and will 
one day receive. G. E . Pearse’s “  Project for a 
Cinema ”  was a pleasant piece of work. A model 
of the Parkview Church bv E. J .  Wellman was an 
excellent example of careful design. There were 
some promising students’ exhibits.

In sculpture, Anton van Wouw had several 
examples. Some of his Kaffir studies were parti­
cularly vital, a quality not always so evident in 
one or two of the portrait busts.

*• B uilding .”

Arts and crafts were thinly represented as 
compared with last year. John Adams sent two 
examples of pottery which indicated that South 
African ware may one day be sought after. His 
colour, design and glaze are notable advances on 
anything yet done in this country. Mdlle. 
d’Aubray and Mrs. A . G. Guest sent some inter­
esting examples of enamel, J . Harcus some carved 
plaques. Stencil work and some binding and 
leather work made up a small but respectable dis­
play.

As a whole, the Academy, in spite of the 
apathy of the artists, justified its existence. The 
fact that so much was done in face of so many 
obstacles should prove this. But what of the 
future ?

In the Art Gallery we have what ought to be 
the nucleus of fine artistic effort. As a collection 
it compares more than favourably with those of 
most British municipal galleries. There are a few 
pictures one would wish elsewhere, but there is 
much, very much, for which to be thankful. Even 
the fact that Millais and Landseer are the most 
popular artists with the public, as in other coun­
tries, should not obscure the fact that we l\ave 
Harpignv and Rodin, Sargeant and Augustus 
John, Monet and Steer; that we have pictures to 
please all tastes, but others that will stand the test 
of time.

Despite my criticisms, 1 should like to make 
an appeal. Can we not be a little less provincial 
and individual in our artistic bias? Does it really 
matter to Art if some other-individual besides our­
selves has an idea? Seeing that Art in this coun­
try is admittedly a tender plant, could we not have 
a little more unity? Not in manner and methods 
—God forbid—but in outlook. Few countries 
have a greater need of artistic taste, of higher stan­
dards in the things that go to make for culture. 
Nature has given us magnificent scenery and 
broad spaces. In too many cases the mental out­
look is extremely narrow and deplorably limited. 
But the mere fact that men and women do meet 
together sometimes to discuss and to enjov some­
thing that has an intellectual appeal is a hopeful 
sign. It may be on a lower plane than ours; it 
may not Be great art, but genius has emerged 
from stranger places than Johannesburg.

I scarcely dare to suggest that even the Aca­
demy in Johannesburg, the S .A . Society of 
Artists in Capetown, or any similar organisations 
in the Union may house the germs of the artistic 
SDirit, but I do suggest that these and all similar 
efforts deserve the support, not only of the public,, 
but of the gods who sit on Olvmpus.

0 .

The Second Annual Exhibition of the South 
African Academy was opened .on the 22nd March, 
in the Selborne Hall.

Our President, Mr. E . M. Powers,

475

was 1 n



“  Building ,” 476 [June 1921.

the chair, and in his opening remarks paid a tri­
bute to Lady Lionel Phillips for her great interest 
in the Municipal Art Gallery of Johannesburg.

The Chairman stated that the object of the 
Academy was that Johannesburg might be con­
sidered more than a Mining Centre, and that we 
might be considered the centre of Art.

Lady Phillips referred to the fact that she had 
been present at the opening of the first Exhibition, 
which was opened by Sir Lionel Phillips last 
year.

In an interesting speech Lady Phillips dealt 
with many points relative to the development of 
Art in Johannesburg, giving some home truths in 
respect to the teaching of Arts and Crafts, and 
begged that artists would carry on their work in a 
spirit of co-operation, i.e., to feel that even our 
pots and pans made by local people were worthy 
of consideration.

Sir Drummond Chaplin addressed the gath­
ering, and stated that he would make it his busi­
ness, on his return to Rhodesia, to let the people 
there know that there was an Exhibition of this 
kind in existence, and attempt to get Rhodesian 
artists to help along a good work.

During the opening ceremony a letter was 
read from Earl Llaig explaining that he was un­
able to be present, as he had to meet some old 
Comrades. He added that his best wishes went 
with them, and hoped that Art in South Africa 
would be encouraged and supported, because he 
was confident all classes in this magnificent coun­
try would greatly benefit therefrom.

Mr. Veale proposed a vote of thanks to the 
distinguished visitors, which was carried with ac­
clamation.

The Exhibition proved an interesting one, but 
it is to be regretted that there was so few school 
works submitted.

This is partly accounted for by the fact that 
so much damage is done to exhibits of this class 
through careless handling on the Railways that 
the Principals of the South African Art Schools 
are not prepared to take the risk of having their 
students’ .work damaged. Nor can they be blamed 
for this, because very often a student’s work is ir­
replaceable, and whilst perhaps all students would 
be proud to have their works on exhibition they 
may readily be. excused from doing so when the 
risk of depriving them of the value of their works 
as studies is so great.

Damage to works submitted applies to pic­
tures also, and money has to be spent before the 
Exhibition opens on glass replacements. These 
glass breakages, it is found on opening the cases, 
are obviously the result of careless handling by 
the Railway authorities.

Knowing what we do, it may be necessary to 
wait on the Railway Authorities with a view to 
finding whether they wall help the progress of the

annual Exhibition of Art here, by making special 
rates for works in transit to and from the Aca­
demy, as it is clear that the present railway rates 
do operate adversely against the number of ex­
hibits submitted.

Some criticism was made in the Press in re­
gard to the charge made this year for exhibitors’ 
works.

1 he Executive decided to make a small charge 
after having gone carefully into the financial 
position.

It may be as well to point out that most of 
the artists exhibiting at any other institution of 
this kind are called upon to pay a subscription an­
nually which more than covers the cost per ex­
hibit made by the Executive.

It is not considered advisable at this stage to 
elect any members of the Academy with a viewr 
to charging a subscription, as this should only be 
done by careful selection from those who have 
proved to be the best exhibitors over a reasonable 
period. The selection of the gentlemen to act as 
a jury of admission received the very careful at­
tention of the Executive, as it was felt that the 
task to place before the jury was no light one, par­
ticularly since a charge had been made, which was 
not to be refunded to unsuccessful exhibitors; fur­
ther, that since it was to be expected that artists 
from all parts of South Africa would submit works 
it would be advisable to endeavour, if possible, to 
secure at least one judge from each of the Pro­
vinces of Natal, Cape, and the Transvaal.

The Executive were fortunate in securing ar­
tists from Capetown, Durban and Johannesburg, 
and as none of these gentlemen were architects, 
the architectural works were placed in a separate 
class, and a well-known Transvaal architect agreed 
to undertake the task of judging all architectural 
submissions except those of the students, these 
latter works having been adjudicated on by twro 
members of the Association Council.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the 
whole of the judging w'as carried out by an im­
partial jury of well-know'n artists from three Pro­
vinces, and it must be admitted that no more 
equitable arrangement than this could be arrived 
at.

The number of exhibits was approximately 
400, and the number approved 150.

The arrangement of pictures and other ad­
missions ŵ as considered to be a distinct improve­
ment on the previous exhibition, and in fact re­
flected great credit upon the Hanging Committee.

It is to be regretted that the lighting of the 
hall was not dealt with more satisfactorily, but 
this was owing to lack of funds, and it is to be 
hoped that exhibits will not suffer in this respect 
in future years.



“ Building .” 4-77 [.June, 1921

Town Planning Association, (Transvaal.)

M IN U T E S of the Second Annual General Meet­
ing' held in the Scientific and Technical Club, 
Fox Street, Johannesburg, on Monday, the 
16th May, 1921, at 7.30 p.m.

Present: Mr. D. P . Howells, Vice-President, 
in the chair; Messrs. W . Fernhead, Harold Por­
ter, II. G. Veale, D. M. Sinclair, F. II. Waugh, 
Dr. Chas. Porter, Mr. A. H. Gibbs, C. P. Tomp- 
kins, Chas. Hosking, Colin \\rade, Gordon Leith, 
R . H. Smith, H. W . Spicer, Prof. G. E . Pearse, 
and the Secretary, M. K . Carpenter.

In opening the proceedings, the Chairman re­
gretted the absence on account of illness of the 
President, Mr. D. M. Burton.

After the Secretary had read the notice con­
vening the meeting the Minutes of the First An­
nual General Meeting, held on the 31st July, 1920, 
which had been circulated to members, were taken 
as read and confirmed.

The Secretary then read the following report 
of the Executive covering the work of the Asso­
ciation during the past year.

President : Mr. D. M. Burton, F .S.A rc., 
M .R .S .I.

Executive: Messrs. G. S . Burt-Andrews, V  . 
Fernhead, D. P. Howells, 1 . N. Leslie, M. ( j . 
Nicholson, II. Porter, Dr. C. Porter, Messrs. V. S. 
Rees Poole, R . II . Smith, C. P. Tompkins, II. G. 
Veale, G. A. Watermever, E. H. Waugh, Colin 
Wade.

Secretary: Mr. M. K . Carpenter.

A N N U A L R E P O R T  OF T H E  E X E C U T IV E  
FO R Y E A R  EN D IN G  31st M A RCH , 1921, 
TO T H E  M E M B E R S OF T H E  TOW N 
PLA N N IN G  A SSO CIA TIO N  (Transvaal).

Your Executive has pleasure in submitting 
the following report on the work of the Associa­
tion during the past year.

M E M B E R S H IP  R O L L .

We have to-day on our Membership Roll 63, 
made up as follows :

Municipalities and other Public
Bodies .........   19

Private Members .................................. 44
Totalling ...............................  63

N EW  M E M B E R S .

During the year your Executive have ad­
mitted to membership :

The Middelburg Municipality (repre­
sentatives) ... ... ........................... 1

The Cape Sunday River Settlements,
Ltd. (representatives)...................  1

Messrs. Gordon Leith and J . S.
Cleland ......... ... ..........................  2

PR O PA G A  N DA W O R K .

Your President delivered a lecture on Town 
Planning before the Ratepayers’ Association on 
the 6th December, 1920, and was listened to with 
great interest. There was a good attendance and 
a fair amount of interesting discussion took place. 
The lecturer emphasised the necessity for the ap­
pointment by Government of a I own Planning 
expert, whose advice or decisions on new 1  own- 
ship lay-outs should be, to a considerable extent, 
binding on the parties concerned.

In January last your Executive became aware 
that Mr. A. J . Thompson, F .R .I .B .A ., was in 
South Africa in connection with the lay-out of a 
Garden City at Capetown, and has taken advan­
tage of his presence to arrange for a series of lec­
tures on Town Planning, illustrated by lantern 
slides, for the Witwatersrand and Pretoria. Your 
Executive believes that these lectures will prove of 
exceptional interest and educational value, and will 
bring the matter prominently before the public.

N EW  T O W N SH IP S.

It should be clearly understood that this As­
sociation is prepared to help with advice on gen­
eral, economic, and aesthetic princples in respect 
to any projected lay-out or alteration of any exist­
ing lay-out.



“  Build in g .” 478 [June, 1921,

Town Planning Association, (h m n m l .) T O  A R C H T E C T S  O N L Y .

P.O. BOX 7305 ,

JOHANNESBURG. C R A N K S H A W  B R O TH E R S ,
monumentalists.

V
Ex]>ert advice, given, on NEWCASTLE, NATAL.
General Lay-ou t and,

Town Planning Schemes, Specialise in Supplying and Erecting
a ll enquiries should, he War Memorials and Tablets.
addressed to the Secretary.

We are prepared to give estimates free of
charge for Marble, Granite, Stone or Bronze.

P.O. Box 40. 'Phono 38. Telegrams: “ CRANKSHAW.,

-



“ Building ,” 479 [June 192'.

During the year, at the request of the Muni­
cipality of Middelburg, a delegation of your Exe­
cutive visited and inspected that town, conferred 
with its Councillors as to their requirements, and 
submitted a report which, it is hoped, will result 
in much good.

The Town Council of Germiston also appealed 
to your Executive in regard to the site-ing of the 
new Police Barracks, and to certain disposition of 
Park and Golf Course. Your representatives had 
several interviews with the Government and 
Police; but their views were not accorded any very 
sympathetic reception, possibly to some extent be­
cause of the very late date at which your Associa­
tion was asked to intervene.

Your Executive was also consulted in regard to 
the Clewer Township at YVitbank, and upon theii 
advice competitive designs were invited, that of 
Mr. Harold Porter of this Association being ac­
corded first place, a result upon which he is to be 
congratulated.

As regards the future, it is gratifying to state 
that the Townships’ Board constituted under the 
Transvaal Act has agreed to submit to your Asso­
ciation for consideration and comment before final 
approval all plans for proposed new Townships.

M AIN R O A D S.
During the period under review, your Exe­

cutive has submitted evidence to the Government 
Survey Commission in regard to the importance of 
a complete Ordnance Map for the L nion, and es­
pecially of main or arterial road plans, with re­
spect particularly to the most direct and effective 
means of road communication between existing 
centres, and the linking up of new Townships. 
With this in view, effort is being made to obtain 
for your Association from each of the Provincial 
Surveyors-General a complete set of plans of the 
roads in his Province; but, so far, only those of 
Natal have been secured.

JO H A N N E SB U R G  G E N E R A L  PO ST 
O F FIC E .

A majority of your Executive has all along 
felt that the present General Post Office buildings 
are obsolete, and bacllv placed, and has recom­
mended their demolition the present site to be 
consecrated to the public as an open space or plaza 
and an up-to-date Post Office erected in a conveni­
ent part of the town. These views, however, did 
not commend themselves to the authorities deal­
ing with this matter, but the majority of your 
Executive has not surrendered this ideal.

JO H A N N E SB U R G  F R E E  L IB R A R Y .
During the year the Public Library Commit­

tee successfully moved to acquire a site for a new 
Library Building on the open ground west of the 
Town Hall.

Whilst not objecting to the new Library be­
ing built on this site, a majority of your Execu­
tive demurred to a large slice of open ground in 
the centre of the town being built over without the 
acquisition of any compensating open space on the 
east side of the Town Hall. At a meeting of the 
Federation of Ratepayers the case for the Library 
Committee was put by Messrs. R . T . A . Innes 
and Langley Levy, and that for your Association 
by Mr. D. M. Burton; but the Federation, for 
various reasons, adopted the view of the Library 
Committee. Your Executive will, therefore, now 
direct its efforts to securing a sufficiency of open 
space around these new buildings.

T R A N S V A A L  M U N IC IP A L A SSO C IA T IO N .

Cordial relations exist between your Executive 
and the Transvaal Municipal Association, and as 
the result of interviews and discussions, proposals 
and plans in regard to the erection of important 
public buildings, and alterations or amendments 
to our Transvaal towns will come under the re­
view by your Association, and, when desirable in 
the public interest, will be publicly advertised and 
exhibited.

A R B O R  D A Y .
The Director of Education has been ap­

proached with a view' to establishing a Children’s 
Arbor Day on the lines of that in the Cape Pro­
vince, and the Director has promised to consider 
the matter.

This proposal means that every schoolboy and 
schoolgirl will be given an opportunity of plant­
ing a tree, under proper direction, with a view to 
emphasising the importance of afforestation and 
the value of trees in beautifying our environment.

TRA M  LO O P-LIN E SC H E M E  FO R JO H A N ­
N E S B U R G .

Your Executive has considered from all 
points of view the Municipal Council’s proposals 
in this matter. An alternative scheme by Mr. 
Harold Porter was drawn up and presented, and 
resulted in a deputation from your Executive, to­
gether with advocates of other schemes, being re­
ceived by the Tramway and Lighting Committee. 
Much, however, to the astonishment of your dele­
gates, it was found that prints had been taken of 
your Executive’s scheme which obviously omitted



“ B u i l d i ng  ’ 480 [June 1921.

some of its most essential features from a traffic 
point of view. The advocates of other schemes 
naturally made the most of the contention that our 
scheme was much in excess of present require­
ments, and contained unessential proposals as 
compared with their’s, which, they contended, 
adequately provided for existing conditions and 
were less costly.

We are pleased to state that Mr. Fernhead, 
one of your Executive, has recently been elected a 
member of the Municipal Council, and your Exe­
cutive relies upon his support in future discussion 
of this kind. Tram services throughout the 
Union should be carefully considered by town 
Planners, and your Association is always ready to 
assist in this matter.

P R E T O R 1A C O M M ITTEE.
It has been considered advisable to create a 

Committee at Pretoria to deal with local matters 
affecting your Association.

Messrs. Nicholson, Rees Poole, P. Eagle, and 
G. Leith have been good enough to accept nomi­
nation for this purpose.
U N IV E R S IT Y  C H A R T E R  FOR JO H A N N ES­

B U R G .
To Town Planners the question of higher 

education is of great importance, and for years

past many of the members of this Association have 
shared in the work of the School of Mines (now 
the University College of Johannesburg), and it 
has recently been our welcome privilege to assist, 
by appropriate resolution forwarded to the Hon. 
Ministers and to all members of Parliament, in se- 
curng for Johannesburg its clearly demonstrated 
right to a University Charter.

P A R K  ST A T IO N , JO H A N N E SB U R G .
Your Executive, learning that the plans for a 

new station were in the course of preparation, ap­
proached the General Manager of Railways to 
allow them to be examined by us, and also sug­
gested that the public should have an opportunity 
of viewing the plans before final adoption.

The General Manager of Railways very 
readily agreed, and many of our members, after 
examining the sketch plans prepared by the R ail­
way Architect (Mr. D. A. McCubbin) entertained 
grave doubts as to the suitability of the designs in 
various .respects.

We are fortunate in having in the Chief 
Architect for the Railway a very sympathetic 
Town Planner, who will use all his influence to 
gain the best results, and will consider any reason­
able suggestions from our Association. We ac­
cordingly submitted a statement of criticism hav­
ing regard to public convenience, town planning,

THE “KAUSTiNE” TO ILET
W ATERLESS.
ODOURLESS.

These systems are simple and easy 
to inatal. Any workman of average 
ability readily understands the system 
and can do the simple construction 
woik required to put it in place. 
Clear installation plans and directions 
accompany each system. These outfits 
are installed upstairs, downstairs, in 
basements, on all floors; according to 
the need of the buyer,

S ole  C oncess ionnaires : —

M ANGOLD BROS., LTD ,
A G E N T S : — W e s t e r n  P ro v in c e :  S T E W A R T S  & L L O Y D S ,

C a p e to w n .
R h o d es ia :  F R A S E R  & C H A L M E R S .  (S .A .)  L T D .

B u la w a y o  a n d  S a lisbury ,

EQUIPM ENT.

The simplest care will keep the 
Kaustine system operating perfectly. 
The workmanship and material of the 
Various parts are of the highest grade. 
Nothing can get out of order, therefore 
no calls of mechanics are necessary to 
keep it operating correctly. The tank 
requires emptying infrequently—for 
families about every six months, for 
schools once a year.

Port El iz a b e t h , J o h a n n e s b u r g , 
B lo e m f o n t e in , O u d ts h o o r n , C r a b o c k . 

P O T C H E FS T R O O M , E TC .

N ata l:  F R A S E R  & C H A L M E R S ,  (S.A ) Ltd.
D u r b a n .

B ri t ish  East A fr ica  & U g a n d a :  D N E W M A R K ,
N airob i ,



[June, 1921,“ B uilding .” 481

and aesthetic considerations, which has resulted in 
a material amendment of the original proposals.

From a town planning viewpoint we were de­
finitely of opinion that a new roadway and bridge 
in the north-west should be made in continuation 
of the Loveday Street approach to the Railway, 
and that the Pretoria Bridge should be widened 
to facilitate access to the north-east suburbs.

Reference was made to the omission from this 
Report of the visit paid by Mr. Harold Porter to 
Addo in connection with the lay-out of a Town­
ship for the Cape Sundays River Settlements, but 
as this matter has not yet been completed the re­
port thereon will be referred to next year.

The Report was then adopted.
I he Chairman, in proposing the adoption of 

the Annual Statement of Accounts and Balance 
Sheet, which have been duly audited by Messrs. 
Aiken and Carter, commented upon the financial 
improvement made during the year, notwithstand­
ing the very heavy expenditure necessary to pro­
vide stationery, office requirements and expenses 
consequent upon increased activity during the past 
year.

The Balance Sheet was then adopted.

ELEC T IO N  OF E X E C U T IV E  FO R 1921.

Nineteen nominations were received for the 
fifteen seats on the Executive for the current year. 
I he following twelve members were elected :

Messrs. D. M. Burton, D. P. Howells, Pro­
fessor G. E . Pearse, H. G. Veale, Dr. Chas. 
Porter, Messrs. J . Mackay, Gordon Leith, Harold 
Porter, D. M. Sinclair, V. S . Rees Poole, H. R . 
Hill, G. S . Burt Andrews.

Six nominees tied for the remaining three 
places, and this matter will receive the attention of 
the Executive at (lie first monthly meeting.

I lie meeting then closed in order to listen to a 
lecture on Town Planning, illustrated bv lantern 
slides, which was delivered by Mr. A. j. Thomp­
son, F .R .I .B .A ., who has been associated with 
Mr. Raymond Unwin for many years in the Gar­
den Suburb and 1 own Planning Schemes con-

I his lecture, which commenced at 8.15 p.m., 
was attended by upwards of four hundred persons, 
and proved extremely interesting and instructive, 
ducted throughout Great Britain.

^ i la u g o n 5 - ® t t s ,  ( S’mitlj Africa.) J n i n t c i i .
( I N C O R P O R A T E D  I N E N G L A N D . )

LIFT AND GENERAL ENGINEERS.

LOCAL WORKSHOPS :
m a r s h a l l  s t r e e t , (e a s t ).

HEAD OFFICE AND W O R K S: 
FA LM OUTH ROAD LONDON, S.E.

TELEGRAMS A c a b l e s : 

“ W A Y G O O D . "  J O H A N N E S B U R G ,
A.B.C. 5 tm EDITION.

T E L E P H O N E S  4 1 7 1  &  4 1 7 2  

P.O BO X  2 7 2 9 .

W A Y G O O D - O T I S  L T D.  
By Special Appointmenl 

lo H. M- the Kitts.

Corner

Anderson & Loveday Sts.

JOHANNESBURG.



“Building.” 482 [June, 1921.

E X P E N D IT U R E .
To Expenses of Annual General Meeting— 

Printing, Hire of Hall, and Adver-
tis in g ................................... •• £ 2 0 5 5

2 2 Printing and Stationery .............. . . .  1 8 11 3
S a la r ie s ........................................... ... 28 0 O

2 2 General Expenses and Postages I I 1 5 11

2 2 Bank C h arges........  ... ... : ....... 5 5

£ 7 9 18 0

Balance, excess of Revenue over
Expenditure for die period . ... .., 1 8 1 6 0

£ 9 8 •4 0

L IA B IL IT IE S .
Accumulated F u n d s ............................. ■ i W 4 4 9

Balance at 31st March, XmG
>

s
? 9

Balance, excess of Rev­
enue over Expendi­
ture for the year 
ended 31st March, 
1921 ..........................  ••• 18 16 o

i i i U  4  9

R E V E N U E .
By Subscriptions—

45 Ordinary Members at 10s. 6d. . £ 2 3  12 6
3 Ordinary Members at 10s. 6d. . 1 11 6

20 Institutional Members ...  ...... 63 o o-
Donation from Cape Sundays River

Settlements ... ................................  10 10 o

£98  14 o

A S S E T S .
Cash at Bank . 
Cash on hand

£ " 3  14
o 10

3
6

£ " 4  4 9

D. M. BU RTO N , President. 
M. K . C A R P E N T E R , Secretary.

We have checked the Cash Book of the Town Planning Association, Transvaal, for the 
year ended 31st March, 1921, and have reconciled the same with the Bank Pass Book and Certificate, 
and hereby certify the above Accounts to be in accordance therewith and to show the true position
of the Association at 31st March, 1921. 

16th May, 1921.
A IK E N  & C A R T E R ,

Auditors.

F O R

Artistic Decorating Materials
OO TO

PAINTS.

DISTEMPERS.

VARNISHES.

OILS, STAINS. 

CARBOL1NEUM, 

BITSOL, 

BRUSHW ARE,

ETC

A g en ts  fo r :  

"K E Y ST O N A ,”

T H E  FLAT OIL 
PAINT,

“ CALC1TE "

T H E  COLD W A TER 
PAINT.

ETC.

T H E  P A I N T  H O U S E .

H e r b e r t  E v a n s  & Co.,
88, PR IT C H A R D  ST