S OUT H AFRICAN A R C H I T E C T U R A L  RECORD
THE JOURNAL OF THE CAPE. NATAL. ORANGE FREE STATE AND TRANSVAAL PROVINCIAL INSTITUTES 

OF SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTS AND THE CHAPTER OF SOUTH AFRICAN QUANTITY SURVEYORS

C ON T E N T S  FOR MAY 1947

EDITORIAL   II2

NEW ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL AT HERCULES, PRETORIA.
Aubrey V. Nunn, A.R.I.B.A., M.I.A., Architect ... ..  I 13

MURAL PAINTING, by Le Roux Smith Le Roux, Director of the
Pretoria Art Centre .............  .............  116

NATAL PROVINCIAL INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS.
Annual Report .....  . ..  ..  ..........  124

O.F.S. PROVINCIAL INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS.
Annual Report ...... ..  126

CHARTER OF SOUTH AFRICAN QUANTITY SURVEYORS.
Annual Report 127

THE OLD THEATRES OF JOHANNESBURG, by Cyril A. Stoloff 130

THE WORLD OF ARCHITECTURE, by Donald Pilcher I40

NOTES AND NEWS 145

EDITOR: W. DUNCAN HOWIE 

ASSISTANT EDITORS:

ANGUS STEWART 

UGO TOMASELLI 

DONALD PILCHER

VOLUME THIRTY-TWO NO.
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The Fourth Congress o f the Institute of South African Architects and the 
Chapter of South African Quantity Surveyors is to be held in Durban this month, 
and, as it occurs during the present difficult period of post-war re-adjustment 
twenty-one years after the founding o f the Institute and Chapter as we know them, 
it will mark a significant period in the history of the two professions.

The Architects and Quantity Surveyors of the Union owe a profound debt of 
gratitude to those men whose foresight gave us our private Act. Many of the 
ideals which motivated their action have, however, yet to be realised, and it is 
up to us to keep clearly in view the great contribution we can and must make 
in the physical and cultural development of our country; that, by service to the 
community transcending the desire for mere personal gain, the growing reputations 
o f the professions may be securely established.

Prior to the war only three congresses had been held; the first in 1928 at 
the University o f the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; the second in 1936 concurrent 
with the British Empire Exhibition in Johannesburg, and the third in 1938 at 
Port Elizabeth. There is no doubt that, but for the war. the fourth congress would 
have taken place some years ago. and it is to be hoped that in future this coming 
together o f members o f the profession will be a much more regular occurrence 
than in the past.

We have a major task in building up the reputation o f the professions and in 
gaining the widest confidence of the public. The value of discussion and develop­
ment o f a truly corporate spirit cannot be gainsaid in this regard and in the develop­
ment o f that full maturity which has not been acquired. The growing importance 
of the architect’s place in our society must be constantly and consciously augmented. 
Tribute is due to those architects in Pretoria and Durban in particular, whose 
corporate efforts are achieving so much in those cities. These excellent examples 
exist and should be followed in all urban centres of the Union wherever possible 
so that the architect shall take his rightful place in and realise his true responsibility 
in our specialist society.

It is fitting that this Congress should be held at a time when the professions 
are so sorely beset with the problems of post-war re-adjustment. During the war 
years the members o f the professions in and out o f the fighting services acquitted 
themselves well in their several spheres o f activity, and this must stand to their 
lasting credit; but we cannot afford to relax now. During these years the complexities 
o f practice have become greatly aggravated. Without doubt one of the greatest 
agencies o f aggravation has been the control exercised over building, necessarily 
established during the war. The determination of policy, however, has been so 
varied and its administration often so obscure and inexplicable that the long suffering 
industry and the public have been hard put to maintain, if they do at all, the 
confidence such an organisation should command. This issue, together with those 
o f professional education, Urbanism, National Housing and other matters of 
importance will be discussed. Such deliberations cannot but be of major value 
at the present time, and we look forward to the success o f this gathering, a full 
record o f the proceedings o f which will appear in the two following issues of 
the journal. W. D. H.



N O R T H  ELEVAT IO N  Photos: Alan Yates

New English Medium School of Hercules, Pretoria
Aubrey V. Nunn, A.R.I.B.A., M.I.A., Architect

The Transvaal Provincial Administration originally intended 
that the school should be a single storey building, but in 
the course of planning it was realised that the site coverage, 
when the future extensions were taken into account, would 
have left very little playground space. As a means of over­
coming this difficulty the architect has planned the building 
on two floors. The present classroom accommodation is 
located on the upper floor, supported by a regular column 
system, thus freeing the ground floor area and providing a 
covered play space. The disposition of the columns in this 
space will permit an additional four classroom being provided 
without structural extension at a later date, and without inter­
ference with the routine o f the school.

The planning reflects a simple zoning and organisation of 
the components. The Administrative unit is located on the 
west of the main structure and comprises the principal's 
office, staff room and stock room together with cloakroom 
facilities. As will be seen from the plan, provision has been 
made in this wing for the future Assembly Hall and 
principal’s office. The main position o f the building, occupy­

ing the central position contains the south-facing classrooms 
on the upper floor. Two generous staircases, related to the 
Boys’ and Girls’ entrances and cloakrooms gives access to the 
main upper floor corridor. Adjacent to these staircases the 
grades classroom and the arts room are planned. Future 
provisions to the east of this wing include a kitchen and 
grade classroom, with outdoor play space, on the ground floor.

THE SITE

The site for this school, situated in the suburb o f Hercules, 
covers five erven and is bounded on three sides by streets— 
on the south, west and north.

The school buildings are located close to the south-west 
boundary in order to provide as large a play area as possible 
on the north and east.

THE BUILDING

The form and character of the school is a simple expression 
of the plan and the materials o f construction. With a view 
to maintenance, facebrick walling has been used externally. 
The external facing is of 2 j inch pale buff brickwork. Similar

n s



SO U T H  ELEVAT IO N

New Engl i sh  Medium School  at Hercule s
Aubrey V. Nunn, Architect

golden-brown face bricks have been used internally in all 
surfaces subject to hard wear, such as the main entrance hall, 
cloakrooms, lavatories and dados to classrooms. The staff 
rooms are plastered and coloured cream.

The main natural lighting o f the classrooms is from the 
south— a requirement of the Administration, to avoid the 
penetration o f direct sunlight, while subsidiary lighting is 
obtained from windows on the protected north side, facing 
onto the corridor.

The building has a central-heating installation in which all 
pi pe runs are concealed in ducts.

FINISHES
The floor of the main entrance lobby is paved with squared 

slates. Granolithic paving ruled into small squares is used 
in the corridors, cloakrooms, lavatories and in the covered 
play space. Kiaat wood block flooring has been used in the 
classrooms, grades and art rooms and the staff rooms, finished 
against a black granolithic margin and skirting. DETA IL  O F  TH E N O R T H  ELEVAT IO N

114



The chalk hoards in the classrooms and gradesroom are 
of slate slabs fixed with a slight inclination to the walls. Each 
classroom is provided with pinning boards across the rear 
walls, and with a range o f cupboards fixed under the chalk 
board.

Fresh colours have been introduced in the elevations in 
contrast to the light coloured face brick surfaces. The 
circular columns on the north elevation are painted pale green

and those in the covered play area are finished in dark grey. 
The steel windows and entrance surrounds are white and 
the corridor railings are finished signal red.

The well organised planning and the straightforward expres­
sion of the planning in the structure, together with a 
sympathetic handling of materials and colour impart to this 
school a praiseworthy simplicity of character and dignity of 
form well suited to its suburban setting.

115



P A I N T I N GM U R A L
By Le R o u x  S m i t h  Le R o u x
( D i r e c t o r  of  t he  P r e t o r i a  A r t  C e n t r e )

A lecture delivered under the auspices of the Transvaal Provincial Institute, in November 1946, at Kelvin House, Johannesburg

There is today a considerable degree of misapprehension 
about the art of Mural Decoration. Words like fresco, encaus­
tic, tempera, mosaic —  not to mention the very word 
“ mural”  itself— are so indiscriminately used that they have 
largely lost their usefulness for the purposes of explanation 
and identification.

I am very glad, therefore, to have an opportunity of 
explaining the principal methods o f decorating a wall, and 
the true background and function o f wall decoration as 
these appear to me.

* * * * *
It is essential to realise that perhaps the most important 

manifestation in contemporary art is the revival o f mural 
painting. The scope and power o f this revival has not yet 
been fully realised in our country, although there were at 
one time hopeful signs that mural art would have an oppor­
tunity to develop here, with State support, along very robust 
lines. But since at least one Government Department which 
handles official mural commissions sees fit to invite tenders 
for such work, and actually specifies the use o f oil paint 
on canvas as the medium to be used, the possibilities of the 
development of real mural painting are seriously retarded. 
The essential character o f wall painting arises from the inevit­
able peculiarities o f the medium used, which develop in the 
painter, if his talents truly lie in that direction, a character­
istic “ mural”  outlook. Mural painting is not highly enlarged 
easel painting, and it calls for a considerable degree of 
architectonic understanding.

The revival movement is so important because it is the 
first attempt on the part o f painting to come home to the 
maternal arms o f Architecture. Essentially the painting of 
a specified subject in a specific setting for a special purpose 
and carried out in a specialised way, mural decoration is 
achieving that purposeful social and architectural justification 
which has been lacking in modern painting. It is significant 
that the revival of mural painting should be contemporary 
with the expression o f increased social function on the part 
o f Architecture itself. It reflects a similar desire for social 
value through functionalism.

To deal fully with the history o f wall decoration would 
necessitate covering practically the whole known history of 
art. The desire to decorate wall surfaces is as old as mankind 
itself, and very often our knowledge of the appearance and 
customs o f ancient peoples, and even o f their history, has been 
based on the remains o f their wall decorations. Examples 
are almost too numerous to mention, and are found in China, 
Thibet, India, Persia, Assyria, Egypt, Crete, Greece, Italy, 
and Spain. Even amongst peoples with low standards of 
employment we see this decorative desire manifested. Amaz­
ingly skillful rock paintings and engravings exist in the caves 
of Spain, South America and, to a very large extent, in our 
own country. To many people, the recent travelling exhibi­
tion of Prehistoric Art, organised by the South African Asso­
ciation o f Arts, brought a new revelation and appreciation of 
the beauty of primitive artistic remains in the Union.

Mural painting as we understand it today has its home 
in Italy, where it reached its finest expression at the time of 
the early Renaissance. It had been preceded by the successive 
traditions o f Greek, Roman and Byzantine wall decoration, in 
the course o f which the various techniques o f painting on 
actual wall surfaces became perfected. The traditional pro­
cesses o f fresco buono, fresco secco, tempera and other secco 
techniques, were in universal use until the end of the 15th 
Century. The perfection and gradual adoption o f oil paint 
from this time onwards resulted in the virtual disappearance 
of these early methods. As a medium, oil paint had gained 
complete supremacy towards the end of the late Renaissance, 
and the easel picture became for the first time the dominant 
unit in painting which it remains to this day. It is not 
generally realised that the portable, unrelated painting is such 
a recent innovation, the demand for which arose side by side 
with the growth of the merchant or capitalist class towards 
the end of the Renaissance. Art inevitably became, like most 
things, a negotiable and inheritable commodity. It had to 
be movable, unlike the mural in the Church or public building, 
where it was virtually communal property. The common 
enjoyment of art tended to give way to the private commer­
cialisation of it, and by the 19th Century the new moneyed 
classes had almost entirely superseded the patronage of the

116



great princes, the churches and the civic authorities, but on 
nothing like the same scale.

Another point to remember is that the florid architectural 
styles which followed one another from the late Renaissance 
onwards, did not seem to require the services o f the painter 
in any case, although we do find the occasional recurrence 
of ceiling painting, which developed to a dizzy romantic 
realism which sometimes, even when seen, cannot be believed.

These, then, are some of the reasons, social, technical and 
architectural, for the unfortunate gulf which appeared between 
painting and architecture through the disappearance of true 
mural decoration— that is, the use of a plaster wall as a 
ground for painting. The inevitable gradual darkening of 
paintings in oil is one o f several reasons why such works 
where fitted or stuck on to walls in the past have not been 
satisfactory as architectural decoration, even in the days when 
people were still under the influence of a true fresco tradition 
and retained what might be called a mural outlook. Com­
paratively little was executed in the way o f truly architec­
tural paintings, for such a long period— approximately two 
centuries— that painters themselves were at a loss how to 
tackle their problem when for 25 years, from about 1840 
onwards, a number o f large-scale mural undertakings were 
commissioned by the British Government. They did, however, 
learn a great deal from the fresco revival in Germany, which 
had begun some years previously. A group o f young artists 
were determined to recapture the secrets o f the past, and in 
some ways they were extremely fortunate. They were enabled 
to study in Italy through the kindly assistance of a Prussian 
nobleman, and on returning to Germany they secured the 
enlightened interest and active patronage o f Ludwig of 
Bavaria. Consequently, they were able to enlist the finest 
advice, research and assistance from current chemical science. 
They largely developed the science o f Mineral Painting, which 
1 shall refer to later on, and which is a way of using liquid 
silicates, such as water glass, as a medium.

* * * «  *

Now this attempted revival of real mural painting in I9th 
Century England had some very important results. The 
most ambitious single undertaking from this period was 
Watts enormous panel “ The Law Givers”  at Lincoln’s Inn, 
begun in 1852 and completed in 1859. A large series of 
frescoes was executed by different artists in what were then 
the new Houses o f Parliament. Within ten years most of 
these paintings were already showing decided signs o f decay. 
This large-scale failure is undoubtedly the source of the cur­
rent fallacious idea that real mural painting today, at any 
rate in Britain, cannot be regarded as permanent. One so 
often hears that the British climate, coupled with the many 
industrial gases in the atmosphere, makes it impossible to 
use wet fresco there. In fact, no artistic failure could have 
been more widely advertised than this one, with the result 
that possible patrons o f the art, not only in the United

Kingdom, but elsewhere in the world, have remained sceptical 
to this day. Having had the good fortune some years ago 
to act as an assistant during a technical survey of these 
particular paintings, conducted by His Majesty’s Office of 
Works, I should like to make one thing very clear. Whereas 
80%  of the works have been complete technical failures in 
perpetual need o f reconstitution (and seldom worth it from 
an artistic point of view), there are some, like Watts’ “ The 
Law Givers,”  which only show signs o f decay in certain 
definite parts o f the surfaces. There are also a few works 
in an absolutely perfect state today, needing nothing beyond 
an occasional cleaning and the attention required by all such 
works. Now surely, if the climate and atmosphere had the 
effects generally attributed to them, all the paintings would 
disintegrate in more or less the same degree. Why should 
the atmosphere attack one and leave another? The only 
conclusion one can reasonably draw' is that only a small 
percentage o f the works has been executed in a proper manner 
and has therefore survived, whereas the overwhelming 
majority have failed because of the incomplete technical 
knowledge and the inexperience of the painters concerned. 
Unfortunately, this spectacular failure has entirely out­
weighed, in official and public consideration, the complete 
success o f the few correctly executed works. In the Peers’ 
Robing Room, a significant contrast is afforded by two panels 
carried out by the same artist, one in oil on canvas and one 
in wet fresco, the latter being in a considerably better state 
of preservation than the former, a fact overlooked by the 
critics o f fresco painting in Britain.

This attempted revival of mural painting, unjustly con­
demned as a total failure, discouraged not only the patrons 
but artists as well. But the desire for wall decoration which 
would be an organic part o f the architectural fabric o f build­
ings persisted. For some years we have had increased facili­
ties for studying the methods o f the past, for the careful 
analysis of plasters and media used, not to mention the con­
centrated study o f  ancient manuscripts, so often wrongly 
translated. A new ievival was bound to come, and during 
the last 20 years a great deal has been achieved all over the 
world as far as painting on the plastered wall is concerned. 
It has been realised, too, that it is necessary to consider mural 
painting as a highly specialised branch of the arts, demanding 
from the artist a long and intensive research, experiment, 
practice, and a great deal of manual effort.

All mural painting demands careful preparation, and long 
sessions of work, possibly on high scaffolds. Mounting these 
is frequently an art in itself, and a talent for the trapeze 
can be considered a useful addition to the painter’s qualifica­
tions. Painting a ceiling in position is a very awkward and 
arduous undertaking. Almost the only wray o f working is 
to be stretched out on one’s back, and the only manner o f 
coping with the difficulty o f the liquid paint running back­
wards down the handle of the brush is to have, like Miehael- 
Angelo, one or two assistants dipping one's brushes for one.

117



After every few strokes, a newly charged brush can be taken 
over without any distraction, but for the final and more 
subtle parts o f such a painting this is obviously not very satis­
factory. A dome is perhaps the most awkward space o f all 
on which to work, particularly if it is lelatively shallow. 
The painter has to adjust himself to the constant change of 
range and the other obvious manual and visual difficulties 
o f drawing on a surface curving within, both the vertical 
and horizontal planes. It is these very difficulties that 
make such painting interesting and exciting to do, and which 
gives the result its own particular character. 1 believe that 
all technical limitations have a purifying and intensifying 
effect on art, if they are understood and accepted by the 
artist. The essential character o f mural painting through the 
ages has been the direct result of the so-called limitations 
o f medium and setting.

In considering the modern revival o f the true mural paint­
ing, it is necessary to understand in principle the various 
techniques of painting on actual wall surfaces. It is necessary 
to explain certain terms, the meaning of which have changed 
and become confusing.

The term “ fresco’" originally referred to painting on the 
fresh, in other words, the wet, plaster. In early times, how­
ever, the word already came to be applied to almost any 
form o f wall painting. To qualify “ fresco”  in order to limit 
the w'ord to its original meaning, the term "fresco buono”  
developed— translatable as real or true fresco. The other 
mural methods were referred to as “ secco”— that is to say. 
dry painting— and the rather paradoxical term “ fresco secco”  
was reserved for paining on to existing plaster specially wetted 
for the occasion with lime water.

Developing as it did from mosaic decoration, for which it 
was only intended to be a cheaper substitute, true fresco 
retained a certain similarity of execution. The artist draws 
his work full-size on the rough plaster foundation, and covers 
with fresh water only so much as he hopes to finish in one 
day. He undercuts the edge o f each section as he finishes it 
and dovetails the adjoining plaster neatly under the cut edge 
o f the previous day’s work. True fresco may be recognised 
by these joints between the successive bases of fresh plaster. 
The artist normally arranges his design so as to incorporate 
the divisions as the outlines o f simple shapes, so that these 
are absorbed into the linear flow- o f  the completed design. 
When the actual execution o f  the painting is begun, the major 
portion o f the work has already been completed. It is usual 
to have a full-scale drawing or cartoon on paper as a guide 
from which to paint. The preliminary rough coals of plaster, 
usually two of them, would meanwhile have been laid. To 
make the key drawing on this rough plaster, the principle 
outlines of the design are pierced through the paper in a 
series of little holes. A small bag of linen or some such 
material is filled with a suitable powder colour, and by

beating it against these outlines, they are transferred to the 
wall as a series of little dots, which can then be joined 
together with fine chalk. In order to retain the cartoon as a 
constant reference, it is usually fixed to the top of the panel 
by means of a batten of wood against which it can be rolled 
up. When the sections o f the final plaster are laid, the 
detailed outlines o f the design can be traced on to its yielding 
surface with a stylus.

In all wall painting, the ground on which one paints is 
the most important consideration. A wall painting will last 
as long as its plaster base, all other things being equal. For 
fresco buono, a lime plaster is used-—a mixture of mature 
lime putty and fine sharp sand free from clay, organic matter 
or mineral salts. The preparation varies according to the 
richness o f the lime, but it is normally lime and sand in the 
proportion o f 1 to 2, 1 to 3, or even I to 4. For the 
rough coats, a mixture of pounded brick and lime putty can 
be used, and the finest “ intonaco”  or final coat is made from 
marble dust and lime.

Something must be said about the preparation of the lime. 
After slaking the lime, it should be passed through a sieve 
into a maturing pit or bin, where it should be left to mature 
for a minimum period of a year, preferably for much longer. 
The lime must be of the finest quality and free from sulphur 
(as a result of being burnt) and from silicates and nitrates. 
In the grand days o f fresco painting lime was left to mature 
frequently for as much as 80 years. While there is no 
chemical change in highly matured lime like this, there is 
a pronounced physical difference w-hich is known to be due 
to a change in the length and disposition of the lime crystals. 
This gives quite extraordinary properties to the lime putty. 
I have had personal experience of handling lime matured for 
nearly 40 years. The substance is not unlike a slightly unripe 
cheese, but on being disturbed turns into a liquid, which after 
a while solidifies again, and appears to have the unique 
property of attempting to return to its original shape. One 
could speak for hours on the qualities and properties of the 
different limes found throughout the wrorld. I have had 
no less than 26 examples o f South African lime tested at the 
Building Research Station at Watford, near London, at various 
times, but these have uniformly proved to be of poor quality 
for fresco purposes.

The pigments used on the wet plaster are pow'der colours, 
principally natural earth, and are merely mixed with water 
or lime water. Providing one has made all the necessary 
preparations and has a crystal clear idea o f what one wishes 
to do before commencing, which could be described as a 
characteristic essential of all mural painting, the actual execu­
tion is. contrary to the general idea, amazingly free and 
simple. At the same time, it calls, of course, for skill and 
confidence. Mistakes cannot be rectified otherwise than by 
hacking out that portion of the plaster and replacing it with 
a new section. The best brushes seem to be small-sized hog­

118



haired ones. The painting can only continue while the plaster 
is wet, and the work must cease as soon as the plaster begins 
to dry, otherwise the last touches look spotty and eventually 
crumble o ff the wall. A considerable degree of experience 
is called for in deciding the tones and colours, as the pig­
ments on the wet plaster appear totally different in tone 
and degree of brightness from the eventual effects when the 
wall is thoroughly dry.

The chemistry of real fresco is quite simple. Lime— i.e., 
burnt limestone— is calcium oxide, and with slaking in water 
it becomes calcium hydrate. After being mixed with sand as 
a mortar, it slowly takes up carbonic acid gas from the atmo­
sphere and becomes calcium carbonate. It crystallises in the 
process. Before this action takes place, the plaster has been 
painted, or perhaps one should say stained, since the pigment 
penetrates the plaster to some extent. In this way the 
pigment is firmly held by the crystalline film which forms 
on the surface.

True fresco has a feeling of breadth and luminosity of 
colour which makes it the finest painting medium man has 
yet discovered. The greatest of all great paintings in the 
past have invariably been executed in this medium. Closely 
allied to true fresco is fresco secco. in which a dry wall, 
prepared with successive coats of good lime plaster, is 
thoroughly soaked with lime water after the design has been 
traced on to it. On to this wet surface the artist paints with 
his powder colours mixed with lime water. This method 
is not generally considered to be quite as permanent as real 
fresco. The reason is perhaps due to the fact that the paint 
remains essentially on the surface o f the wall and does not 
penetrate the plaster as in the other method. The surface 
of a badly executed true fresco will crumble like fine powder, 
whereas a badly executed fresco secco peels o ff in large flakes, 
not unlike had distemper.

Neither true fresco nor dry fresco gives the artist much 
opportunity of doing detailed work, and it was usual to put 
in certain refinements in some other medium when the fresco 
had dried completely. These methods were usually ones 
in which a binding medium such as casein, the yolk of egg, 
glue size, or some emulsion was mixed with powder colour. 
In other words, fresco was usually finished in some form of 
tempera. Frequently, in fact, only a certain amount o f the 
preliminary underpainting and broad washes were done in 
real fresco, and the final painting almost throughout executed 
iu tempera, particularly the yolk o f egg tempera. Most 
early mural paintings were executed in a combination o f two 
or three methods, and a great deal of confusion has conse­
quently arisen when writers on art have tried to put these 
paintings in specific technical pigeon-holes. It was not until 
the High Renaissance that it became, as someone put it, a 
popular tour de force and finally a complete fetish to execute 
a painting entirely on a wet plaster without retouching /ft 
again in some form o f tempera.

One o f the most important “ secco" techniques is perhaps 
that o f painting on to a wet lime wash with colours tempered 
with casein. This casein is prepared by grinding together the 
fine soft white curd of skim milk with a smaller proportion, 
1 /4  to l/5 th , of slaked lime. The result is a liquid which 
can be thinned with water. This dilute emulsion is mixed 
with powder colour and painted on to the wall in much the 
same way as fresco secco. It combines beautifully with the 
lime and becomes a hard, almost indestructible substance. It 
is not particularly pleasant to use since the medium tends to 
become rather sticky. The final effect has neither the airy 
luminosity of true fresco nor the pearly tones of egg tempera. 
It has, however, been used a great deal in the past, especially 
in Southern Germany. In Bavaria, and in parts of Switzer­
land. a form of casein painting persists to this day, the casein 
emulsion being diluted with goat’s milk.

* * * * *

Egg tempera, one o f the basic mediums of painting since 
early Egyptian times, was used a great deal in Ttaly as a 
mural method. The basic technique is to mix the yolk of 
egg with three or four times its own quantity of water, which 
is then added to powder colour, previously moistened if neces­
sary. Although generally considered to be a medium for 
small paintings, such as the altar pieces typical of the 13th. 
14th and 15th Centuries, I have found it in many ways to 
be the finest medium for large-scale wall painting I have 
ever handled. Its cool, pearly tones and streaky, woven- 
looking texture, are as distinctive as the luminous glow of 
true fresco. Compared with the latter, it is considerably 
more difficult, to handle on a big scale. Executed in thin, 
successive layers with fine brush strokes, it is also consider­
ably more laborious. A lime plaster ground, or one o f a 
“ dead" natural gypsum, is most suitable for this medium. 
Il is customary to carry out the entire preliminary drawing 
on the wall in finely hatched diluted Indian ink. A wash 
o f siz.e or diluted egg yolk is put over the entire surface to 
resist the suction o f the wall. Then the underpain ting is 
applied fairly broadly, where possible with a sponge. One. 
and possibly more layers o f colour are painted on top o f this, 
and the effect o f modelling and light is achieved by finely 
hatched brush strokes. The preliminary drawing shows 
through sufficiently, not only to be a guide, hut where neces­
sary to become part o f the actual painting. Great care is 
necessary in handling this medium, and it is essential to 
develop a certain characteristic Hick of the brush to ensure 
that the brush strokes are even and to obviate the hairs 
o f the brush acting as a sieve for the pigment, which is 
only suspended in and not dissolved in the medium. Other­
wise the brush strokes consist mainly o f a thin layer o f egg 
yolk with a blob of insufficiently bound colour at the bottom. 
Separating the yolk from the white o f the egg is quite an 
intricate business at first, and it requires a fair amount of 
experience to know whether any given yolk is suitable for 
painting. Eggs should naturally he fresh, as bad eggs affect 
colours that have an affinity for sulphur, apart from having

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certain obvious social drawbacks. Through the addition of 
the yolk to oils and varnishes, a variety of emulsions can he 
made for specific purposes. The technique remains essen­
tially the same as in the basic egg tempera described.

* * * * *
Earlier on I referred to the science of Mineral Painting, 

which was developed very largely as a result of scientific 
research in Germany in the late nineteenth century. In its 
best form it has become known as Keim’s Process, after the 
distinguished chemist, A. W. Keim, who spent most o f his life 
investigating the chemistry o f painting. It is one of the few 
methods which can be used directly on to cement or concrete 
providing the cement would not normally be of the type that 
sweats out all sorts of nitrates or have other impurities likely 
to manifest themselves in the form o f an efflorescence. The 
choice o f colours is extremely limited. The method is briefly 
this. A suitable wall surface is sprayed with a solution of 
waterglass, which is really a liquid silicate of potassium (there 
is also a sodium waterglass, but this is not suitable). On 
to this one paints with powder colours containing additions 
o f zinc oxide and in some cases also magnesia, the medium 
being diluted waterglass. Once completed the painting is 
again sprayed very carefully with waterglass. In this way 
the pigment already suspended in the silicate is locked up 
as it were between the two layers of silicate applied before 
and after the painting. In its most successful form this is 
probably one of the best media to use for decorating modern 
architecture. The work has to be simple, almost mosaic-like 
in conception, with clear final outlines. It has been used 
with great success as the medium for outdoor murals. Its 
actual handling calls for such a degree o f sureness and swift­
ness of execution that not many painters like to use it. The 
medium dries quickly and there is no way of retarding it. 
One can only paint in at the most two very thin transparent 
coats. A brush dipped in the specially prepared medium 
turns, if unattended, into a hard and insoluable stick of 
glass within two minutes. Prepared waterglass medium was, 
prior to the war, obtainable in both Germany and Holland 
but the method has seen its finest application in Sweden.

Another technique which strikes me as having great possi­
bilities o f application in modern architecture is wax painting, 
in which the pigment is suspended in beeswax. The painting 
is either carried out with the wax in a liquid form through 
being kepi at a suitable temperature or alternatively with 
wax sticks which one makes oneself and which are not unlike 
wax crayons. In either case the final fusion o f colour is 
brought about by means o f the use o f hot spatulas on the 
actual wall-surface. A steady application o f heat at a suit­
able distance from the surface will drive the wax right into 
the wall where it remains, impervious to external damp and 
other atmospheric changes. This type of painting, properly 
known as encaustic, produces a peculiarly rich, almost burning 
type o f colour, which would. I believe, appeal to many con­
temporary painters.

1 am by no means convinced that Spirit Fresco, a technique 
invented in late Victorian Britain, has been fully exploited. 
A suitable wall base is covered with a ground consisting 
largely of white lead. Over this the painting is thinly carried 
out in a medium which consists of wax, volatile oils and 
resin varnish. It was used for instance by Lord Leighton 
for his two panels, “ The Arts of War,”  and “ The Arts of 
Peace,”  in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. These 
are in a fair state today, but the colour has been largely 
spoiled by the inevitable darkening of the white lead in the 
ground. Sulphurous gases tend to turn the w'hite oxide of 
lead into the black oxide of lead, producing roughly the same 
effect as if the bright white Whatman on which you have 
painted a w'atercolour were to turn into a dull grey.

* * * * *
Altogether there are about 40 different techniques which 

could be used on a wall, but I am mentioning those here that 
seem to be typical and well tried and also some which happen 
to be individual preferences of mine. Although it is not 
strictly a method of painting, I should like to say something 
about mosaic, a medium in which some o f the greatest 
decorative achievements in the world have been carried out, 
and in many ways the most truly architectural medium we 
have yet discovered. By this I mean that the individual pieces 
o f mosaic which are built into the wall seem to have the 
quality o f entering right into the structure of the building. 
Mosaic therefore has none of the “ applied”  look which makes 
many types of decoration illogical and unsatisfactory. The 
art o f Mosaic is of considerable antiquity. Perhaps the 
earliest approach to mosaic, as we use the term, wras the 
faience decoration used by the Assyrians, variations of which 
soon assumed the appearance of the more familiar forms 
of this type of decoration. The individual pieces o f the mosaic 
— the tessarae— can consist of a variety o f materials. Some 
are made of ceramic, some are vitreous, some are natural 
stone or marble pieces, and the great stretches o f gold mosaic 
which form the background of so much of the Byzantine 
work, consisted of pieces of glass with gold leaf fused into 
the back. Slightly tinted glass, and various types of gold 
such as lemon gold, yellow gold, claret gold, etc., provided 
opportunities for variety.

A great deal of the liveliness of a mosaic does, however, 
depend on the exploitation o f the play of light on to the 
surfaces o f the many substances of which it consists. In 
ancient times, only floor mosaic had a uniformly regular 
flat surface. Wall mosaic was full o f variety calculated to 
provide life to the surface and succeeding in doing so to the 
same extent as the brush-work of a man like Van Gogh. To 
give an instance of what I mean : In Byzantine mosaic we 
very often see the golden haloes of angels against the general 
golden background. In most cases the individual pieces are 
exactly the same or have very little difference in colour. But 
by setting all the tessarae of the halo, as opposed to the back­
ground. at a downward or upward angle, a silhouette effect



is achieved with a difference of tone that can hardly be 
believed. The mosaicist of those days collected his tessarae 
and decided on the general colour scheme long before plan­
ning the individual sections. He would make a broad 
drawing, usually on the floor somewhere sufficiently near the 
site of the mosaic, and plan out his arrangement of tessarae, 
mounting, perhaps, a high scaffold from time to time to get 
an idea o f what it would look like from a distance. He would 
also calculate from this how much he can do in any given 
day, and divide the work accordingly. Having drawn out 
the main outlines of the composition on the rough preliminary 
plaster on the wall, the artist has that section plastered with 
cement which is to take the first day’s work. As a real fresco, 
this is largely a race against time. The tessarae can only 
be pressed into the wet cement, and once the effect o f the 
colour of the areas between the tessarae become apparent, 
the work may call for the exercise o f a considerable degree 
o f resourcefulness and improvisation. It is this character­
istic which gives that abounding sense of life to the normally 
aloof, cold architectural formalism o f the successful mosaic. 
The mosaicist prefers to work with irregular tessarae, which 
he can cut, if necessary, with special cutting pliers. In the 
finest Byzantine mosaics, particularly those very early ones 
in the Santa Maria Maggiore. Rome, many interesting tech­
nical details can be seen. For instance, the pupils o f eyes 
are never round but usually square or diamond-shaped, and 
an astonishing effect of vitality is given to the mosaic face 
by having the more or less square pupil o f an eye set at 
a different angle to the nose than that of the other eye.

In their use o f simple pure colour divided into tessarae, 
the Byzantine mosaicists anticipated by more than 1.000 years 
the discoveries of the Impressionists. They w'ere, without any 
doubt, as "modern" in their technique and expression as any 
of our contemporary painters. The names o f the artists have 
in ’most cases not come down to us.

Like the Ikons of Russia, many church mosaics are intended 
to be seen by candle or lamplight, the natural flicker of which 
imbues the broken, glittering surface of the mosaic writh a 
strange spirituality which so well assists in conveying the 
loftiness of its subject-matter. To attend the Midnight Mass 
at Santa Maria Maggiore. when these great works are lit as 
they were intended to be originally, is one o f the great artistic 
experiences in the w'orld. It is a great pity that this form 
of decoration, which is so eminently suited to modern archi­
tecture. should be practised so infrequently, but the high cost 
of mosaic pieces, particularly gold mosaic, is the chief reason. 
The art itself has also lost some o f its meaning, since it has 
become customary today for artists to lay out their mosaics 
on stout, sheets of paper, and when finality has been reached 
in the design, to have the tessarae glued to the paper. The 
wall surfaces are then prepared with wet cement, and these 
sheets o f paper held up against it and pressed well in with 
a roller. When this has been allowed to dry for three or 
four days, the paper is w-ashed o ff and the design, with a

uniformly flat and therefore dull surface, appears in reverse 
on the wall. The lifelessness o f many modern mosaics is 
frequently due to the use of this insensitive method, and it 
is seldom that such a great artistic effect is achieved as in 
the case of the huge mosaics designed by Einar Forseth for 
the Golden Hall of Stockholm’s fine City Hall.

I must, unfortunately, resist the temptation to talk in detail 
about other decorative methods, not strictly painting, which 
are suitable for decorative application inside the contemporary 
building. I feel, for instance, that the use of glass in modern 
architecture offers possibilities for embossed, engraved and 
sandblasted decoration which have, as yet, only been partly- 
exploited, and which suffer from the fact that the designer 
so seldom really gets to grips with his medium and is there­
fore unable to supervise the execution of his designs. The 
decorative treatment of metal surfaces provide other great 
opportunities for the artist, but so far only the Shipping Com­
panies seem to have realised this.

* * * * *

Another type o f mural in the revival o f which I have 
been fortunate enough to take a hand, has been the big woven 
tapestry. It is not always remembered that the woven 
tapestry owes its origin to the desire for a portable mural. 
It is the only one which has successfully achieved the dignity 
of a separate art. Many a castle, sacked and burned out 
during the Mediaeval Wars, had its decorations saved through 
the fact that they were portable, could be rolled up and 
hidden. Some years before the war, the French Government 
subsidised the great weaving worshops of Aubusson and 
Beauvais, with a view of protecting the traditional national 
art of tapestry weaving, which had progressively fallen on evil 
days. A major sensation was caused when these weavers 
proved that they could imitate the brush strokes and even the 
surface texture o f paintings by artists like Picasso, Braque, 
Lurcat, Matisse and Leger. Naturally, these were woven with 
a very fine thread, and were absolute technical miracles. 
Fully conscious of the fact that they had nothing to do with 
tapestry design as such, the French Government nevertheless 
hit upon this method o f awakening world-wide interest in an 
ancient art form. Very soon famous artists were designing 
tapestries, which, in spite of the high cost of weaving, found 
ready purchasers in Europe, in Britain, and particularly in 
the United States.

* * * * *

Several times now’ I have mentioned the particular type 
of design imposed upon the artist by the characteristics of 
his medium when discussing the problem o f true mural paint­
ing. If we compare the work o f the great mural painters of 
today, such as Diego Rivera in Mexico, Hugo Ballin in the 
United States, or Stanley Spencer in Britain, with the work 
o f artists like Giotto, Piero dela Francesca and Botticelli, we 
find an instantaneous similarity o f style and treatment. These 
were imposed upon the artist by several factors. Mural

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painting requires simple and definite outlines for purely 
technical reasons. In its execution it is largely a collective 
effort, so that the original designer is compelled to use a 
type o f outline which loses very little when re-drawn or 
traced by an assistant working with so insensitive a tool as 
a stylus. There is very little room for highly personal expres­
sion in the execution, as in the case of oil paint. The charac­
ter o f the mural tends to be as impersonal as architecture itself. 
While it may express function, it does not express mood to 
any great extent. It is perhaps this, above all reasons, 
which makes contemporary artists uncomfortable in the 
presence of the true mural, and their work a failure when they 
attempt to paint a mural in their own way. One o f the largest 
wall paintings o f all time was Rauol Dufy’s work depicting 
the development of electricity in the big Hall o f Electricity 
at the Paris 1937 International Exhibition. It seemed to be 
no more than an endless and slightly magnified repetition 
o f the type o f calligraphic painting which is associated with 
his name. As a mural painting it was unsuccessful and seemed 
to be lacking in power and architectural feeling. Above all, 
it had no suggestion of architectural permanence. Many other 
similar examples could be quoted.

It must be obvious that architectural painting has to differ 
in feeling, style and conception as much from ordinary paint­
ing as architectural sculpture does from everyday sculpture. 
A much greater emphasis on design is an obvious requirement. 
The normal source of light has to be taken into account, 
so that the direction of the light as painted inside the mural 
can co-incide as far as possible— a factor frequently for­
gotten even by experienced mural painters. The flow o f the 
design must be such that the painting becomes, not a disin­
tegrating, but a unifying factor in amongst other architectural 
elements. Calculated distortion must be employed to over­
come the effects o f the angles o f sight. The colour, as a rule, 
has to be extremely restrained, and the tonality on the light 
rather than the dark side. One cannot, however, become too 
dogmatic about these requirements. Very bluntly put. it 
could be said that the traditional function of the mural is 
that o f telling a story. Mural art has almost always been 
imbued with some kind o f propaganda. I have never been 
able to subscribe, in consequence, to the current idea that 
propaganda is inherently a destructive factor from the aesthetic 
point o f view'. If I did, I would have to discard as second- 
rate the great religious paintings o f the Renaissance, and the 
Byzantine mosaics which preceded them, all of which were 
intended to act as a vehicle for the loftiest type o f propa­
ganda. Also to be discarded would then be the Egyptian 
decorations glorifying the lives and deeds of Egypt’s ruling 
dynasties. Many Greek and Roman works in sculpture and 
painting would have to be discredited, and coming to our own 
day, we would then have to make out a case for proving 
that Commercial Art can never really be a great art. Providing 
it does not interfere with the artist’s primary function of 
making a wall surface more beautiful, the mural is as good

a means o f telling a story as any other. Traditionally it has 
been used to convey certain conceptions on the part of its 
patrons to the public at large. It is not surprising, therefore, 
to find its revival at a time when governments and other 
organisations need as many ways as possible of making con­
tact with the public. For this reason, the mural has played 
a very large part in all national pavilions at international 
exhibitions since the first w'orld war. For this reason, too, 
enlightened governments of countries like the United States. 
Russia, Mexico, Brazil and Sw;eden. have been amongst the 
chief patrons o f this art during the present day. The Church, 
also, shows increasing signs of resuming once again a cultural 
function through the use of the artist.

One of the difficulties of our time is the lack of some all- 
overwhelming inspiration as far as subject-matter is concerned. 
Before and during the Renaissance, the very loftiness o f the 
message which the artist had to convey gave his work a 
certain outstanding nobility. Some contemporary artists, like 
Diego Rivera, thought they could find their way out of this 
difficulty by the development o f an intense belief in some 
socialistic creed. His work, incidentally, remains the most 
vital visual expression of 20th Century Socialism so far 
achieved. Where today we have such a tremendous variety 
o f building styles, it is more or less inevitable that the pro­
fessional mural painter, within the limitations o f being true 
to his own artistic feelings, will work in varying styles to 
suit the setting. By this l do not mean that he will only 
paint in some dated style such as Cubism in a highly func­
tional modern building; but there has to be a certain adapta­
tion to surroundings. The fact that the mural normally tells 
a story, that this is the very essence o f functionalism as 
applied to mural decoration, precludes the artist from using 
a completely non-representational way of painting. The very 
beautiful abstracts of some of our modern artists would 
appear, at first glance, to be eminently suitable as architec­
tural decoration. If anything, they are more like architecture 
itself than any other form of painting. Unfortunately, as 
you must all have found, the eye and the mind very quickly 
exhaust the value and meaning of even a good abstract panel. 
It palls in a short while and assumes a dated look, very much 
like some types of so-called “ functionalistic”  architecture. 
For those that need non-representational but functional decora­
tion. the decorative map, the industrial diagram and so forth, 
would seem to offer possibilities. To this day, the map 
recurs with unfailing frequency as a highly delightful form 
of decoration.

The mixture of symbolism, documentation, illustration 
and education which go towards making up the character 
of the mural, is not one which is easily accepted or under­
stood at first. It frequently tends to confuse as much the 
academic as the purist type of approach.

At various times, exponents o f the modern mural revival 
find themselves at variance with art critics and even architects

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themselves, who judge the mural on the purely pictorial 
grounds of the easel painting. Where the funclion o f the 
mural painter is to decorate merely the surface o f the wall, 
it is quite clear that his mural must, remain. in the first 
instance, a wall. If the architectural effect of its being a 
wall is destroyed by too great an insistence on depth, perspec­
tive and three-dimensional form, it becomes an uncomfortable 
thing to look at in its fixed setting. Traditionally, in all 
countries, the mural has a characteristically flat look, and 
tends to lead to long arguments about the drawing powers 
of the artist or his knowledge o f perspective. A violent or 
turbulent design would also tend to destroy the architectonic 
feeling o f its setting and can become extremely uncomfort­
able for those who have to see it constantly. The slight 
woodenness, as it has been called, of the average successful 
mural, is the deliberate choice of its creator. So is the high 
degree of formalism from which it arises.

I have not wanted to say much about the use of what is 
essentially an oil painting stuck on a wall, like wallpaper, 
hut unfortunately in our country this is becoming fairly 
common. It is. in reality, not a way of painting on a wall, 
hut a way o f avoiding painting on a wall. Even where the 
oil painting is a painfully deliberate attempt at imitating 
the appearance of a real mural, the inherent qualities of 
the canvas on which it is painted seems to work against it. 
quite apart from the questions of permanency and so forth, 
(ianvas has never been a truly architectural material. It 
will never identify itself with the architectural fabric o f its 
setting in the way that a teal mural does. The optical 
qualities o f oil paint are far removed from those of true 
fresco and tempera. The argument that the oil painting is 
at any rale removable is a very poor one. It is very seldom

that we want our murals to be movable, but w'here this 
possibility has to be foreseen, the artist can nowadays rely 
on the use o f pre-cast plaster panels or similar truly archi­
tectural materials for painting on. Such panels are quite 
easily removable, hut somehow seem to enter into the structure 
of the building once they are built into the wall.

So frequently the mural is an afterthought on the part of 
the architect or whoever is responsible for deciding about the 
decoration o f a room. Many architects, confusing in their 
minds the framed easel painting with the mural, design panels 
with decorative mouldings around them, closely resembling 
the frame of a picture, as a space to be painted by the 
artist. Even in the hands of an experienced mural painter, 
such a panel is inclined to look “ applied.”  The most success­
ful murals seem to be those which enter readily into the 
general design of the room, and, where they appear on a 
wall broken by voids such as windows and doors, absorb 
these into their general pattern, without, at the same time, 
dominating the architecture. There is no reason why the 
mural should ever dominate its setting if it is carried out 
by an experienced painter with good taste. But more im­
portant than perhaps anything I have mentioned is the 
necessity for architect and artist to come together while the 
plans o f a building are still on the drawing board. In this 
way. without any of the domination so much feared by the 
architect, a great many mistakes can he avoided and a great 
many decorative possibilities opened up. There is no reason 
why. with our climate, our imposing public buildings, and 
the intelligence and goodwill of our architects, we cannot, in 
South Africa, develop an important National School o f Mural 
Painting. My plea, however, is essentially one for architec­
ture once again to become the mother of the arts.

193



N A T A L  P R O V I N C I A L  I N S T I T U T E  O F  A R C H I T E C T S

In moving the adoption o f the Annual Report and Accounts, 
it is my privilege to review briefly the past year’s work and 
particular events.

Last year in my comparative innocence, I stated that we 
had had a strenuous year on the Executive Committee. How 
much more arduous the work has been this year is evidenced 
by the fact that there have been 31 meetings this year as 
against 20 last year, which was in itself a record. The 
variety o f subjects covered in our discussions and actions fall 
under the following headings : —

EDUCATION
For the first time in the history of our Institute, we have 

had a visit from a Sub-Committee of the Board of Education, 
which examined every University in the Union. Their final 
report is not yet to hand, but this visit demonstrated clearly 
that such a Sub-Committee should function as a regular Com­
mittee, visiting all Universities annually. Only by these 
meetings can a check be kept on the general development 
o f the student’s side of our profession and the maintenance 
o f reasonable standards. Also your Committee has dealt with 
a number o f cases regarding the courses o f ex-servicemen 
and the special concessions in relation to their courses. The 
School o f Architecture in Durban has grown considerably, but 
the full-time course has not yet been established, and cannot 
be established, until adequate facilities both in accommoda­
tion and staff are provided. Your Institute gave encourage­
ment and support to the student’s exhibition which was held 
in August and which was o f a very high standard; sufficient 
to draw- compliments from the principal of the Natal Univer­
sity College who opened the Exhibition, and from the principal 
of the Technical College. The Executive agreed to re-institute 
the gifts of prizes to students, and the Ernest Marsden Powers 
Medallion is again to be awarded. It has been a recommen­
dation o f  the Executive to the Central Council, that a register 
o f students throughout the country be kept by the Central 
Council, and that they become probation members o f our 
Institute after completing their third year of studies. This 
matter will doubtless be discussed at Congress.

Before leaving the subject o f Education, it is necessary to 
point out that your Central Council has replied or is busy 
preparing a reply to the Union Government on the policy of 
immigration to this country in relation to our Profession.

Sub-Committees and Deputations have met a great number 
of outside public bodies, among them being:—

Electrical Engineering and Allied Trades’ Association.

ANNUAL REPORT 1946 - 1947

Civil Engineers’ Association.
Durban Slums Committee.
Master Builders’ Association.
Civic Association.
Greater Durban Town Planning Association.
Building Control.
National War Memorial Health Foundation.
Natal Society o f Artists.
S.A. Historial Survey Commission.
Land Surveyors’ Institute.
Suggested Association o f Clerks of Works.
Royal Visit Decorations Committee.
Elevational Control Committee.
Durban City Corporation.
Building Bye-Laws.

The great number o f Sub-Committees that have functioned 
in relation to this list, embrace people other than members 
o f the Executive, who have wherever possible, been co-opted 
to assist.

To all these members, your Executive extends its deep 
appreciation and thanks and any questions that members wish 
to put in relation to the aforementioned headings will gladly 
be answered at this meeting.

DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC WORK
Work given out by the Province has not yet emerged from 

the sketch stage, although twelve months have elapsed since 
Architects were commissioned. Your Liaison Committee has 
been careful to check up that in no instance has this been 
due to the Architects, but that the delay has been entirely 
on the side of the Province, and the attention of the Provincial 
Authorities has been drawn to this state o f affairs. No 
further work has been given by the Province, who have been 
asked to prepare their programme as far ahead as possible, 
in order that a fair and equitable distribution may be made. 
At the moment the Province has under consideration a Jury 
of three assessors appointed by our President-in-Chief, for 
the purpose o f conducting an immediate competition for a 
£300,000 block of offices in Pietermaritzburg for the Provin­
cial Administration. This competition will be open to Natal 
members only, and your Liaison Committee reports that 
negotiations with the Provincial Secretary and Architects on 
this matter, have been most pleasant and satisfactory.

CORPORATION
Members no doubt know that the Windermere Road scheme 

carried out by a group o f Architects, is now' under construc-

124



lion and apart from one crisis which was effectively handled 
by the Liaison Committee, has proceeded satisfactorily. The 
£300,000 block o f Municipal Offices which was mentioned in 
the Post-War Planning report of the City Corporation, is now 
within five or six weeks o f issue for competition. The 
preliminary conditions are already drawn up and the negotia­
tions between the Executive and the Council have reached an 
advanced stage.

NATIVE AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT 
The Secretary for Native Affairs has notified this Institute 

of their wish to construct a £150,000 Veterinary School for 
Natives at Ilfracombe on the South Coast. A circular, setting 
forth details o f the project, has been sent to all Members.

THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT 
The Public Works Department has requested this Institute 

to state how much o f the Provincial work can be undertaken 
by private practitioners in Natal. Your Executive, after a 
considerable deliberation decided that a popular answer would 
be “ Let it all come.”

NORTHERN RHODESIAN GOVERNMENT 
At the moment the Central Council is considering a request 

from the Northern Rhodesian Government for the handling 
by private practitioners in the Union of some six jobs totalling 
£700,000.

CHAMBER OF INDUSTRIES 
The Institute has been asked to assist the Chamber of 

Industries in the planning o f an Exhibition which is to be 
held in September.

NATAL HOUSING BOARD
During the year some 14 firms o f Architects assisted the 

Natal Housing Board by the preparation o f plans o f small 
houses for use by ex-servicemen and the low income group 
o f the community, at a specially reduced fee. The fees will 
be distributed at an agreed date to participating members in 
the following manner: —

Each member will receive a proportionate share per plan 
accepted by tire Board, but not exceeding three shares per 
member. After the first distribution a new pool will be 
started allowing for the re-submission o f existing or new 
plans by old members and for the inclusion o f any further 
members who wish to participate.

PUBLICITY
It will be seen from the foregoing that as prepared for by 

some o f our members in earlier years, the time has arrived 
when appeals are being made to the profession from all 
quarters for assistance in their building programmes, and it 
may safely be said that the standing o f the Institute with 
public bodies is generally very' high.

Your special sub-committee on Publicity has been very 
active during the year, although the fruits o f their labours 
have not yet been fully demonstrated. Considerable work 
was done in the organisation o f film shows when films were 
booked and obtained, but as a result of various causes these 
shows have not yet been able to be shown, but will I hope 
be brought to finality by the incoming committee.

The exhibition of American Wartime Housing, which 
included the Natal Housing Board exhibits as well as those 
of the City Corporation, was attended by very large numbers 
o f the public and by a large number o f officials from Durban 
and Pietermaritzburg Municipalities, as well as provincial 
heads of departments.

The Executive’s special thanks are due to Mr. Gunn, who 
w-orked so selflessly and arduously in organising and adminis­
tering the exhibition.

The Pietermaritzburg publicity committee have also organ­
ised talks to various public bodies on architectural subjects. 
Several letters have been written to the press taking up matters 
of importance in relation to public statements effecting our 
province. This side of the Executive’s activities require 
broadening and the whole hearted co-operation of all members 
in addition to the Executive Committee.

SOCIAL SIDE
It was decided to make last vear’s Social event coincide with 

the visit o f the Education Board’s Sub-Committee. It has been 
generally declared that this function held at the Durban Club 
wras a success and will bear repetition. Your Executive has 
also offered assistance to the Natal Society o f Arts in organ­
ising their proposed three Arts Ball, and negotiations are 
presently taking place on this matter. It is hoped that when 
the National Congress be held this May in Durban, the 
social side o f our activities will have full scope and the 
incoming committee will need to devote a good deal o f their 
attention to this matter, so that we can make the visit o f 
members from other provinces to Natal, a memorable occasion.

CENTRAL COUNCIL
The invitation extended by you to hold the next congress 

here, has been gratefully accepted by the Central Council, 
and already accommodation for some 100 visitors has been 
booked or reserved. The dates of the Congress are from the 
12th May to 16th May. Two days o f this will be devoted to 
Central Council meetings and two days to Congress Agenda. 
It has been requested that subjects to be placed on the Agenda 
should be suggested by members at this meeting.

As your representative on the Central Council, I am now 
able to report items discussed at the last Council meeting 
held in Johannesburg in December, Avhich have already been 
reported to the Executive. They are covered by the following 
headings:

1. Joint Council for the Building Industry.
2. National Housing.

J25



3. Architectural Competitions.
4. Post o f “ City Architect”  Pretoria.
5. Scale of Fees.
6. Next Congress.
7. Do's and Don’t’s.
8. Increase in Salaried Members Subscriptions.
9. Public Service Salary Scale.

10. Immigration Policy.
11. Board o f Education.
12. Secretariat.
13. Underpinning.
14. Model Conditions o f Competition.
15. Student Membership.

Once again our thanks are due to the Executive Committee 
o f the Central Council for their tireless energy in promoting 
the welfare o f our Profession in this country.

SECRETARIAT
As previously agreed at a general meeting, our past Secre­

tary, Mr. Chaplin, was given a £50 cheque and an engraved 
silver and glass tureen at a meeting o f the senior members 
o f our Institute, in recognition o f his 27 years o f devotion 
to the Natal Institute affairs. Our thanks are due to Mr. 
Ritchie, our present Secretary, who has had to cope with an 
enormous expansion o f Executive work. We are extremely 
fortunate that as Mr. Ritchie is an accountant by profession, 
the Institute’s financial matters are now in apple pie order. 
However, your Executive has recommended that a special 
finance sub-committee should handle this side o f the Institute’s 
affairs.

Office equipment has been improved this year by the pur­
chase o f a duplicator and a filing cabinet, the cost o f which 
will be inet by the Central Council’s grant for this purpose. 
The Sub-Committee has had the option o f new premises for

the Institute in Trust Buildings, where it is hoped to obtain 
a board room and general office.

Future information on this matter will be available in the 
very near future.

Before leaving the subject of financial matters, 1 should 
like to bring to the notice o f members that subscriptions 
should be paid before the holding o f this meeting, as it is 
at the discretion o f the chairman as to whether members are 
eligible to vote or not under special circumstances. This 
matter has been fairly loosely administered up to this date, 
and with the increasing expenditure of the Institute, it may 
be necessary to tighten this aspect of the Institute’s finances. 
Members can assist enormously by making a point o f paying 
their subscriptions as early as possible.

GENERAL
At this point I must add my very sincere thanks and appre­

ciation to the Executive Committe, who have worked unremit­
tingly throughout the year on matters which are purely to the 
advantage of the Institute as a whole and should have uncom­
plainingly shouldered all the extra burdens that have been 
imposed upon them. No less is thanks due to those members 
outside of the Executive who have been co-opted on the various 
sub-committees, and who have given all their best in time 
and effort, and finally, to all members of this Institute who 
have maintained their interest in the affairs of the Province 
as evidenced by their attendance at General Meetings, and 
by their lively criticism o f the conduct o f our affairs.

It is the outgoing Executive’s firm hope that this interest 
will be maintained, and that the incoming Executive will be 
fortunate, as we were, in having the members’ fair-minded 
support.

S. N. Tomkin,
President.

O . F . 8 .  P R O V I N C I A L  I N S T I T U T E  O F  A R C H I T E C T S

1 herewith welcome you to the Twentieth Annual General 
meeting o f this O.F.S. Provincial Institute o f Architects. 
MEMBERSHIP

I am pleased to state our membership has been increased 
by the joining of Mr. A. B. Ow'ens and Mr. F. Joubert. 
YEAR’S WORK

The year's work o f the Institute has been quiet, for the 
situation in the Province remains unchanged and there were 
few matters requiring attention.

Members of the Institute are all busy on their own par­
ticular office work and there has been no demand for meetings 
of any special nature.

ANNUAL REPORT 1946 - 1947

The National War Memorial Health Roundatiou. 
“ Classes”  of Membership.
Unprofessional Conduct enquiry procedure.
Building Bye-Laws in relation to Basements o f Shops 

have received our attention.

BENEVOLENT FUND
l am sure we are all pleased to notice the gradual growth 

of this Fund, which now amounts to £40.

FINANCE
All members have received copies of the Revenue and 

Expenditure Account and the Balance Sheet; our investments 
in Union Loan Certificates have a maturity value of £225

l?6



and the Bank account and Cash in hand together was £54 
4s. 8d. at the end of the year.

The R.l.B.A. Moiety is being revived after its discontinu­
ance during the years of war; this gracious contribution to 
Local Overseas Institutes, possessing R.l.B.A. members, by 
that Institute will once again assist our development.

Arrears of subscriptions have a way of increasing but the 
amount standing at last December f €29 8s.) is the smallest 
since the year 1937.

CENTRAL COUNCIL
Central Council has continued its useful work for our pro­

fession and its Executive Committee has handled an enormous 
amount of work on our behalf— some o f the matters being: —

A National Building Code.
Joint Council of the Building Industry.
Statutory Scale of Fees— on which your Committee is 

against as there is too great a subdivision into sections 
which is liable to confuse, provoke misunderstanding, 
and irritation with clients.

Architectural Competitions.
Architects Year Book— of which a new issue is to be 

published this year.
National Housing.
Code o f Professional Ethics.
"Classification of Membership— where this Province is 

convinced that our present simple and democratic one 
Class is sufficient (the fact that there are two taxations, 
Practising and Salaried is merely an internal domestic 
rating for subscription purposes). There is only one 
Official Classification, we are all M.f.A.s.

Congress in Durban. In this connection members are 
asked to do everything possible to attend this Congress to 
meet brethren from all over the Union, and by force of

numbers attract public attention to the importance o f our 
profession.

GOVERNMENT WORK
The sub-committee on the above has met and our Central 

Council Representative look some of its difficulties to Central 
Council and I trust the Committee will report during the 
ensuing year.

HOWDEN PRIZE
The next award of the above, with the O.F.S. Silver Medal 

is being handled by ihe Chapter of Quantity Surveyors, it is 
hoped they will issue Terms of Competition in the next few 
months and thus make room for the competition to follow 
theirs which will be Architectural.

DR. G. E. GORDON LEITH
This Province possesses one of Mr. Leith's outstanding 

works, the Town Hall. Bloemfontein, and we must congratulate 
him on the awarding by the Witwatersrand University of an 
Hon. Doctorate; members of our Profession, one and all, feel 
how fully this distinction has been earned and how thoroughly 
it is deserved.

THANKS
We continue to receive copies o f the S.A. Architectural 

Record and the R.I.B.A. Journal and gratefully acknowledge 
same.

I wish to thank my Committee for their sendees during 
the last 12 months, and record my appreciation at holding 
the Office of President in the past year.

C. Timlin, 
President.

C H A P T E R  O F  S O U T H  A F R I C A N  Q U A N T I T Y  S U R V E Y O R S
ANNUAL REPORT 1946 - 1947

The following is the Board’s report covering the session 
1946-47 during which period the Board consisted o f :

As Practising Members: Messrs. L. C. Austin, A. A. Bjork- 
man. D. J. Laing, R. J. Law. T. Id. Louw. J. 0 . Quail, P. M. 
Roos and A. W. Springthorpe.

As Salaried Members: Messrs. S. F. J. Cosser. R. P. Keel­
ing, R. J. C. Prentice and K. Robertson.

The Chapter’s office-bearers for the year were: President. 
Mr. D. J. Laing; Senior Vice-President. Mr. L. C. Austin; 
Junior Vice-President. Mr. J. 0 . Quail.

BOARD MEETINGS
Eleven meetings of the Board were held during the year, 

in respect of which the following is the attendance records:
Austin, L. C.......................... 8
Bjorkman. A. A ...................  8
Cosser, S. F. J....................  10
Keeling, R. P........................  6
Laing, D. J...........................  10
Law, R. J...............................  10
Louw, T. H........................... 10
Prentice, R. J. C..................  5

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Quail, J. 0 ...........................  10
Robertson, K .........................  11
Roos, P. M.............................  8
Springthorpe, A. W ............  7

THE CENTRAL COUNCIL
The following Members represented the Chapter on the 

Central Council of the Institute-and-Chapter during the year: 
L. C. Austin (Alternate, T. H. Louw).
P. M. Roos (Alternate, R. J. Law).

Mr. Prentice, in his capacity as Union Government Quantity 
Surveyor Nominee, has a permanent seat on the Central 
Council.

THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
The Chapter has three representatives on the Institute’s 

Board of Education, elected in rotation for a period o f three 
years:

Dr. E. J. Hamlin (Alternate, J. 0 . Quail); L. C. Austin 
(Alternate, D. S. Mann); T. H. Louw (Alternate, R. I. M. 
Stewart).

FINANCE COMMITTEE
The Finance Committee during the year consisted o f Messrs. 

P. M. Roos (Chairman), A. A. Bjorkman and K. Robertson.

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION 
The Board is indebted to the following Members who 

served on the Education Committee during the year, who, by 
their self-sacrificing work on one of the most important of 
the Chapter’s activities, have done so much to further the 
interests o f the Profession:

Messrs. L. C. Austin (Chairman), J. Castleton, J. S. Hodge, 
R. P. Keeling, T. H. Louw, G. P. Quail, J. 0 . Quail and R. 
1. M. Stewart.

ASSOCIATED SOCIETIES
The following Members represented the Chapter on the 

Controlling Executive of the Associated Societies:
D. J. Laing (Alternate, P. M. Roos).
J. 0 . Quail (Alternate, R. J. Shaw).

CHAPTER'S MEMBERSHIP
The total membership o f the Chapter, compiled as at the 

5th March, 1947, is 234, classified as fo llow s:
Pracising solely as Quantity Surveyors 103
Dual Practising M em bers...........................  21
Salaried M em bers........................................  81
Retired M em bers.......................................... 27
Honorary M em bers....................................... 2

The total membership of the Chapter, as shown in the 
Statutory Roll, is 234, but attention must be drawn to Regula­
tion 74. Fifteen Members fall under the provisions of this 
Regulation.

OBITUARY
The Board regrets to record the death during the year of 

Mr. D. R. Lyne.
NEW MEMBERS
Since the publication of the last Board's Report, 11 new 
Members have been enrolled :

As Pracising Members (4 ):  Messrs. G. E. M. Anderson, 
D. C. Dove, W. Laurie, R. B. Milford.

As Salaried Members (7 ):  Messrs. R. L. Baragwanath, A. 
J. Clemons, D. M. Dee, G. H. Mabin, R. A. Marshall. J. J. 
Pansegrouw, C. Walker.
CHAPTER’S FINANCES

The audited accounts for the calendar year 1946 (copy of 
which has been sent to every Member) show a surplus of 
£269 4s. 4d. This surplus has been made possible due to the 
subscription o f Practising Members having been increased 
from five guineas to ten guineas as from the 1st January, 1946.

With effect from the 1st January, 1947, the subscription of 
Salaried Members has been increased from three to four 
guineas, and one of the first duties of the new Board will be 
the utilisation o f the additional revenue thus derived to serve 
the best interests o f the Profession.

The capital of the Benevolent Fund has now reached the 
total of £608 9s. l id .,  and appreciation is recorded o f the 
donations during the year totalling £3 13s. 6d.

Donations amounting to £3 3s., were received from members 
during the year towards the Education Fund o f the Chapter, 
the total of which has reached £34 14s. The capital of the 
Education Endowment Fund is now £238 4s., and Members 
are reminded that contributions to this Endowment will assist 
in making an annual Quantity Surveying Education grant 
available in deserving cases.

ROBERT HOWDEN PRIZE
The draft rules governing the conditions and award of the 

Robert Howden Prize for Quantity Surveying have been 
aproved by the Board and will be submitted to the Central 
Council. It is expected that the first competition will be held 
this year.
CHAPTER’S GOLD MEDAL

The Board has re-instituted the award o f the Chapter’s Gold 
Medal to the best Student in the final year of either the 
Degree or Diploma Course in Quantity Surveying.

The first award will be in respect o f the 1946 examinations, 
and the medal will be presented to the best Student in the 
Union.
LOCAL COMMUTES

The Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth Local Com­
mittees of the Chapter have taken a great deal o f interest 
in the affairs o f the Profession in their own centres.

It is the intention of the Board to invite representatives of 
each Local Committee to attend a Board meeting later in the 
year, by which time it is hoped that further progress will

128



have been made with the revision of the Standards System, 
and the Scale of Fees.

An Annual Grant of £10 10s. has been made by the Board 
to each of the Local Committees to cover administrative 
charges and the cost of forwarding 15 copies of each set of 
their Minutes to the Board.

CONGRESS OF S.A. ARCHITECTS AND 
QUANTITY SURVEYORS

The next Congress of Architects and Quantity Surveyors 
will be held in Durban during May o f this year.

The Board trusts that as many members as possible will 
be able to attend this Congress, as matters affecting the pro­
fession will be discussed. The Board is making arrangements 
for the presentation of at least one paper on Quantity Survey­
ing matters.

THE ASSOCIATED SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL 
SOCIETIES OF SOUTH AFRICA 

The Chapter was admitted to membership of the Associated 
Societies as from the 1st October, 1946, and the Associated 
Societies took over the Secretarial duties o f the Chapter on 
the 1st January, 1947.

ROLL OF HONOUR
With reference to the resolution passed at the Annual 

General Meeting held on the 15th March, 1946, the Board 
has endeavoured during the past year to compile and complete 
a Roll of Honour. The names are now being finally collated, 
and the incoming Board, after consultation with the Central 
Council, will decide the style and manner in which the Roll 
should be presented.

JOINT COUNCIL FOR THE BUILDING INDUSTRY 
The Joint Council for the Building Industry in South 

Africa, on which the Chapter will have representations, has 
recently been formed. A Draft Constitution has been framed 
and will be considered by the incoming Board.

EX-VOLUNTEER STUDENTS 
The Board records its thanks to the Profession generally 

for its co-operation in obtaining employment for Ex-Volunteer 
Students in Quantity Surveying offices.

RESIGNATION OF SECRETARY 
Mr. J. S. Lewis, who had been Secretary of the Chapter 

for a considerable number o f years, tendered his resignation 
as from the 31st December, 1946. The resignation o f Mr. 
Lewis was accepted with regret, and the Board wishes to 
record its appreciation o f the services rendered by him in the 
interests o f the Profession.

SALARY SCALES IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE 
The Board actively interested itself in this subject and was 

represented on the Institute’s deputation to the Minister of 
the Interior.

LIST OF RULINGS ON PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE 
BY THE CENTRAL COUNCIL 

This matter has been dealt with by the Board during the 
year, and your representatives on the Central Council have 
put forward their view's.

The Central Council is now editing the "Code o f Profes­
sional Practice”  which will be published in due course, and 
will be o f benefit to the Profession.

LIST OF MEMBERS
The Central Council has decided to publish, in book-form, 

a complete list of all the members o f the Institute and the 
Chapter, and it is expected that this booklet will be printed 
in the near future.

APPRECIATION
The Board records its grateful appreciation to the Chapter’s 

Office-Bearers for the untiring manner in which they have 
worked during the year in the interests o f  the Profession, and 
also to the various members who have given a great deal 
of time in serving on the various Committees, etc., in connec­
tion with Building Control, National Housing, Joint Council 
for the Building Industry, and the South African Bureau of 
Standards.

129



THE OLD THEATRES OF JOHANNESBURG
The most intriguing aspect of early Johannesburg is 

certainly that o f the old theatres, and no other buildings are 
held in more affectionate regard by the oider generation 
today. Life was rough and primitive in 1886 in the mining 
camp, but it was not long before it was being served with 
theatrical entertainment. A barn-like structure known as 
Fillis’ Circus was erected between Harrison and Loveday 
Streets, and many lively scenes took place there. The figure 
o f Luscombe Searelle. picturesque and dynamic, dominates 
the theatrical activities o f the city of the early days.

In 1888, Luscombe Searelle arrived in Johannesburg with 
an Australian Operatic company and his own theatre of wood 
and corrugated iron, which was actually transported from 
Durban by ox-wagon and coach. When they arrived in 
Johannesburg the “ theatre"’ was off-loaded from the ox-wagons

By Cyril A. Stoloff

and Searelle proceeded to erect it. Hedley Chilvers in Out of 
the Crucible relates that "the material blocked the load for 
days, but the blockade mattered little, for traffic passed easily 
then by taking detours over the veld through the open ground 
upon which His Majesty's Theatre and the Carlton Hotel now 
stand.”  The theatre was given the title of "Theatre Royal” , 
and stood in Commissioner Street, corner of Eloff Street, on 
the site where Marlborough House was subsequently built. 
The auditorium itself wras extremely crude, mainly of corru­
gated iron, with a double-pitched roof with exposed rafters. 
Decoration was non-existent, and seating was of a movable 
nature. This rather rough “ shell”  was obscured from general 
view by a comparatively elaborate fagade which incidentally 
was not without its “ Classical”  pilasters. A very commodious 
bar was also one of the major attractions o f the “ Royal” . 
The theatre was opened in 1888 with Searelle’s productions

Photo: By permission of the Africans Museum
TH EATRE RO YAL, 1888. The first theatre in Johannesburg, erected at the corner of Commissioner end Eloff Street*,

130



of "Maritana” . "The Bohemian Girl” , and the Savoy Operas. 
In January. 1891, Mr. E. Sandiford presented the Verdi Opera 
Company, which enjoyed a long run.

It is unlikely that much discrimination was shown at first 
in the choice o f amusements, for innumerable music-halls and 
bars soon became legion, a well known source o f entertain­
ment being the famous “ Amphitheatre” . But by 1893, we find 
a brochure of the day solemnly assuring us that, “ Johannes­
burg. having taken its place as THE most important city 
in South Africa, is apt to be critical concerning its amuse­
ments and captious as to their variety.”

The next theatre erected in Johannesburg was the Globe, 
in April. 1889, in Ferreira Street, corner o f Fox Street, some 
two blocks to the West of Sauer Street. The main entrance 
was opposite Heights Hotel, the first in Johannesburg. The 
theatre was a brick structure with a corrugated iron roof, and 
wooden hoarded ceiling taking the slope of the roof rafters. 
The fagade, as usual, completely obscured the auditorium, and 
consisted of a series of “ Classical” balustradings, four full 
height pilaster, and a central triangular pediment crowning 
a gable with side scrolls. The words "Globe Theatre”  were 
in high relief just below the pediment. The auditorium was 
rectangular in shape, and there was no slope of any nature 
in the wooden floor, which was covered with a highly coloured 
carpet along the central aisle. The stage was three feet higher 
than the auditorium floor, and was covered in with thin 
vertical hoarding. The sixteen footlights were visible along 
the front rim. The theatre did possess two “ boxes”  heavily- 
draped and elaborately upholstered on each side o f the 
proscenium arch, and there was, in addition, a small gallery 
and circle. The proscenium arch was decorated in gilt, and 
the “ backdrops”  consisted of an idyllic lake scene, with two 
Classical figures on each side. The sole lighting to the 
auditorium was by means o f small chandeliers consisting 
of three globes in separate shades. Seating was in long rows 
attached to the floor; provision was apparently made for the 
serving of refreshments, as narrow “ counters”  are fixed to 
the backs o f each row o f seats. The theatre was opened with 
Mr. Thorne’s Dramatic Company on the 24th June, 1889. 
this being followed by a series of Gilbert and Sullivan Operas 
on the 23rd September, and a Shakespearean season from 
September to October 1st. A disastrous fire destroyed the 
entire building in October of that year.

It was decided to rebuild the Globe on a much larger scale, 
and in 1891 foundations were commenced. The building was 
on two sites, extending from Commissioner to Fox Street, and 
also fronting onto Ferreira Street, as had the first Globe. 
The construction of the auditorium involved the use of several 
steel girders, as the stage was o f considerable proportions. 
The roof over the auditorium itself wras of w'ooden trusses 
covered with corrugated iron. The “ coffered”  ceiling was 
decorated with geometric patterns. The facade o f the second

G LO B E  THEATRE, 1889, at the corner of Ferreira and Fox Streets.
An exterior view of the first theatre prior to its destruction by fire.

Photos: Africana Museum
The interior of the Globe Theatre.

Globe Theatre was much more detailed than that o f its 
predecessor. The treatment was similar, as it wras purely a 
thin frontage to the large auditorium itself. Pilasters were 
Corinthian, pediments were profuse, and Grecian urns were 
apparently the major feature. There was an urge for the 
showy display o f prosperity which was becoming a character­
istic o f the Late Victorian period. The main entrance was 
sheltered by a projecting cannopy, and visitors to the stalls 
passed through a little conservatory filled with evergreens, 
which in turn lead into the “ Winter Garden” . There was also 
an entrance in Ferreira Street, opposite the new: Heights Hotel, 
which is still in existence today, its name having proceeded 
through a number o f vicissitudes, including Balmoral Cham­
bers. Federation Buildings, and today, New Court Buildings. 
The auditorium was constructed on novel lines, the “ pit-stalls” 
being separated from the “ stalls”  by only a walnut wood

181



BELO W : The interior of the first Empire Theatre.

TH E FIRST EM P IR E  THEATRE, 1894. The illustration 
shows the exterior which faced on to Commissioner 
Street. This was originally the second Globe Theatre, 
built in 1892 to replace the earlier theatre of the 
same name.

Photos: By permission of the Africana Museum.

partition, the gallery being just behind. There were eight 
boxes in all, four stage boxes and four upper ones. The 
upper portion of the house was devoted to the "Grand Circle . 
which was horseshoe shaped. The stalls were upholstered 
in dark blue leather, with white and gold backs, while the 
boxes were upholstered in Royal blue velvet plush with gold 
trimmings. The spacious Foyer was in red plush, with ornate 
gliding. At the time, a famous feature of the auditorium 
was a great chandelier consisting of 40 lights, which were, 
incidentally, of 16 candle power. The proscenium was 30 
feet wide, by 22 feet high, and rectangular in shape, and was 
profusely decorated in gilt mouldings. The “ act-drop”  was 
of “ St. Mark’s, Venice” , while there was in addition, a series 
of “ perspective”  scenery units, similar to those used in early 
Renaissance theatres in Europe. The curtains and pelmets 
were of Royal blue plush. The stage was lighted by 35 
electric foot-lights. The height from the floor to the gridiron 
was 46 feet. There were eleven dressing rooms, five under 
the stage, and three on each side. The theatre was designed 
with a fairly reasonable regard for fire regulations, there 
being nine exits in all. the capacity o f the theatre being 800 
people. The Globe Theatrical Syndicate leased the theatre 
in 1892, and the theatre was opened on the 8th June o f that 
year, with the Lyric Opera Company, which presented shows 
until the 5th May, 1894. The theatre then closed down 
for a period, while negotiations were proceeding for a change 
in the ownership. In July, 1894. the founders of the Empire 
Theatres Company, S.A. (Ltd.) entered into arrangements 
for the lease of the Globe Theatre, which was renamed the 
“ Empire Palace of Varieties” . Thus the first Empire Theatre 
in Johannesburg came into being, and was formally opened 
on December 1st, 1894. with a programme o f famous British 
variety artists, including W. C. Fields. Marie Lloyd and Kate 
Harvey. The Empire remained continuously open from 1894 
until 10th October, 1899, when it was reluctantly closed by 
order of the Transvaal Government, owing to the declaration 
of war.

With the signing of peace, the Empire was re-opened on 
26th May. 1902. Fire again destroyed the stage after the 
performance on 19th November, 1903, but the auditorium 
was saved by the effectiveness of the fireproof curtain, which 
became an innovation in theatres o f that period. For some 
time, while the stage was under repair, the overseas companies 
played at the Gaiety Theatre, over the road from the Empire, 
in Kort Street. It was built in 1893, and was housed in 
Metropole Buildings, which still exists today, although the 
theatre proper has been converted into a wholesale grocer’s 
shop! Tt was a very small theatre, but this did not prevent

132



O L D  E M P I R E  T H E A T R E  ■ J O H A N N E S B U R G  - 1 9 0 6

THE SE C O N D  EM P IRE THEATRE, 1906, situated at the corner of Commissioner and Kruis Streets. 
McIntosh and Moffat, Architects.

133



it from contributing very largely to the great fortunes built 
up entirely in South Africa by Mr. Leonard Rayne, one of 
the earliest lessees of the Gaiety, who staled on one occasion : 
"I  had £90,000 in the bank before 1 was 30 years of age— 
most o f it was made at the old Gaiety Theatre!”  Kate 
Vaughan, the well known dancer of the London Gaiety, 
appeared at the Johannesburg Gaiety.

The last performance at the first Empire was on the 12th 
May, 1906, and some years later, the building was demolished. 
The owners desired a more central site for the new Empire, 
as that portion of the town was not being developed, even 
although it was the original site o f “ Ferreira’s Camp”  in 1886. 
A site was purchased, corner of Commissioner and Kruis 
Streets, upon which there was a 400 feet frontage. The 
architects, Messrs. McIntosh & Moffat were commissioned to 
design a theatre, equivalent in size and comfort to any 
o f the overseas theatres. It should be borne in mind that 
at this stage ( 1906) Johannesburg was a comparatively large 
city with a population o f 160,000. Many large buildings 
were at this time completed, including the Carlton Hotel, 
Corner House and Rand Club. The architects, however, 
proceeded on a special tour of England, America and the 
Continent, studying conditions in theatre construction, and 
latest methods that would be applicable to South Africa. The 
building was commenced on 1st April, 1906. The basement 
included a Billiard Room, while there were shops and a bar 
on the ground floor, and offices in the upper two floors. 
To all intents and purposes, it appeared to be a very ordinary 
office building of the Edwardian period— simple cast iron 
pillars, plastered wall surfaces, and large sash windows. The 
only decoration occurred in a few turrets and gables. The 
only indication that a theatre lay beyond the offices, were 
the main entrance foyer in Commissioner Street, and the 
stage door in Kruis Street. The second Empire, was. for the 
period, a very luxurious one, and most certainly a very

Photo: C.A.S. 
Arcade entrance seen 
from President Street.

Photo: J. Biggar
ST A N D A R D  THEATRE, after reconstruction in 1911, seen from the 
corner of President and Joubert Streets.

184



S T A N D A R D  THEATRE - (  I 691 - 19 II ) - T Y P I C A L  " L A T E  V I C T O R I A N "  T A f A D E

charming one. Many will remember it today, for it was 
only demolished in 1986. to make way for the third and 
present Empire. There was accommodation for some 1.000 
people, there being 18 stage boxes. 875 “ fauteuils” . 250 
dress circle and balcony stalls on the first floor, and 300 
gallery seats. It was horseshoe shaped, and similar to the 
Opera House in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera House in New 
York and the Covent Garden Theatre in London. There were 
lounges and bars on all floors, and both these and the theatre 
were beautifully fitted. In the “ crush room”  were telephones

and writing desks, adjacent to cloak rooms. The Main 
Entrance Hall was 16 feet wide, the walls and floor in black 
and white marble. A particular feature of the internal 
fittings were the exquisite Wilton carpets, o f which there 
were 2,000 yards. The colour scheme was in green and gold, 
and the boxes and proscenium arch were elaborately decorated 
with gilt mouldings in the style of the French “ Second 
Empire”  period. The entrance to the main stalls and circle 
was in Commissioner Street, while the Private Box entrance 
and the Gallery entrance were in Kruis Street. There was

The delightful and intimate interior of the Standard Theatre, looking towards the stage and boxes from the Upper Circle.

1S5



H IS  M A JE ST Y 'S  TH EATRE Photo: African Consolidated Theatres. LtcL

The illustration on the left shows the building in 1903, known as Goldreich Buildings, designed by McIntosh and Moffat, seen from the corner of 
Commissioner and Joubert Streets. The illustration on the right shows the building after reconstruction in 1934.

an actors’ “ Green Room”  in addition to the dressing rooms. 
The theatre was equipped with fairly modern appliances, 
for it is indeed enlightening to learn that a “ sprinkler”  installa­
tion was provided for the entire theatre, in addition to the 
fire proof curtain. There appears to have been a system of 
air-conditioning, whereby electrically-driven fans were located 
below the stage, these providing fresh air, which was conveyed 
to all parts o f the auditorium by means o f ducts. Exhaust 
fans located in the roof drew out the foul air from the circle 
and the gallery, while gratings under the stalls served a 
similar purpose. There were two separate electric services 
in the theatre. The contractors were Gabriel & Ballantine, 
while the seating, upholster)-, draperies and curtains were by- 
Gordon & Company of Birmingham, England. Many of the 
world’s greatest artists appeared ori the Empire stage, including 
Sir Harry Lauder, hailed by the newspapers in 1920 as “ Harry 
Lauder at last” , George Robey. England’s master of broad 
comedy. Sir Seymour Hicks and Ellaine Terris in 191.1, irre­
sistible and fascinating Irene Vanbrugh in 1923, Peter Dawson 
in the following year, and Owen Nares in 1926. In 1925, 
the incomparable and ethereal Anna Pavlova danced in Johan­
nesburg like an inspired being. In 1928 Sybil Thorndike 
presented Bernard Shaw’s “ St. Joan”  while Phyllis Neilson- 
Terry charmed audiences as “ Sweet Nell of Old Drury.”

The Standard Theatre is one o f the best-loved- landmarks 
in Johannesburg, a building rich in historical association, 
which remains, even today, the focal point o f dramatic activity- 
in the city. “ In the alternate mud and dust o f the early mining 
camp, the directors of the Standard Building Company optimis­
tically dug the foundations o f the theatre. (The founders of 
the company were Emmanuel Mendelsohn and Robert Stuart

Scott, who were also proprietors of the ‘Standard & Diggers’ 
News’.)”

After many set-backs, the Standard was opened on October 
12th, 1891, and vast crowds gathered to watch the lucky ticket 
holders, and half an hour before the curtain was due to go up, 
the theatre was packed. At 8.30 Mr. Dan Godfrey (later Sir 
Dan Godfrey of the Bournemouth Orchestral led the orchestra 
in the “ Volkslied”  during the playing o f which Captain Von 
Brandis appeared on the stage, declaring the theatre open, 
amid ringing cheers. The curtain then went up on “ La Cigale.”  
The building was on a site fronting onto Market, Joubert and 
President Streets and when first constructed in 1891, was with­
out the covered portico in front of the main entrance. In 1911, 
the theatre was remodelled, and the building as we know it 
today was constructed. An outer structure o f shops and 
offices was constructed around the theatre, with an “ arcade” 
link from Market to President Street. The external features 
were the cast iron railings and balustrading, which are typical 
of the period. The pillars of the verandahs arc profusely 
decorated with varying stock motifs. The theatre originally- 
consisted of stalls and circle, but a gallery was added at a 
later date. It is difficult to imagine a more intimate and 
delightful theatre, and at no other place in Johannesburg 
is there more atmosphere o f the old days, in spite o f the 
fact that there are no longer red plush