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THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

T H E  J O U R N A L  O F  T H E  T R A N S V A A L ,  N A T A L  A N D  O R A N G E  F R E E  S T A T E  P R O V I N C I A L

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

Q U A N T I T Y  S U R V E Y O R S .

S O U T H  A F R I C A N

Vol. X I 1. N o . 48.
D E C E M B E R , 1927

CONTENTS.

The Craft of the Smith •••

George Ness, the man and his work. By Denys Lefebvre .......................................

George Ness. By A Winter Moore ............... ...........................

The Civic Centre of .Johannesburg ....................................................... ................

South African Mutual L ife Assurance Society Competition. Assessors Award ...

The Herbert Baker Scholarship •••

Reactions and Reflections. An Analogy. By Rex Martienssen ...............

Pretoria War Memorial. By Gordon Leith, A.R.I.B.A............................r
The Temples of the Gods. By Professor G. E. Pearse, A.R.I.B.A.....................

Contemporary Architectural Magazines

... page 85 — 86

86— 87

87

88—90

95

95

9 6 -9 7

97

97— 101

101— 102

Book Reviews :
Architectural Construction. By Walter C. Ross and Edward A. Varney
The Architecture of Ancient Rome. By Dr. T. Ashby ...............
The Architecture of Ancient Greece. By W. B. Dinsmoor

102

102—103
103

Professional News :
The Institute of South African Architects 
The Chapter of Quantity Surveyors 
Durban Notes 
Notes and News 
List of New Members

103—  104
104— 105 

105 
105

105— 108

The Editor will be glad to consider any MSS., Photographs or Sketches submitted to him, but they should be accom­
panied by stamped addressed envelopes for return if  unsuitable. In case of loss or injury he cannot hoLd himself respon­
sible for MSS., Photographs or Sketches, and publication in the Journal can alone be taken as evidence of acceptance. The 
name and address of the owner should be placed on the back of all Pictures and MSS. .,

The Association does not hold itself responsible for the opinions expressed by individual contributors.

* -  * • “  « " ■  thC BU* "” “  M“ *g' r ' Business M .n .ger-M urray K. Carpenter.
67,nExploration Buildings, Commissioner Street, Johannesburg. P.O. Box 2266. ’Phone 5821.



PRETORIA W AR MEMORIAL Gordon Leith, A.B.I.B.A., Architect,
ON THE LOWER TERRACE OF THE

UNION BUILDINGS.

Description on Page 97. 
Photo by Alan Yates.



THE S O U T H  A F R I C A N  
ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

THE CRAFT OF THE SMITH.

It is all too common a fault nowadays to make the 
sweeping statement that all craftsmanship is dead. 
This is not wholly true, though many crafts have died 
out during the last century. It is almost inconceivable 
that any craft shoud lapse beyond hope of revival pro­
vided that its products are really beautiful as well as 
serving a useful purpose.

In this article it is my purpose to speak of one 
craft that has weathered the storm of industrialism and 
is steadily, if slowly, returning to its own. I refer to 
the craft of the smith.

In mediaeval times the work of the smith was more 
in the nature of an art than a craft, for1 some extra­
ordinarily beautiful work was carried out by indivi­
duals, though the average smith would probably have 
been as incapable of producing even simple works of 
art, as they were fifty years ago. In the main, how­
ever, the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries 
produced some really remarkable work, especially when 
one takes into account the skill displayed by the 
armourers of that epoch. It is not of his type of work 
that I wish to speak, for, as I said before, this should 
be classed more as an art than a craft.

What is craftsmanship ? This is not altogether an 
easy question to answer, for so many varying degrees 
of work have been classed under its name.

CHANGING FASHIONS.
Some people might contend that if the work of the 

smith is to be termed a craft he should furnish every­
thing from drawing to the finished piece of w ork ; but, 
to my mind, this rather makes the forging of iron into 
an art. All the ancient crafts guarded jealously their 
own particular mystery, and it should be the joy of 
the true craftsman to uphold that tradition, though 
the mystery, as such, has been overthrown by genera­
tions of scientific research. It is then for the 
architect to furnish designs, which will suit the exigen­
cies of the particular material for which he is designing. 
If he is in any doubt about what can be done with any 
material, let him ask the man who does, or should, 
know—in other words, the craftsman. If any architect 
in the course of time finds that one special craftsman 
so understands his craft that he can be trusted to alter 
the design within limits, well and good, but it should 
not be the rule but rather the exception.

In what may be called the finest period of the 
smith’s craft, which was at the end of the eighteenth 
century, work of surprising beauty was carried out in 
this way to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren and

others, The same may be said to a lesser extent of 
the time of the classic revival under the brothers Adam, 
but after this period the craft lapsed.

WROUGHT IRONWORK.
The chief cause for this elimination of the tradi­

tional work of the smith lay in the fact that public 
taste demanded cast-iron work in place of wrought, and 
at the commencement of the 19th century this transi­
tion was in full swing. Much of the cast-iron work 
done at this period was not lacking in beauty of design. 
Especially is this true of the smaller and lighter articles, 
such as balcony railings, but no sooner did it become 
the fashion to treat such work by casting rather than 
forging than the craft of the smith necessarily fell into 
abeyance.

This state of affairs went from bad to worse during 
the succeeding 50 years, for whereas when the fashion 
for cast-iron work came in it was only used in its 
proper sphere, it became later the medium for work 
which could of necessity only be treated with success 
in wrought-iron. Heavy gates which hitherto had been 
the joy of the master smith were now produced fipm 
the mould in all manner of extraordinary designs; 
grilles and the like architectural features suffered the 
same fate, and worse was to follow.

Not only did this newly industrialised country use 
cast-iron for the carrying out of subjects which of their 
very form demanded wrought, but they even so far 
debased the smith tradition that the little wrought-iron 
work which was done was designed to have the appear­
ance of the cast, many of the ornamentations being 
indeed stamped. It is at this period, if ever, that the 
craft of the smith may be said to have died. Let us 
now consider its resurrection.

The man who may be said to be morally, if not 
practically, responsible for the revival of the craft of 
the smith is William Morris, and the work as initiated 
by him was carried on by the Arts and Crafts Society.

Their work was useful, though in their own time 
it was of little practical importance. They did cer­
tainly produce some quite pleasing designs for the 
smaller articles, but in the larger architectural field 
they were severely hampered by the fact that crafts­
men producing such work needed a large price for it, 
and for this reason, if for no other, architects had to 
refrain from employing them to any degree.

Following in the footsteps of the Arts and Crafts 
Society there came the New Art Movement, but this, 
rather than helping the cause of the smith, really



86 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December, 1927.

hampered it, because it produced work which could not 
be called impressive by even its best friends. The 
adherents of this movement attempted to produce iron­
work without having the initial knowledge of their 
material, and so, naturally they were doomed from the 
outset to failure. Such work as they did produce 
was without merit, for it was lacking in that sense of 
fitness that springs from the correct use of any medium. 
As a class architects did not encourage this style, and 
it is not to be found in any building of distinction.

BRIGHT OUTLOOK.
When the new art movement had died a natural 

death another cult came in which had for its basis the 
utmost simplicity of form that it was possible to arrive 
at. To such extremes did they go that their designs 
had little in them beyond straight bar work arranged 
in various forms. This can hardly be said to be the 
traditional idea of smithcraft, calling as it does for no 
use of the beautiful curves which form in themselves 
the beauty of the best iron-work.

Let us now pass on to the modern aspect of the 
craft. On the whole there appears to be a, much better 
outlook for good imaginative design showing a proper 
understanding of the material used, and the many 
uses to which it can be put. This is undoubtedly 
giving the smith a fresh chance to prove his crafts­
manship, and, judging by the work shown at the Paris 
Exhibition last year, he is not failing to do so. This 
exhibition has proved also that, while still bearing in 
mind the best tradition of the craft, it is possible to 
portray almost any naturally beautiful form, provided 
that it does not cause the material to be unduly wracked 
out of its proper curves.

It is pleasing to feel that modern architects are suf­
ficiently far-seeing as to help this revival by using 
wherever possible, specimens of this work to beautify 
their buildings, and are designing with a due respect 
for the material to be used. If only wrought-iron is 
used with care and discrimination there is no doubt in 
my mind that the present day smith can produce work 
every bit as good as his fore-father of the late eight­
eenth century.

GEORGE NESS.

THE MAN AND HIS WORK.

DENYS LEFEBVRE.

The last time I saw him, he was just as he appears 
in the photo, smoking his pipe and seated on a high 
stool in his small dark office. Something had started 
him on one or two quaint reminiscences. Even while 
we were talking, a lady in rustling silks, waited 
patiently outside in the dusty wood and iron workshop.

He was, of course., very human, and it did give 
him pleasure, despite his rough clothes and appearance, 
to be invited to many a luxurious dining room, where, 
balancing a tea cup and saucer on his knee, he would 
talk wisely and shrewdly of the art he loved and the

pseudo-art he despised. Anything of pretence, whether 
in flesh or metal, roused him, and, to his intimates, he 
would hold forth through many a pleasant half hour, 
on the faults and foibles that had come to his notice.

I think to a man of his sensitive temperament, 
for he was very sensitive, his work must have been 
his chief consolation. Like every true artist, he could 
lose himself in it, finding joy in the curve of the metal, 
in the symmetry of a pattern. It must often have pleased 
him to think that his hands had moulded brass for 
the Matoppos, as well as for a Royal Palace; that for 
long years to come, households all over South Africa 
will gather round the firedogs, the hanging lamps of 
his creation ; that in many a church, a pulpit, an altar- 
rail, a cross, a lectern, or some other work in wrought 
iron or brass affords a memorial which, as with Anthon 
Anrijt, that other craftsman, with whom I have pre­
viously compared him, men and women from this and 
other lands will come long distances to admire.

The suggestion has been made that, in addition to 
a simple stone to his memory, a fund be raised to 
establish bursaries at the Johannesburg Art School to 
help deserving students in metalwork. I think the idea 
would have pleased him; I am sure he would have 
liked to think that his name had acted as a help and 
encouragement to other students in the craft he loved ; 
that, thanks to him, a lasting contribution had been 
made towards the encouragement of art in this country. 
I hope that sufficient will be raised to make the fund 
a permanent memorial to his life-work. The award 
must not be lightly given. To carry out the spirit of the 
message which he indicated rather than expressed, the



December, 1927. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD 87

recipients of such a bursary would have to be sincere 
and promising workers, workers who would carry on 
the tradition that Ness founded all unwittingly. The 
tradition that, as is seems to me, loves art for its own 
sake, that in the spirit of the mediaeval guildsmen, 
demands of its devotees, sincere and selfless service. 
Work for the completion of an artists ideal.

As someone remarked the other day, a great deal 
of nonsense is talked about art. George Ness was 
perhaps a little embittered to be an idealist, but I feel 
sure that deep within him, was the spark that comes 
to the few— not only the talent which he possessed, but

the “zeal from the Lord” without which the spark can 
never kindle.

It is difficult to think so original and rugged a 
personality has gone from us. leaving a place that it 
will take long to fill. In these days of haste and 
machinery, it is hard to lose a real craftsman and, 
except by the few, the loss is now only dimly realised. 
But I think, as the years go on, another generation will 
look back on what he has done with respect and admir­
ation. We who are so much closer see him in a dif­
ferent perspective, but I think that then as now, those 
who love art will, as they pass by, lay their homage on 
the cenotaph of his memory.

GEORGE NESS.
A. WINTER MOORE.

My aquaintance with Mr. Ness came about in this 
wise. Upon landing in South Africa I spent a few days 
at the Cape before proceeding to Johannesburg to take 
up my appointment, and during that time visited 
“ Groot Schuur,” where my attention was attracted by 
the beautiful wrought-iron hinges on the doors and 
windows of that building. Whose work were these ! 
As luck would have it one of the party visiting the 
house could supply the required information : they were 
made by a, Mr. Ness, whom he believed lived in Johan­
nesburg.

Arriving at Johannesburg I sought out Mr. Ness 
early— would he take a metalwork class at my school ? 
His eyes gleamed, it was just what he wanted, for, as 
he expressed it he would like to be of some use before 
he died.

He was as keen as a boy—what type of students 
would he have ? Young, he hoped, for there was little 
satisfaction in teaching “washerwomen,” a term he used 
to designate students of advancing years. Then what 
about tools, these could not be purchased in Johannes­
burg (which I had discovered) so he must set to and 
make them.

The forming of a metalwork class, like the course 
of true love, did not run entirely smoothly, there were 
for instance, objections to the noise for the hammering 
of metalwork made the thin walls of the “Tin Temple” 
reverberate like a drum a.nd drowned ev-cn the clatter 
of many typewriters in the adjacent room.

Then at the outset the number of students taking 
the subject was not large, perhaps at first they did not 
understand the old man who was so rough and abrupt 
in his appearance and manner, so, what with one thing 
and another, grave fears were entertained that the class 
would have to close, before it had got properly started.

The foregoing remarks apply to the early days of 
the past year, the students soon discovered that 
beneath a somewhat rough exterior lay a heart of gold, 
the class increased by leaps and bounds and when the 
new term opened in August so large was it that the 
necessity arose of additional accommodation for the 
work. I reminded Mr. Ness of' the days of dejection, 
when I had prophesied an early improvement—was he 
satisfied now ? He beamed. This was just what he had 
lived for— young enthusiastic students—now he would 
show Johannesburg what could be done in metalwork ! ! 
Owing to the noise it had been found necessary to move

the class to the Boys Trade School, therefore, I was not 
able to keep in such close touch with the work as had 
previously been the case, perhaps it was that reason 
that the events that followed appeared to come with 
such dramatic suddenness— One day I was informed 
that Mr. Ness was too ill to take his class—next that 
he was removed to the Hospital, and, as I was arrang­
ing to visit him there, the news of his death appeared 
in the morning paper. We all know South Africa has 
lost a great craftsman, but only those who profited by 
his instruction know that it is also the poorer for a 
great teacher. It has been said that part-time teachers 
are not the ideal type because, being paid by the hour, 
their interest in the School generally ceases the moment 
their class terminates—Mr. Ness was the exception 
that proves the rule for his class only terminated when 
the students were tired—usually long after the 
scheduled hour and that interest in his work was a 
constant quantity was evinced by the time he spent, 
out of class hours, in improving the equipment.

But I had one grievance against Mr. Ness. The 
regulations necessitate that instructors must fill in forms 
giving minute particulars regarding hours worked, 
average attendance of students and such like details 
from which the clerks at headquarters make out their, 
salary cheques, these formalities Mr. Ness resolutely 
refused to comply with and even when I filled in the 
form for him—which I invariably did— it was only with 
the greatest difficulty that he could be persuaded to 
add his signature. “The root of all evil” was no evil 
to Mr. Ness. “Art for Arts sake” may well have been 
the motto which guided his life.

And so he has gone, leaving a gap in the small art 
circle of this city which none can fill. His connection 
with the Johannesburg School of Arts and Crafts was 
brief, barely more than half a year, but his influence 
both persona,Uy and through his work, still remains 
with us and many students will long cherish the 
memory of the ardent boy-like instructor who was so 
anxious to help those who earnestly sought for infor­
mation. As many are aware the Transvaal Branch 
of the South African Institute of Art are collecting 
funds for a bursary to be called the “Ness Bursary,” 
and to be available at the Johannesburg School of Arts 
and Crafts for a student specialising in Metalwork. I 
feel certain that this tribute to his memory would have 
been entirely after his own heart.



88 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December, 1927.

THE CIVIC CENTRE

One has heard a great deal of the wonder city of 
Johannesburg, representing forty years growth, and he 
would be a cynic indeed who would attempt to deprive 
the Golden City of its just claim to distinction. 
What has been achieved in so short a time is 
little short of wonderful, so wonderful, indeed, 
that, as “ Citizens of no mean city,” we look 
further afield, and are not blind to faults and short­
comings, but look up, look out, look in, with a view to 
greater achievements still, remembering the greatness 
and importance of the destiny which is reserved for 
this Country, and believing that the conscience and 
spirit of the people will rise to the height of its obliga­
tions, and have the strength and tenacity to fulfil their 
mission.

There can be no true conception of nationhood, of 
citizenship, divorced from a policy of pegging out claims 
for posterity. The instinctive good sense and 
patriotism of the people at large must be reflected in a 
city’s memorials : that is, in its buildings, for they are 
the vital memorials of the tenacity and endurance of 
the race ; its courage and devotion to duty ; its strength 
and resource ; its standard of citizenship. And it is 
in this standard of citizenship ; this civic pride, that 
the cardinal conditions and features of national life 
reside, and from which spring the glorious traditions of 
citizenship, involving a true conception of greatness, 
and the wider interests of humanity.

Every true citizen desires above all else to give a 
good account of his stewardship. Let those, who come 
after see to it, that their memory be not forgotten ! We 
charge future generations with this solemn duty, and 
we look to them to be faithful unto death. As we 
look to those who come after to play their part signally, 
so we are reminded of what our duty to posterity 
means.

In our day, we must set the pace ; we must hold 
high the banner of civic pride and obligation. We
must make the world a better place to live in. Let
other lights be as they may, they will burn dim, indeed, 
beside the greater light which a spirit of honesty, of 
tolerance, of singleness of purpose, sheds before us in 
the dark ways of life.

Standing outside the Johannesburg Central Post 
Office, facing the Eastern elevation of the Town 
Hall, the trenchant thought comes home that 
through its proximity to the Post Office the whole 
scheme is ruined. The central figure has not been 
distinguished from the surrounding details; the acces­
sories have not been subordinated ; the cleanness of 
vision of the artist is not there. Though the building 
displays noble qualities, its layout misses the mark. 
It seems to be telling us how great nations may be 
neutralised or even debased by uncorrected faults , it 
suggests the triumph of the bigot over intelligence.

The pity of i t ! And it is not only for us, but for 
those that come after !

The thought of uncorrected faults leads one natur­
ally to explore the field of possibility of correction, and 
it is refreshing to learn that the matter was eagerly 
taken up and forcibly represented.

OF JOHANNESBURG.

In a matter of such first rate importance, it would 
seem to be an imperative duty to enlighten the 
interested citizen, so that he may know the facts, and 
draw his own conclusions.

At the outset it may be well to explain that the 
Association of the Transvaal Architects and the Town 
Planning Association acted conjointly. Consequently 
where the Association is referred to it should be taken 
as meaning the two corporate bodies aforesaid; or, at 
any rate, the common interest of the two bodies should 
not be lost sight of.

At the time of the building of the Town Hall, the 
Association strove, in vain, to secure greater spacious­
ness on the Eastern front, a need long since recognised 
by all.

Early in the year, 1919, the Association learnt of 
a reported Government Scheme of Extension and in­
ternal reconstruction of the Johannesburg Central Post 
Office, and of the suggestion of the Mayor of Johannes­
burg that the new Post Office be built West of the 
Town Hall, and (assuming complete demolition) the 
present Post Office Site be kept as an open space.

Uth March, 1919.— A Committee Meeting of the 
Association was immediately called, and held on the 4th 
of March, 1919.

Subsequent to this, there was much activity by the 
Association in the public interest. Numerous letters 
passed. Instructions were given and draft Memoranda 
were drawn up.

11th March, 1919.— Information was received by 
the Association that the Estimates provided for altera­
tions to the existing premises, and extensions in the 
rear, towards the Standard Theatre, plans having been 
prepared by the Public Works Department within the 
compass of the estimated cost.

On the following day (12th March, 1919), the 
Association telegraphed to the Minister of Posts and 
Telegraphs asking that no definite steps be taken with­
out ample opportunity being afforded the Public of 
Johannesburg of knowing exactly what was proposed, 
and requesting that authority be given in the proper 
quarter for the Association to have access to the full 
details and plans of the proposed work.

13th March, 1919.— The Minister . replied by tele­
gram, and confirmed by letter, dated the 13th March, 
1919, intimating that the matter had been referred by 
him, with comments favourable to the Association’s 
request, to the Minister for Public Works.

The next step was the forwarding by the Associa­
tion to the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, of a Mem­
orandum issued by the Association, regarding the erec­
tion of a new Central Post Office in Johannesburg.

U th March, 1919—The details of this Memoran­
dum were set forth in extenso in the “Rand Daily 
Mail,” of the 14th March, 1919, and the support of the 
Johannesburg Citizens and the authorities concerned 
was urgently solicited: it being strongly emphasised 
that the occasion presented an unique opportunity for 
altering and improving the entire aspect of the heart 
of the Town.



December, 1927. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD 89

In outline the points made were as follows :—
General.—There should he no considerable expen­

diture of public funds for the purpose of patching and 
tinkering with an obsolete building.

Any attempt to alter or extend the existing Central 
Post Office must result architecturally in a. failure. The 
more so, therefore, upon the scale which the reported 
estimated cost seemed to indicate.

(1) The Post Office (Central) should be entirely 
rebuilt.

(2) The present Site (100ft. x 200ft.) is far too 
small for to-day’s requirements. How about 
the future ?

(3) Retention of present Site must involve, sooner 
or later, expropriation of the whole, or part of 
the Standard Buildings, at very considerable 
cost.

The solution suggested was that the present 
site of the Central Post Office be abandoned, 
and given in exchange to the Johannesburg 
Municipality for a site as large as, or larger 
than it, to the West of the Town Hall.

This would be an ideal site for a Central 
Post Office, facing East, there being ample 
space for the erection of spacious and con­
venient buildings with sufficient room for 
expansion.

It is at this point, too, that the natural 
termini of all tram routes converge, and it is 
from here the best point of vantage is secured 
for Mail transport between the railway and 
the Post Office and, incidentally, a much better 
proportioned distribution of traffic would be 
effected. Above all, the necessity for the never- 
ending procession, and parking of the Post 
Office Vans right in front of the City’s admin­
istrative house and centre would be removed. 
The operating of the Postal Van Service, under 
existing conditions, upon the occasion of the 
reception of a distinguished visitor at the 
Town Hall, or any such similar function, is 
difficult in the extreme. The officials are 
handicapped and the Public is nettled, and 
there is little doubt that the distinguished 
visitor, like the Irishman’s parrot, thinks a 
lot. All this could be done away with ! And 
by doing away with it the desired lay-out of 
the Town Hall would ipso facto be secured. 
It’s too late to push the Town Hall back—but 
it’s not too late to open up the space on the 
Eastern side !

Our standard of Citizenship is at stake, what 
we do now will influence the verdict of those 
who come after.

(4) The restoring of balance to the town commer­
cially, which has been unduly congested to 
the immediate East of the Town Hall, Develop­
ment resulting to the North West.

(5) The rebuilding of the Standard Theatre Build­
ing, which would inevitably follow the demoli­
tion of the Post Office.

As a site for a worthy Opera House, with a 
fine facade facing the Town, Hall, it is prob­
ably unsurpassed in the Union.

This revolutionising transformation cou'd be 
brought about at NO COST to the Municipality, 
so that the opportunity was unique from the 
point of view of the economic factor as well.

The reply to any possible objections on the 
part of business people operating in the area 
immediately surrounding the Post Office is 
that other important business and shopping 
centres en route to the existing Post Office do 
not suffer commercially from relative remote­
ness from the actual Post Office Building.

The Premises surrounding the existing build­
ing, and occupied by the objectors, would be en 
route to the proposed new Central Post Office. 
The cases would seem to be on all fours, besides 
which, benefit may be expected as the result of 
general improvement of the district.

In the ordinary course of events, branch 
Post Offices must come into being to meet the 
reasonable convenience of the Public, the 
Central Post Office remaining the official dis­
tributing centre.

As in the case of every thickly populated 
town or city, the Public would deal at the most 
conveniently situated branch.

En passant— The April, 1919, Issue of “ South 
Africa” contained a complete re-print of the 
Memorandum.

18th March, 1919.— The receipt of the Memorandum 
was acknowledged by the Minister of Posts and Tele­
graphs.

2Utli March, 1919.—On this date Mr. Emile Nathan, 
M.L.A., wrote to the Association intimating that 
Government was asking for £9,000 to begin the contem­
plated alterations to the existing Post Office, the total 
estimated cost being about £80,000.

28th April, 1919.— The “ STAR” of this date records 
that as a result of a special general Meeting of the 
Association held at Johannesburg, the following resolu­
tions were adopted, and copies forwarded to the Acting 
Prime Minister, the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, 
and the Fublic Works respectively, and the Members 
of Parliament representing the Rand Constituencies, 
with a request for their support:—

(a) That it is undersira.ble that the Government 
should embark on any expenditure for the 
alteration of the existing Post Office Build­
ings, Johannesburg.

(b) That the Government should consult repre­
sentative bodies in Johannesburg with a view 
to deciding upon what is required for Post 
Office and other Government Office accommo­
dation in Johannesburg.

(c) That it is highly desirable that the site of the 
existing Post Office should be reserved for an 
open space.

(d) That a site for a Central Post Office should be 
obtained on the vacant ground West of Sim- 
monds Street, and that the Government be 
asked to formulate plans for Post Office 
and other Government Offices on this site.

(e) That when the required buildings are provided 
on the ground West of Simmonds Street, the 
site of the existing Post Office be handed over 
to the local authorities as an open space.



90 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December, 1927.

13th February, 1920.— As a result of correspon­
dence between the Association and the Town Clerk of 
Johannesburg, a deputation, consisting of members of 
the Town Council and three members of the Associa­
tion, interviewed the Minister for Public Works on the 
13th of February, 1920, the outcome of the interview 
being that it was agreed not to proceed with the pro­
posed additions to the existing Post Office, pending an 
offer from the Johannesburg Municipality of a suitable 
site for the erection of a new Post Office.

There seemed to be dalliance in the matter, and, 
once again, we find the Association taking the initiative, 
by writing to the Town Clerk.

20th May, 1920.— Asking that the necessary 
arrangements may be made for a deputation from the 
Association to meet the Town Council relative to the 
offer of a site being made.

7th June, 1920.— The reply of this date intimated 
that the General Purposes Committee had decided to 
defer proceeding with the matter until the return from 
Cape Town of the Mayor.

29th July, 1920.—-On this date, the Association 
wrote to the General Purposes Committee upon the 
question of the proposed City improvement, enclosing 
several prints of a diagram reflecting the suggested 
changes), and some of the improvements incidental 
thereto, expressing the hope that the Council would be 
prepared to offer the Government the suggested site, 
upon the conditions indicated, thus effecting the much 
desired improvement at the East end of the Town Hall, 
provided the offer were accepted.

This letter was actually drafted by Mr. M. J. 
Harris, one of the Members of the Association, and the 
formal letter was handed to him, for despatch to the 
General Purposes Committee. At this juncture comes 
a thunderbolt, in the form of a newspaper report to 
the effect that the General Purposes Committee pro­
posed to recommend that the open space at the West 
end of the Town Hall be presented to the Johannesburg 
Public Library Committee as a site for a new Public 
Library.

11th October, 1920—  The Association wrote to the 
Mayor of Johannesburg protesting vehemently against 
this new proposal to give away without receiving any 
quid pro quo, the very site which all along they had 
been endeavouring to have ear-marked for the pro­
posed New Central Post Office, and in exchange for 
which the site of the existing Post Office (the primary 
and supreme consideration being the tragically neces­
sary improvement in lay-out of the Town Hall) was to 
be given.

20th October, 1920.— On this date one of the mem­
bers of the Association was advised by another member 
(Mr. M. J. Harris) of the constitution of the Public 
Library Committee, and that this Committee had been 
deputed to wait upon the Association that day : and a 
special Whip Circular to ensure good attendance was 
requested.

21st October, 1920.— Mr. M. J. Harris wrote to the 
Association desiring to place it on record that he was 
earnestly convinced that the Association’s best service 
to the town would be rendered by urging that the 
New Library Site should be of the size, and in the

position shown by the diagram, waiving previous objec­
tions. He also expressed the opinion that some future 
thought on this matter, together with careful study 
of the notes, etc., on the diagram, may possibly bring 
each and every member of the Association to the same 
conviction that had been borne in upon him. He 
further pointed out that the grant was subject to 
ratification by the Provincial Administrator.

Contrary to Mr. Harris’s impression that each and 
every member of the Association would suddenly, and 
for no apparent reason, be convinced that the Associa­
tion’s laudable policy was all wrong, and that, so far 
from it being of the highest public service to secure 
the proposed radical improvement in the lay-out of the 
Town Hall at no cost to the ratepayers, to say nothing 
of the contemplated better postal service, and more 
equable traffic distribution and consequent contribu­
tion to the Public safety and that it would be a higher 
public service to let the unique opportunity slip by, 
the Association thought otherwise, and placed itself in 
communication with the Administrator, being received 
as a deputation by His Honour on the 25th of Novem­
ber, 1920. His Honour exhibited sympathy with the 
Association’s ob ject: and the Association’s next move 
was to get into touch with certain Authorities, among 
them being the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs whose 
sympathy with the Association’s project, it will be 
remembered, had already been aroused, and due con­
sideration promised, provided the Municipal Authorities 
confirmed their offer to grant the site at the West end 
of the Town Hall for the erection of a New Central 
Post Office, in exchange for the site of the existing 
one. This confirmation was duly despatched, but failed 
in its object, as the Minister had been overtaken by 
illness, and after spending some time in a Nursing- 
Home, left at once for Cape Town.

It was at this vital point in the negotiations that 
the Municipal Authorities agreed to hand over the all 
important site, West of the Town Hall, for the erection 
of a. New Public Library, thus disregarding the profes­
sional advice tendered to them and losing the matchless 
opportunity of effecting an improvement of pre-eminent 
importance. The fact of the Western Site, under con­
sideration being the converging point of tram traffic, 
militates against its suitability for Library purposes. 
It may be difficult here to maintain the “ SILENCE 
PLEASE’’ atmosphere.

Economic interests: Civic dignity: requirements 
for the present, and care for: the future, would have 
been well served had the advice of the Association been 
taken :— advice offered without thought of fees, and 
with no axe to grind, but in the best interests of the 
people.

Human memory is short, and it is well that the part 
played by the Association, in the public interest, should 
be set down for the information of those around us, and 
for the guidance of those who come after.

Holding high the banner of civic idealism, ever 
watchful of the interests of those who come after, and 
who will appraise our standard of citizenship, con­
stitutes a more enduring reward than the passing 
breath of praise, and affords a satisfaction beyond the 
pleasures of a mere animal existence.



December, 1927. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

FIRST PREMIATED DESIGN L . McConnal, Capetown,



92 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December, 1927.

ONE OF THE TWO PREMIATED DESIGNS
BRACKETTED SECOND.

Emley and Williamson, F. £  A .R .I.B .A . Johannesburg,



December, 1927. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

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BRACKETTED SECOND.

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THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December, 1927.

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December, 1927. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD 95

SOUTH AFRICAN MUTUAL LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY
COMPETITION.

ASSESSORS AWARD.

In connection with the proposed new premises, at 
Pretoria, for the South African Mutual Life Assurance 
Society, Mr. Fred M. Glennie, of Capetown, the 
Assessor, reported to the promoters as follows.

I have pleasure in reporting that I have examined 
36 sets of designs and accompanying reports submitted 
in the above connection.

Your Society is to be congratulated upon organizing 
an interesting Competition, the work on the whole being 
of a high standard and at least 20 Competitors offer­
ing workable solutions.

It was the Promoters’ ambition to obtain a build­
ing well balanced with the Palace of Justice, thus to 
complete in a worthy manner the fourth side of Church 
Square.

For this reason photographs of the adjoining build­
ings were supplied to Competitors, and it is a matter 
of regret that more attention was not paid to this 
feature by Competitors.

There wa.s a marked similarity of Elevational 
treatment in many of the designs submitted.

An interesting facade was suggested by design No. 
21. Nine designs were set aside for consideration v iz .: 
Nos. 12, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22. 26, 27, 31, and from these 
I have made the award as under:—

First Premiated Design, No. 31.
Second Premia,ted Design, No. 17 and 27 ; prize to 

be equally divided.
Third Premiated Design, No. 15.
The winning design, No. 31, offers the most satis­

factory general solution; it provides a generous 
Entrance, the Company’s Offices and Letting Space are 
well placed, and the elevations a,re dignified and simple 
in treatment.

The Estimated cost is £49,100.
I recommend the adoption of the winning Design 

subject to the recommendations contained in my cover­
ing letter.

The four; premiated designs referred to are illus­
trated in this issue.

THE HERBERT BAKER SCHOLARSHIP.

It may not be generally known that Sir Herbert 
Baker, R.A., F.R.I.B.A., the designer of the Union Build­
ings, Pretoria, and many other notable buildings 
throughout South Africa, in an earnest attempt to 
advance the study of architecture in South Africa, 
created a trust fund, the income from which is to be 
devoted to the establishment of a scholarship called The 
Herbert Baker Architectural Scholarship for award 
amongst South African students in architecture.

This trust fund was established in 1912 and since 
that date some six South Africans have benefited there­
by. The scholarship is open to any person who is a 
British subject of not more than 33 years of age, and 
who has spent a period of not less than six years in 
the study or practice of architecture, of which period 
not less than four years shall have been spent in South 
Africa.

The scholarship, which is of the approximate value 
of £250, is awarded at intervals decided by the trustees.

Every holder of the scholarship is required to spend 
not less than seven months in Rome as his principal

head-quarters, acting under the direction of the British 
School at Rome. A portion of such period may, with 
the approval of the governing bodies of the British 
School at Rome, be spent at Athens under the direction 
of the British School at Athens. During the remaining 
portion of the scholarship period the scholar shall make 
his headquarters at London for a period of at least 
three months and shall continue his work under the 
supervision of the president of the Royal Institute of 
British Architects. On completion of the period of 
scholarship, the scholar will be required to exhibit the 
results of his studies in such manner as may be pre­
scribed by the President of the Royal Institute of 
British Architects. He will also be required to hold a 
similar exhibition in South Africa when and where the 
trustees may appoint. He will also submit to the 
trustees at the completion of his scholarship a thesis on 
a subject chosen by the trustees.

The next examination for this scholarship will be 
held early in 1928 and eligible candidates desirous of 
sitting should communicate with the Trustees of the 
Fund, 67, Exploration Building, Commissioner Street, 
Johannesburg, without delay.



96 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December, 1927.

REACTIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

AN ANALOGY.

REX MART1ENSSEN.

London. The place, Trafalgar Square ; the time, a 
Sunday afternoon in January . . . Perfect repose 
save a few scurrying foot passengers, a few buses 
grumbling and bumping their way through the slush. 
One is soothed by the quiet, the mind is drowsily! recep­
tive, untroubled, neutral. One is in the right mood 
for the contemplation of pictures. The gray and quiet 
are a fitting background for the free enjoyment ol 
colour and form. There are no distractions. Detached 
from the struggle of the living, one is ready to meet 
the creative artist, to delight in his work, to com­
mune with him . . . One is attuned to the quali­
ties of great art.

So I felt as I passed into the National Gallery. My 
time was limited, the catalogue informed me, from 2 
p.m. till dusk. I intended to sip, rather than drink, 
the richness which awaited me. I was unprejudiced, 
yet eager to meet old friends (familiar for many years 
in prints) paradoxically for the first time. Cromes 
Moonrise on the Yare held me by its very calm. The 
painter’s sense of atmosphere and fine breadth ar'e 
admirably shown in this delightful subject In direct 
contrast, but equally arresting are the chalk studies ol 
Alfred Stevens. They seem to me unsurpassed tor 
sheer vigour and spontaneity. Dashed off at white 
heat (or so they appear) and instinct with life 
and movement, they disclose the power of the master 
seizing on essentials. I basked awhile in Turner s colour, 
then came Manet, Corot and Purvis de Chavannes. lhe 
serene dignity of de Iioogh and Hobbema. Surely the 
former is the master painter of domestic tranquility.

Then the Holbein. I was held by this picture, this 
Christina of Milan. Something in it compelled me to 
stop Yet the pose is natural, her expression composed 
— dulled perhaps by grief. The whole a “symphony 
in blues and blacks.’ ’ One feels an influence abroad, 
it is caused not by the form,, nor the colour, it is the 
essential Holbein which permeates the whole. I have 
found this intense attraction in all Holbein s work m 
his drawings—in the studies for portraits at Windsor, 
but never had I felt his dominance over subject so 
strongly. I left this portrait in a strange mood, almost 
dissatisfied, trying to find an expression for the emotion 
which I could not analyse.

Nearly two years after my visit to the National 
Gallery I read Ford Madox Hueffer’s monograph on
Holbein.

My surprise was great when I found that he had 
undergone a similar experience when looking at this 
same picture. My difficulty in expression had been 
bridged by him. I cannot do better than quote his
words.

“ I have visited the National Gallery, I do not know 
how many times, simply to stand in front of it (this 
portrait)— simply to stand and to think nothing. It is 
not for me a picture; it is not even a personage with

whom I am in love. But simply a mood— a mood o f 
profound lack of thought, of profound self-forgetfulness 
descends upon me in front of that combination of 
paints upon that canvas. It is not merely this por­
trait that can evoke this mood in us—it is the very 
quality of Holbein. We are literally in love with this 
arrangement of lines, of lights and of shadows. The eye 
is held by no object, but solely by the music of the 
pattern—the quality that we call Holbein.”

Pretoria. The place, the Union Buildings ; the time, 
a Sunday afternoon in April. A drowsy warmth 
envelops the hill side, and as one plimbs the gradual 
terraces there is scarce enough breeze to stir the 
cypresses. I drank deep of the beauty of these build­
ings, and as I did so I felt some influence creep over 
me. Here was a glorious stretch of building— rich in 
colour—with deep eaves and a broad sweep of tiled roof. 
Everywhere delightful detail basking in the sun, and. 
rich doorways and fanlights set in the coolness of 
shady loggias. Surely a joyous work.

“ My spirit, shaking off her earthly prison,^
Began to enter into meditation deepe . . . ”
After my experience with the Holbein painting,

I knew that this was the influence of the author. It 
was present in every part. In the unexpectedness of 
some little piece of detail work, in the handling of 
different motifs which we have come to associate only 
with the work of Sir Herbert Baker.

I have studied Baker’s wofk with a growing appre­
ciation of all those qualities which have proved him a 
master. Every time I pass one of his works I detect 
some charming fragment which has eluded me before. 
His sympathy is wide ; the essential atmosphere of 
“home” in his domestic wor;k. the freedom from any­
thing bordering on prettiness, the solidity of the whole, 
make his work permanent.

I understood the singleness of his purpose, the 
breadth of his vision better, afterl I had met Baker. 
He himself provided the key to a fuller appreciation of 
his work. When he talked of the unbroken sweeps ot 
thatch roofing on the old Cape homesteads, the broad 
wail surfaces with shuttered windows, the concentrated 
richness of a single gable with its play of light and 
shade, it was easy to see that his conceptions of archi­
tecture were rooted in the fundamentals of good build­
ing. His love of the old work at the Cape is deep and 
sincere, he was quick to appreciate the intense beauty 
which had hitherto gone unrecognised. His own work 
is unaffected by style or prejudice, it is drawn from 
the endless depths of his genius. It is always scholarly, 
yet never without that essential flavour of his own per­
sonality. Baker handles his elements in a way entirely 
his own. Whether it be the mouldings to a column 
base or the treatment of a fire place, the solution will 
have the appearance of being inevitable. We cannot



December, 1927. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD 97

picture a brick chimney stack in a roof where he has 
decided to use piaster and chimney pots. He does not 
use “architectural features,” his restraint may well be 
studied by other architects.

There is a charm about all he does, but I will 
always regard the Union Buildings as I do the Holbein 
portrait. Like the portrait it is serene. It embodies

all the delights we expect in Baker’s work, and is 
greater, more superb than anything else he has done. 
But as we bask in its enfolding beauty we are incap­
able of analysing its charm— of studying the individual 
elements. We drowse in the sunshine, our surrender 
is complete, our joy infinite. There is present an 
influence . . . the quality which is Baker.

IN MEMORIAM

HVIVS URBIS CIVIVM QVI FELICES OPPORTVNITATE MORTIS PRO 
PATRIA DEDERUNT VITAM UT LIBERTATEM POSTERIS CONSERVARENT.

GORDON LEITH.

The erection of the Pretoria War Memorial was 
delayed for several years on account of the difficulty 
of selecting a site agreeable to the majority of Citizens, 
and it was only after four years of hesitation that a 
solution was found by the granting of a site in' the 
precincts of the grounds of the Union Buildings.

In order to interfere as little as possible with its 
beautiful surroundings, it was decided to construct the 
Memorial on very simple lines, a,nd to make it harmonize 
with the rough terrace walling that characterised its 
setting on the slopes of Meintjes Kop.

The Memorial consists of a Great War Stone, 
flanked on the East and West by Pavilions, or Shelters, 
in which the bronze panels bearing the names of the 
fallen are inscribed. At present, owing to lack of funds, 
these sanctuaries are used as passages leading to the 
terraces above, but it is hoped that the Public Works 
Department will rearrange the terrace approaches, so 
as to enclose the Memorial and the strip of ground to 
the south of it as a sanctuary immune from casual 
trespassers. A  high wall links the two pavilions

together, at the foot of which a stone seat is provided 
where those paying homage to the fallen may pause 
and view the Avenues of Pretoria and its fortified hills 
beyond.

The whole of the work is carried out in hammer 
dressed local stone, with the exception of the War- 
stone, steps, plinths, and the Domes of the Pavilions, 
which are of Hatherley granite, carefully selected to 
harmonize with the colouring of the remainder of the 
work.

The wall bears a latin inscription in Gilt Bronze 
letters, dedicating the Memorial to the men of Pretoria, 
who gave their lives for their Country, and is the work 
of the Birmingham Guild. The Bronze panels are 
executed by the same firm and are beautiful examples 
of craftsmanship.

It is intended that the Memorial should form the 
apse of a. sanctuary enclosed on its sides by tall hedges 
of Cypress trees giving it that seclusion so necessary 
to a place for meditation and repose.

THE TEMPLES OF THE GODS.
PROFESSOR G. E. PEARSE, A.R.I.B.A.

A lecture given at the Witwatersrand University 
under the Auspices of the “Star of the East,” and the 
S. A. Institute of Art.

In giving this lecture my intention is to illustrate 
the various types of buildings erected through the ages, 
by different peoples for religious purposes. Some of 
these religions have passed away, others are perhaps 
not very well known to members of this audience. I 
shall, therefore, give a brief account of these in order 
to show why these buildings were erected and what 
purposes they served.

Of the prehistoric religions I do not intend to speak, 
we are uncertain as to the reason why the large circles 
o f stone, such as Stonehenge, were erected, but in the 
main it appears that large stones or wooden posts were 
erected and worshipped as they often are by primitive 
and savage races to-day.

Some considerable degree of skill must have been 
required to erect these colossal stones and it is interest­
ing to note in Stonehenge the joints between the ver­
tical and horizontal are typical mortise and tenon or 
carpentry joints which indicate that they are replicas 
of original wooden upright and horizontal beams.

EGYPT.
We know more about Egyptian religion on account 

of the wonderful historical records that have come down 
to us.

It is a matter of controversy as to whether Chal­
dean civilisation and religion is older than that of Egypt 
but at present we have not sufficient authentic data 
to illustrate the type of temple erected by the early 
Chaldeans or Sumerians.

The Egyptian religion was polytheistic. As among 
all other early peoples, it was in his surroundings that 
the Egyptian saw Ids gods.



08 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December. 1927.

The sun was born each morning (as a calf or a 
child) and sailed across the sky in a celestial barque 
to arrive in the west as an old man tottering to the 
grave. The lofty flight of the hawk led them to 
believe that the sun must be such a bird, thus the 
sun disc with outspread wings of a hawk became the 
commonest symbol of their religion.

The earth, or as they knew it. their elongated 
valley was a man lying prone upon whose back vegeta­
tion grew and men and animals moved.

If the sky was a sea, on which sailed the sun and 
stars, so to them there must be a waterway under the 
earth by which they couM return. This subterranean 
river was connected with the Nile at the first Cataract 
and thence issued from two caverns the waters of their 
life giving river. A connection was formed again at 
the mouth of the Nile, where it entered the sea. Thus 
the earth was surrounded by the sea which they called 
the grand circle, the Okeanos or Ocean of the Greeks, 
inherited from Egypt.

In the beginning only this sea existed upon which 
appeared an egg or as some say a lotus flower from 
which emerged the sun God, RA.

He begat four children, Shu and Tefnut represent­
ing the atmosphere, Keb and Nut representing the 
earth and the heavens.

The two latter were separated by the former, who 
stood upon the earth and supported the heavens. Keb 
and Nut were the father and mother of four divinities, 
Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys. Thus nine deities 
were created of which each temple later possessed a 
local form.

Besides these gods of the air and heavens there 
were also those who had as their domain the nether 
world the subterranean stream. Here dwelt the dead 
whose king was Osiris aided by his faithful sister wife 
Isis. He had succeeded the Sun God as king on earth 
and was looked upon as a benefactor of men and a 
righteous ruler, but was craftily slain by his brother Set. 
Isis was assisted in preparing her husband’s body for 
burial by one of the Gods of the nether world, 
Anubis, the jackal God, who thereafter became the God 
of embalmment.

So powerful were the charms of Isis that the body 
became reanimated but could not return to earth.

Isis gave birth to a son, Horus, whom she reared 
to be the avenger of his father,. Not all these Gods 
became more than mythological figures, but some be­
came the great Gods of Egypt. The Sun, Re or Ra, 
was first and foremost, his worship almost universal 
and the chief centre of his cult was On called by the 
Greeks Heliopolis.

The symbol of his presence was an obelisk a,t Helio­
polis, while at Edfou he appeared as a hawk under 
the name of Horus.

The Moon was the measure of time and became 
the God of reckoning, of letters and of wisdom. His 
centre was Shmun or Hermopolis as the Greeks identi­
fied him with Hermes. He appears as an ibis.

The Sky, Nut, was worshipped throughout the 
land as the cow goddess Hathor, at Denderah: as the 
joyous Neit at Sais: as a cat at Bubastis : while at 
Memphis she became a lioness the goddess of storm and 
terror.

The myth of Osiris, so human in its incidents and 
all its characteristics, rapidly induced the wide pro­
pagation of his worship and although Isis still remained 
chiefly a figure in the myth she became the type of 
wife and mother upon whom the people loved to dwell.

The original home of Osiris was Dedu, the Greek 
Busiris, but Abydos in upper Egypt was peculiarly 
sacred to him, his head being buried there.

The earliest Temples to these Gods were conceived 
as the dwelling houses of the Gods, hence their arrange­
ment probably conformed to that of a private house. 
Beyond a courtyard open to the sky and approached by 
a magnificent gateway rose a collonaded hall behind 
which were a series of small chambers, containing the 
furniture and implements for the temple services. The 
centre of the chambers in the rear was occupied by a 
small room, the sanctuary, in which stood a shrine 
hewn from one block of granite.

It contained the image of the God, a small figure 
of wood from 1ft. 6in. to 6ft. high, elaborately adorned 
and splendid with gold, silver and costly stones.

The service of the divinity who dwelt here consisted 
simply in furnishing him with those things which 
formed the necessities and luxuries of an Egyptian of 
wealth and rank at that time : plentiful food and drink, 
fine clothing,: music and the dance. The source of these 
offerings was the income from an endowment of lands 
established by the throne, as well as various contribu­
tions from the royal revenues in grain, oil, honey and 
the like. These contributions to the comfort and 
happiness of the lord of the temple while probably 
originally offered without ceremony, gradually became 
the occasion of an elaborate ritual which was essentially 
alike in all temples. Outside in the forecourt was the 
great altar where the people gathered on feast days, 
when they were permitted to share the generous food 
offerings, which ordinarily were eaten by the priests 
and servants of the temple after they had been pre­
sented to the God. These feasts, besides those marking 
times and seasons, were frequently commemorations of 
some important event in the story or myth of the God 
and on such occasions the priests brought forth the 
image in a portable shrine having the form of a small 
Nile boat. These temples are the great architectural 
achievements of Egypt.

In arrangement they represented the world as the 
Egyptians knew it, thus the flat roof, painted blue and 
studded with stars, represented the sky, the columns 
richly painted and decorated with plant forms repre­
sented the plants of the earth.

BABYLONIA.
This religion had a twofold character. On the one 

hand it admitted the existence of many divine powers 
who shared between them the Government of the world. 
On the other hand a dim perception had already been 
arrived at, probably through observation of the strictly 
regulated movements of the stars, of the presence of One 
Supreme ruling and directing power, directing these 
movements.

Such a perception was, of course, a step towards 
Monotheism, but it was too vague and remote to be 
fully realised and consistently carried out.



December, 1927. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD 09

The Gods were grouped in an ordered arrangement. 
Above the rest were placed two Triads, the first com­
prising ANU, EA and BEL, the Supreme Gods of all 
representing the God of Heaven, the God of Water and 
the God of Earth, whose task was to separate the 
elements of chaos and shape them into the forms which 
make up the world as we know it. The second Triad 
were Shamash the Sun, Sin the Moon and Raman, the 
Power of the Atmosphere.

In a third group of divinities we have the planets. 
The most popular of these were Marduk Jupiter and 
Ishtar Venus, whom we find worshipped at Babylon. 
Each of these planet Gods had a wife or in the case of 
Venus a husband, Dumuz, another name for the Sun.

And as all the Gods were in reality only different 
names and forms of the Supreme and unfathomable 
One BEL—the Lord— so all the goddesses represent only 
BELIT— the Lady, the great feminine principle of 
nature—productiveness, maternity—tenderness.

The priests, as depositories of Chaldean wisdom 
arrogated to themselves the power of reading the 
stars, of divination, and of interpreting the will of the 
Gods and for these astrologer priests, the towering Zig- 
gurats (holy mountains) were erected, in some cases 
attached to the palace, or, a.s at Babylon, erected in a 
sacred enclosure.

Herodotus describes one of these as follows :—
“The sacred precinct of Jupiter Belus was a square 

enclosure two furlongs each way, with gates of solid 
brass. In the middle of the precinct was a tower of 
solid masonry, a furlong in length and breadth, upon 
which was raised a. second tower and on that a third 
and so on up to eight. The ascent to the top is on the 
outside by a path which winds round all the tower. 
When one is about half way up, one finds a resting- 
place and seats where persons are wont to sit some 
time on their way to the summit. On the topmost 
tower there is a spacious temple and inside the temple 
stands a couch of unusual size, richly adorned, with 
a golden table by its side . . . There is no statue 
of any kind set up in this place.

Below, in the same precinct, there is a second 
temple in which is a seated figure of Jupiter Bel, all 
of gold. Before the figure stands a large golden table.

Outside the temple are two altars, one of solid 
gold, on which it is only lawful to offer sucklings, the 
other a common altar, but of great size on which full 
grown animals are sacrificed. It is also on this altar 
that the Chaldeans burn the frankincense.”

The Ziggurat, at Borsippa, (Birs Nimroud) exca­
vated by Sir H. Rawlinson, was 272 feet square and 
160 feet high. Four of the receding stories were 
traced and a record shows that there were seven in 
glazed brick of different colours dedicated to the seven 
heavenly planets. We cannot fail to connect these 
structures with the Bible story of the building of the 
Tower of Babel.

That most of the buildings in Babylonia were built 
of sun dried bricks faced with burnt bricks (in many 
cases glazed) accounts for the fact that these buildings 
have in the main totally disappeared.

PALESTINE.
The Temple at Jerusalem was built by King 

Solomon, about B.C. 967. The incomplete account given 
in the book of Kings may be supplemented by Ezekiel’s 
vision of the ideal temple which was almost certainly 
in part suggested by the real building at Jerusalem.

From his description a plan has been evolved by 
Monsieur Chipiez. The Temple appears to have con­
sisted of an inner core, the Holy of Holies, and 
Sanctuary; around this were subsidiary buildings 
devoted to the priests a.nd subsidiary offices of the 
Temple.

In front of the Sanctuary was the Court of the 
Priests in which stood the Altar of Burnt offerings 
and the Brazen sea. This court was entered by three 
great gateways on the North, East and South. Beyond 
this was the court of the Israelites which surrounded 
the Temple enclosure on three sides and surrounding the 
whole was the Court of the Gentiles. In general 
arrangement, therefore, it was not unlike the Egyptian 
Temples. The elevations were more problematical, but 
in this restoration all known precepts of Phoenician Art 
have been carefully followed. The great porch of the 
Sanctuary, 120 cubits or1 200 ft. high is in accord with 
the description in the second book of Chronicles, which 
has been considered a textual error, but is supported 
by the historian Josephus.

The building, we are told, was built of stone, the flat 
roofs being formed of cedar wood beams overlaid with 
planks and stone slabs a customary form of building in 
the east to-day.

The site of the Altar of Burnt offerings is now 
covered by a small mosque known as the Dome of the 
Rock or the Mosque of Omar.

GREECE.
Though religion in Greece did not take the same 

dominant and overpowering position which it took in 
Egypt and Babylonia yet the Greek of early times was 
in his way thoroughly religious.

Our earliest information about Greek religion is 
contained in the Homeric poems. Here we find a fully 
developed polytheism. The conception of divinity is 
strongly anthropomorphic. Zeus, the Father of Gods 
and men, Lord of the heavens and wielder of the 
Thunderbolt, sits enthroned on the heights of Mount 
Olympus, surrounded by the other Gods and Goddesses 
of the pantheon. These are to some extent specialised 
in function (e.g., Poseidon is the God of the sea, the 
earthquake and horses, Apollo of music, medicine, 
poetry and archery), but they are not rigidly limited 
in activity to their particular and appropriate sphere. 
Divinity is conceived on the analogy of human person­
ality, but its nature is fairer, nobler and more powerful 
than ours. The Gods are immortal, omniscient and 
almost omnipotent; almost, because from time to time 
there emerges a Fate which even the Gods cannot alter 
or evade. Their omnipotence is also qualified by the 
rival passions and jealousies which lead to conflicting 
interventions in human affairs, and the general, though 
not undisputed, authority over the other Gods which 
is assigned to Zeus, is not exercised with sufficient con­
sistency to prevent the frequent thwarting of the 
intentions of one God by another. Man is able to win



100 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December, 1927.

the favour and help of those powers by sacrifice and 
prayer. The sacrifices are banquets in which the wor­
shippers partake by eating the flesh of the victim.

Each tribe had its peculiar God which was often 
thought of as its divine ancestor.

As time went on the Gods were moulded ever more 
and more after the fashion of a refined and beautified 
humanity until they came too near the human level, 
and men in ceasing to look up to them ceased to believe 
in them and fell back upon the superstition of the pre- 
Hellenic ages and races or upon the reasoned theism of 
the philosophers. The whole beauty and all the history 
of Greek art belong to the great national movement 
which created an Olympus remarkable not for sub­
limity and awfulness but for human interest and 
aesthetic charm.

Greece is made up of rugged mountains divided by 
narrow valleys and little plains, the works of man 
occupying but a small space in the landscape. The 
Greek himself, with wonderful keen senses and pro­
found appreciation of his surroundings, would be 
instinctively, if not consciously, averse from introduc­
ing into the landscape what would be out of harmony 
with its lines. To local influences, therefore, are 
largely due the smallness of most temples, the rigid 
lines of their construction, their close dependence on 
stone and marble as materials.

Even more clearly stamped upon all Greek build­
ings than the influence of place is the influence of the 
character of the Greek race. M. Boutmy has emphasized 
with great force the fact that the Greek temple could 
only have arisen among a race in which the senses were 
acute and active, and the mind of a very clear and 
logical order. It is a triumph of the senses and the 
intellect, in every part inviting close examination and 
in every part showing definite purpose and design. 
When we examine its parts in detail, we find the 
principles of reason dominating them all. Herein 
again we may contrast it with the religious buildings 
of the Nile and the Tigris, where so much is vague and 
suggestive, so much traditional and instinctive. The 
Greek was predominantly a rationalist and an observer.

The temple, as I said, was invented or grew up 
at a time when the Gods had been thoroughly 
humanised. The God or his accepted surrogate, the 
image, dwelt in a temple as the king dwelt in his hall 
or megaron and the forms of the temple repeat in the 
main, but in an enlarged and beautified manner, the 
forms of the palace.

The building usually consisted of three parts of 
which, by far the most important was the Celia, where­
in stood the statue of the deity, the jewel for which 
the whole temple was but an ornamented shrine or box. 
Smaller chambers in front and behind, the pronaos and 
opisthodomus, were used chiefly for the storage of the 
sacrificial vessels belonging to the service of the deity 
and all sorts of objects of value which were dedicated 
to him. Outside the Celia with its dependencies were 
the porches of approach and often a corridor surrounded 
by columns running all round the edifice.

The Celia was primarily the abode of the deity, 
there being no congregational worship.

The festivals and processions of the city took place 
outside the temples, though often within the sacred 
temenos or enclosure.

The chief deity of each city (Athena at Athens), 
represented that city in embodied ideal form and was 
scarcely to be distinguished from the personification of 
the city itself.

In their architecture the Greek eye demanded 
symmetry or beautiful proportions and rhythm or a 
beautiful relation of part to part. The subject of these 
proportions is a very complicated one, but the unit 
of measure appears to have been the diameter of the 
column: the dimensions of all parts were worked out 
on this basis as the proportions of the human body 
were worked out on the basis of the palm or breadth 
of the hand.

ROME.
The Roman religion in its origin was that of a 

simple agricultural community. It had two chief 
characteristics—it was intensely practical and found 
expression in specific acts, each performed to achieve 
a certain result; and it was indefinite and vague in 
its conception of the divine nature which these acts 
were designed to approach and appease. We are per­
haps accustomed to think of the Roman Gods as clearly 
defined personages with human shapes and characters : 
but this is due to the fact that early in their history the 
Romans came in contact with the religious art of the 
Greeks who represented their Gods as persons and made 
statues and pictures of them and provided them with 
individual characters and histories. The Greek Gods 
made a strong and definite appeal to the imagination 
and thus they have usurped, in literature and popular 
ideas the place of the Roman divinities with their 
vaguer shapes and less personal qualities, though 
curiously enough we commonly use the Roman rather 
than the Greek names.

One might almost say that in the beginning there 
were no Gods in Roman religion. It thought not so 
much of persons as of powers, vague beings which acted 
unseen and mysterious upon the life of man ; they could 
be induced to help or at least to refrain from injuring 
him and the community devised elaborate means o f 
keeping on good terms with them.

These acts being regularly performed, the Roman 
farmer kept his mind easy, and was not much inclined 
to enquire further about the nature of the powers, or 
to try to have any spiritual communion with them.

But the rites were, of course, based upon some kind 
of belief and the belief was slowly developed into some­
thing that can be called theology.

The powers were named and thus they began to 
assume the character of persons. Later on, the con­
tact with Greek religion led to comparison and the 
identification of the Gods of the one system with those 
of the other, especially as Roman literature and art 
began to develop by imitating the Greek modes of 
expression both in words and in the creation of shapes 
to touch and see.

The Gods, then, or spirits, or unseen powers^—by 
whatever term we may best describe the Roman notion 
— were conceived to be present and active at every 
point of human life, and from the earliest times there 
grew up a complex system of observances and beliefs 
as the Roman household in the first instance and the 
Roman state in the second, sought to adjust their 
relations with those invisible neighbours. The religion



December, 1927. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

then begins with the household and upon the house­
hold religion that of the State is in many respects 
modelled. The primary religious unit is the family. 
The oldest and most intimate Gods of the Romans were 
those that connected with the objects which make up 
a home.

The domestic hearth has its kindly fire-spirit Vesta, 
the storeroom is guarded by the Penates and the door 
is the charge of Janus.

The family itself is watched over by the Genius or 
life spirit of the father and the fields from which the 
food comes have their Lax.

There was also a crowd of other spirits connected 
with the ordinary interests and events of life. Mars— 
war ; Jupiter—the sky with his consort Juno— Minerva 
patroness of crafts and craftsmen.

The Religion of the State, as has been said, was 
rooted in that of the household. The State like the 
household has its hearth where the fire of Vesta burns 
continually: the king stands in the place of the house­
father to mediate between citizens and Gods : he is the 
guardian of the maidens who, as daughters of the State 
tend the sacred fire—the Vestal virgins. The door God 
o f the family becomes the Janus of the State, who 
presides over the opening year—the first month being 
called by his name, Januarius.

The principal religious buildings are not only 
temples as in Greece, but also public buildings which 
were the material expression of Roman rule and 
Imperial power.

Roman temples are an amalgamation of Etruscan 
and Greek types—the Greek Celia, in some cases sur­
rounded by the peristyle or with the deep Etruscan 
portico.

The Etruscan arch, vault and dome were combined 
with the column and beam system of construction of 
the Greeks.

The circular form of temple dedicated to Vesta 
culminated in the great Pantheon at Rome.

CHRISTIANITY.
The earliest known Christian Churches were 

evolved either from the Roman basilicas or halls of 
justice or from the Roman dwelling houses where the 
community had been in the habit of assembling or from 
the Scholae or lecture rooms of the philosophers. These 
basilicas lent themselves to congregational worship and 
when Christianity became the official religion of the 
Roman State many churches of this type were erected, 
often over the burial place of the saint to whom they 
were dedicated. Immediately over this burial place,j 
crypt, or confessio was the High Altar.

This type of building was developed in Italy and 
spread through western Europe culminating in the 
great Cathedrals of the 13th and 14th centuries, the 
general arrangement of nave, aisles, transepts and 
sanctuary being maintained. Each country developed 
its own type. France, lofty with two western towers 
and a, semi-circular east end (e.g., Rheims, Amiens), 
England, long and low with two western towers, a 
central spire and square east end following the early 
Saxon Type (e.g., Salisbury, Canterbury, etc.). Ger­
many, with its apse and round towers, etc.

East of Rome, another type of church was 
developed, modelled on Asiatic forms, in which the dome 
predominates, the greatest example of this type being 
S. Sophia, at Constantinople.

With the Renaissance in Italy a return to classic 
forms resulted in churches being erected modelled on the 
great vaulted Roman basilicas, in combination with the 
Byzantine dome, e.g.,, S. Peter’s Rome, the greatest 
Les Invalides and The Pantheon, Paris, and St. Paul’s, 
London.

(To be concluded.)

CONTEM PORARY ARCHITECTURAL MAGAZINES.

The Architectural Review still maintains its high 
standard as an historic record with carefully chosen 
illustrations and its excellent supplement on Craftsman­
ship.

In the September issue there appears an article 
on Dorchester House, Park Lane, London, described as 
the finest private house in London, and possessing 
rooms which few Italian palaces can rival.

This building, which is certainly comparable with 
the finest buildings of the Italian Renaissance, is now 
threatened with demolition. It was designed by Lewis 
Vulliamy, a little known but scholarly architect, and 
decorated by Alfred Stevens, the famous sculptor, and 
“ if it were in Paris,” says the writer, “the French 
Government would have acquired it and made it a 
National Monument. Apart from the excellencies of 
the design and construction, it is the shrine, so to speak, 
o f the greatest sculptor England has ever produced.”

In the same number some interesting Spanish 
bridges and aqueducts are illustrated and a modern 
Spanish bodega or wine warehouse under construction.

The methods adopted in the latter are worthy of study. 
The roof is carried on a series of concrete arches, sup­
ported by brick piers between which the walls are con­
structed with pise de ter re, or tapia, as it is called 
locally, reinforced with courses of brick. A light wooden 
centering is used to support a layer of thin flat bricks 
on the top of which the concrete is trowelled. The con­
crete is retained in position by bricks set vertically 
on either side of the arch, and the arch is reinforced 
with a tie rod. When the centering is removed the 
bricks remain in position and form the underside of 
the arch.

Sir Robert Lorimer’s Scottish National War Mem­
orial is also well illustrated and described. In the 
October issue there are some interesting pictures of 
Sturry Court, the home of the late Lord Milner.

Of particular interest is the great fourteenth 
century barn for the sake of which, it is said, Lord 
Milner bought the property. A water colour drawing 
by Kenneth Hobson gives one some idea of the fine



102 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December, 1927.

interior, 160 feet long, with its great open timber roof 
of extremely simple design. Sin Reginald Blomfield is 
mainly responsible for the restorations of thê  buildings 
which originally belonged to the Abbey of St. Augus­
tine, Canterbury.

In the November issue appear a number of simple 
pencil sketches, by John Briarfield, of English cottage 
groups, selected for the massing from various countries. 
These sketches make one realise the great value of 
massing in design. The article is prefaced  ̂ by an 
extract from a speech by Mr. Stanley Baldwin in which 
he says : “Nothing is more characteristic of England’s 
countryside than the cottage homes which, for century 
upon century, have sheltered her sturdy sons of the 
soil . . . They are part of our country, part of our 
inheritance, part of our national life. No other country 
in the world has anything to compare with them. Ought 
we not, then, to be proud of them, to protect them 
to do everything in our power to save them from 
decay ?”

An article by Walter H. Godfrey on Crosby Place 
gives a brief history of Crosby Hall, well illustrated 
by photographs.

The Architects Journal, of October 26th, has a 
special article on Otto Wagner, the famous Austrian 
architect, whose work shows such a decided break from 
tradition.

As the writer puts it “He was aware, however, 
that architecture, monumentally effective as it might 
he under the hand of Schinkel . . . was tending more 
and more to stagnate in formal traditionalism, and to 
lose all sense of practical function. He realised that 
the customs of the nineteenth century were no longer 
those of the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, and that 
new conditions and new materials demanded a new 
form of expression.”

In this respect and illustrating the modern ten­
dency in European architecture it is interesing to note 
that Corbussier’s “Vers une Architecture” has been 
translated into English after passing through 13 
editions in France. It is reviewed in the Architects 
Journal, of September 21st. “ It will be interesting, 
says the writer, “to watch the effects of the translation 
on our Schools of Architecture.”

The Architectural Forum for September is a special 
number dealing with public buildings being Part II 
of this series.

The first part of this issue deals with the design 
of auditoriums and is well illustrated with plans and 
photographs.

Other articles deal with the Acoustics of Auditor­
iums, Community Buildings, the design of Public Baths 
and Public conveniences. It forms a useful reference 
number for architects.

BOOK REVIEWS.

ARCHITECTURAL CONSTRUCTION, by Walter C. Boss and 
Edward A. Varney. Book 2.— Steel Construction. Chapman £  
H all, Ltd., Henrietta Street, London. 50j-

This volume gives a general view of the funda­
mental principles of the design and construction of all 
types of steel construction.

An attempt has been made by the authors to out­
line in simple fashion those features of engineering 
which the architect might well command as part of his 
general knowledge. The work outlines very compre­
hensively the steel work in most types of structures. 
It is well illustrated with designs and examples and 
typical instances of detailed designs are given.

The chapters dealing with wind-bracing cover much 
ground and deal with many problems not found in other
text-books. . ,

The portion dealing with miscellaneous trusses and 
domes is well thought out and detailed in a practical 
manner. A portion of the book is devoted to floor 
construction both in steel and reinforced concrete and 
many types are given of the latest practice of hollow
floors. . . n ,

Not only is the book interesting and very useful, 
but the clear and neatly executed illustrations add to
the pleasure of perusing it. , 1

Although in the preface it is stated that the volume 
is written with the object of bringing about closer 
co-operation between the architect and the engineer, 
the book is undoubtedly written for the engineer and 
the nature o f the mathematics used is such that a 
thorough knowledge of the general principles ot 
mechanics is necessary to digest the examples which 
have been given, although there are many items which 
will undoubtedly be of great help ^  the ar^itrc .

G. A. GEAKKrj.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT ROME, by Anderson and 
Spiers. Revised and rewritten by Dr. T. Ashby, late Director of 
the British School at Borne. B. T. Batsford, Ltd,. 94, High 
Holborn, London. 211-

When Dr. Ashby told me, in 1913, that he was 
rewriting Anderson & Spiers’ “History of Ancient 
Rome,” I little thought that he was setting about to 
eclipse Vitruvius. As a result of his contribution, we 
are no longer confined to a superficial review of the 
larger Monuments of Rome, but are brought into in­
timate touch with the Roman Architect in all his moods.

The new Edition is profusely and beautifully 
illustrated and embodies a treatise on every phase of 
Roman Architecture, commencing with the Primitive 
Architecture of the Etruvia and other parts of Italy, 
and carrying us through subsequent developments from 
the third Century, B.C., to the first Century, B.C. 
Separate Chapters a.re devoted to Roman methods of 
construction and orders, Temples, Basilicas, Theatres 
and Amphi-theatres, Thermae, Arches of Triumph, 
Aqueducts, Bridges and Towns, Palaces and Houses, and 
lastly the condition of private life among the Romans.

Thus we are introduced, first to the Cyclopian walls 
at Ferentino, and then to the more cultured ones at 
Falerii.

We welcome the inclusion of numerous illustrations 
of such Monuments as the Temple of Minerva Medica 
and the Tor de Schiavi; we are impressed by the 
weather beaten ruins of the podium of the Temple of 
Jupiter at Terracina, and the rugged walls enclosing 
the Forum of Augustus. It would seem as though 
Dr. Ashby refused to pander to the Gallery by selecting 
only those illustrations that would impress the glories 
of Ancient Rome upon the mind of the uninitiated.



December, 1927. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD 103

Hadrian’s wonderful Villa appears in these pages. 
Here we get a glimpse of what still remains—we could 
wish for a larger plan of this wonderful conception; 
indeed one feels that it was within Dr. Ashby’s powers 
to write a complete book on the subject matter con­
tained in each Chapter of the Volume in Review.

In addition to the Photographs, numerous measured 
and reconstructed drawings by Students of Rome are 
reproduced. It is a real live book, written with an 
intimacy that is both inspiring and convincing. No 
Architectural Student should be without this splendid 
Classic, and Dr. Ashby is to be congratulated and 
thanked for giving the Profession the nearest thing to 
a travelling Studentship in Rome.

GORDON LEITH.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT GREECE, by Anderson and 
Spiers. Revised and rewritten by W. B. Dinsmoor. B .T . Bats- 
ford, Ltd., 94, High Holborn, London. 211~ nett.

Since the appearance of the original Edition of 
Anderson & Spiers’ “ Architecture of Greece and Rome,' 
the discoveries made by Sir Arthur Evans,, at ,Crete, 
have made it necessary to entirely revise the first 
Chapter of the Book, and to place the date of the 
original Architecture in Greece to be something like 
8,000 years B.C.

Thus the Student of to-day may see a Plan of the 
Domestic Quarters of the Palace at Cnossus ; he may 
compare the shafts and capitals of the old Minoans 
with those of the Hellenic period. The History and 
traditions of Ancient Greece are now clearly described

and laid before us in a beautiful Volume published by 
B. T. Batsford, of London. Like its Sister Volume on 
Rome, the History of Ancient Greece is beautifully and 
profusely illustrated ; the illustration of the Lion Gate­
way, at Mycenae, is an inspiration to behold, while the 
Cyclopian Gallery, at Tyruns, and the tomb of Clytem- 
nestra, at Mycenae, provided us with food for thought. 
Mr. Dinsmoor tells the story of these Monuments in a 
simple and interesting way and does not limit his 
readers to the few hackneyed subjects that one asso­
ciates with most Text Books on the Architecture of 
Greece. One rejoices to see a comprehensive plan of 
the Lesser Propylea, at Eleusis, and to set eyes upon 
the beautiful Theatre at Epidaurus. The A'tar of 
Zeus, at Pergamus, is also reproduced and stimulates 
ones desire to see and know more of this wonderful 
work.

Recent discoveries have made it possible to repro­
duce a Plan of no less than 10 Greco-Roman houses, 
some of them of modest dimensions and admirably 
suited to our own conditions of living in South Africa.

Mr. Dinsmoor’s contribution to the original work 
brings us very near to Greece, although we are aware 
that no camera or pen can reproduce the individual 
charm which each block of Marble imparts to the 
observer, nor can these mediums convey to the reader 
the stereoscopic values that appear so pronounced in 
the atmosphere of fair Greece, nevertheless, if we can­
not go to Greece, we can at least get into close touch 
with her, through this fascinating volume. It is 
undoubtedly a Classic, which should be in the possession 
of every Student of Architecture.

GORDON LEITH.

PROFESSIONAL NEWS.

THE INSTITUTE OF SOUTH AFRICAN 
ARCHITECTS.

THE INAUGURAL BOARD.

On the 20th June, 1927, the Architects’ and Quan­
tity Surveyors’ (Private) Act No. 18, of 1927, published 
in extenso in the June, 1927, issue of the Record, 
was Gazetted and duly became law (Government 
Gazette Extraordinary, No. 1638).

Under Section Eight the Act provides that the 
Minister for the Interior may appoint an Inaugural 
Board of not more than seven members, two of whom 
shall be practising Architects and one a practising 
Quantity Surveyor.

In Government Gazette, No. 1646, published on 
the 8th July, 1927, the Minister issued the following 
order:—

It is hereby notified for general information 
that the Minister of the Interior has appointed the 
undermentioned gentlemen to be the Inaugural 
Board in terms of Section Eight of the Architects 
and Quantity Surveyors’ (Private) Act, 1927 :—

Dr. H. Reitz, M.L.A.
J. Allen, Esq., M.L.A.
H. Oost, Esq., M.L.A.
A. T. Babbs, Esq., F.S.I.
D. M. Burton, Esq., F.R.I.B.A., M.R. San. Inst-
J. S. Cleland, Esq., F.R.I.B.A.
R. Howden, Esq., F.R.I.B.A.

At the first meeting of the Board, Dr. Hjalmar 
Reitz, M.L.A., was elected chairman, Mr. Robert How­
den, Vice-Chairman, and Mr. Murray K. Carpenter, Sec­
retary. The Board proceeded to frame regulations 
under the Act and with the advice and experience 
freely given by the four Provincial Institutes and the 
Chapter, has completed this portion of its work, and has 
forwarded to the Minister a complete set of regulations 
which will provide the Institute with a. complete adden­
dum to the Act.

Following acceptance by the Minister these regula­
tions will be published in the Government Gazette, 
and laid on the table of both Houses of Parliament. 
After a lapse of one month after the copies have 
been laid before Parliment, the regulations shall have 
the force of law. This will most probably be early 
in March, 1928.

The Board opened a register; and roll in terms of 
Section 10 and 13 of the Act. Up to the 30th November, 
the Board has made the following registrations and en­
rolments : Registrations Total 316 ; allocated, the Cape 
Provincial Institute 58 ; O.F.S. Provincial Institute 8 ; 
The Natal Provincial Institute 36 ; The Transvaal Pro­
vincial Institute 214.

Enrolments, 63.
Further registrations and enrolments will be made 

by the Board up to the 20th December, 1927.
The Board has adopted a Seal for the Institute in 

accordance with the accompanying design. This Seal 
will be used on the certificates of registration and mem­
bership to be issued to members at an early date.



104 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December, 1927.

As soon as the regulations have been assented to 
by Parliament, the incoming Central Council will doubt­
less issue same in printed form, together with a copy 
of the Act to each member of the Institute.

CHAPTER OF QUANTITY SURVEYORS.

Minutes of the Sixth Council Meeting, 1927, Session, 
held at the Scientific and Technical Club, Johannes­
burg, on Tuesday, 16th August, 1927,. at 3 p.m.

Present.— Messrs. E. B. Farrow (President), H. 
Rowe-Rowe (Vice-President), F. D. Hickman, G. E. 
Howgrave-Graham, D. J. Laing, T. Moore, Lt.-Col. W.
E. Puntis and A. M. Loots Secretary.

Apologies for absence were tendered on behalf of 
Messrs. A. W. Springthorpe and H. Bell-John, who was 
away on business.

Minutes of Fifth Council Meeting, 1927, Session, 
were taken as read and confirmed.

Mr. H. Rowe-Rowe, thanked the Council for their 
vote of sympathy passed at the last meeting in con­
nection with his recent motor accident.

Seymour Memorial Library.—A letter was read 
from the A.S. & T.S., asking for the Council to support 
a resolution to be transmitted to the Town Clerk, 
Johannesburg, by the Associated Societies, as follows :—

(a) In order to increase the usefulness of the 
Library, facilities be given for the lending out of 
books to responsible persons, and

(b) A committee representative of various 
technical Societies be formed to assist the Public 
Library Committee of the Municipal Council.
Decided to support the above resolution and the 

Secretary to write to the Town Clerk accordingly.

Education Commission.—The Secretary’s letter to 
the Joint Matriculation Board, dated 28th July, 1927, 
was read as well a,s the latter’s reply of the 2nd August, 
1927. It would appear from the latter that the Board 
were prepared to request the Surveyor’s Institution 
to accept the S.A. Matriculation Certificate as 
equivalent to the Institution’s preliminary examination 
or its substitutes.

Revision of Standard System.—A letter from Mr. 
J. Wl. Cowling addressed to the President was read 
suggesting that an Extraordinary General Meeting be 
called to give assent to the revisions of the Standard 
System. This was fully discussed and the Secretary 
instructed to reply to Mr. Cowling that after full dis­
cussion the Council had come to the conclusion, that 
the present revision was a small concern compared with 
the compilation of the original System and as the revis­
ions had been discussed at great length by the full 
Council before unanimity was reached they saw no good 
reason for calling an Extraordinary General Meeting- 
in connection with the matter. Amendments to the 
present System and revisions could always be brought 
forward by members for consideration at any future 
date.

Architects and Quantity Surveyors’ Act.—Letters 
were read from the Inaugural Board as Under :—

(a) Dated 10th August, 1927, having reference 
to the Chapter’s title and advertisements for en­
rolment.

(b) Dated 10th May, 1927, regarding proposed 
competition for a Seal of the Institute.

(c) Dated 13th August, 1927, relating to 
applications for enrolment and their subsequent 
rejection.
The Secretary was instructed to draw the attention 

of all members to the notice appearing in Government 
Gazette, No. 1651, and to advise them to register before 
December, 21st 1927 ; also if possible to obtain about 50 
pulled off copies from the Government Printer of the 
Notice in question through the Secretary of the In­
augural Board and to forward one to every member.

Further that a reply be sent to the Inaugural Board 
that the present Board was getting into communication 
with all the old Institutes’ members and advising them 
to register, but beyond that it did not intend consider­
ing any further advertisement at present.

With regard to the proposed Seal for the Institute 
of Architects, the following resolution was passed 
unanimously, viz. :

“That the Inaugural Board be asked to make 
provision for a separate seal of the Chapter.” 

and the Secretary was instructed to advise the In­
augural Board accordingly.

Mr. Babbs drew attention to several important 
alterations made by the Union Executive Committee in 
their latest revised draft rules and regulations and a 
long discussion ensued.

Mr. Rowe-Rowe drew the Meeting’s attention to 
the fact that in all articles in the Cape Town Journal, 
the Architect, Builder & Engineer, the Act was cited as 
“The Architects’ Act,” and no mention ever made of 
Quantity Surveyors. He suggested that the Sec­
retary write officially to the Editor pointing out that 
the act was known as “The Architects and Quantity 
Surveyors (Private) Act of 1927,” which was agreed. 

This concluded the business of the Meeting.



December, 1927. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD 105

DURBAN NOTES.

After months of inactivity in the more important 
building schemes of the town, a start has been made 
in clearing the site for new premises and offices for the 
South African Permanent Building Society.

The new building will be at the corner of Smith 
Street and Mercury Lane, from designs by Messrs. 
Ing and Jackson, F. & A.R.I.B.A., of Durban. The 
Smith Street Facade is a pleasing and well balanced 
design in modern Renaissance, and will add another 
inspiring front to this busy portion of the town.

The New Standard Bank, at the West Street end 
of Mercury Lane is approaching the third storey on 
the West Street front. This Facade is being executed 
in Pretoria granite. The Architect is Mr. W. G. Moffat,
F.R.I.B.A.

A new office building for the Yorkshire Insurance 
Co., Ltd., will shortly be commenced at the corner of 
Smith and Field Streets, on portion of the site acquired 
by Messrs. Stuttafords, and adjoining their new Store 
and Show Rooms, which extend from West Street. 
Messsrs. Street, Wilson and Paton, F.F.R.I.B.A., are the 
Architects and the lowest tender, £78,660 submitted 
by Messrs. D. Burns & Co., has been accepted.

Mr, W. G. Moffat, F.R.I.B.A., left by the Mail 
Steamer, Balmoral Castle, for a health trip and a few 
weeks in England.

E.M.P.

NOTES AND NEWS.

In the article on “The Castle, Capetown,” which 
appeared in the last issue of this journal, it is regretted 
by the author, Rev. F. W. Mullins, that due acknow­
ledgement was not made of his indebtedness to Miss 
Dorothea Fairbridge’s book, ‘ ‘Historical Houses of 
South Africa,” for some of the historical data con­
tained therein.

Mr. Horace Fyvie has been elected an Associate of 
the Royal Institute of British Architects, and has re­

signed from the Public Works Department to enter into 
partnership with Mr. Rhodes Harrison, at Board of 
Executors Building, Maitland Street, Bloemfontein.

In an endeavour to perpetuate the memory of the 
late Mn George Ness, the South African Institute of 
Art propose to institute an Art. Scholarship to be called 
the “Ness Bursary,” which is to be available for 
Students specialising in Art Metal Work, at the Johan­
nesburg School of Arts and Crafts.

With this object in view subscription lists have 
been circulated by the Hon. Secretary, Mr. A. Winter 
Moore, of the School of Art, King George Street, Johan- 
nsburg, to whom all donations should be sent. It is 
hoped that this appeal will meet with a ready rtesponse 
and that the promoters will at an early date, be able 
to indicate the lines upon which the proposed bursary 
will be awarded.

Mr. D. A. McCubbin, Chief Railway Architect, 
Johannesburg, Mr. J. G. Hudson Holgate, of the Public 
Works Department, Pretoria, and Mr. Phillip E. Treeby, 
of Commercial Exchange Buildings, Main Street, Johan­
nesburg, have been elected Fellows of the Royal Insti­
tute of British Architects.

The next annual Exhibition of Works of Art and 
the Crafts of the South African Academy (The Trans­
vaal Provincial Institute of Architects promoters) will 
be held at Johannesburg, during May, 1928. The Hon. 
Secretary, P.O. Box 2266, Johannesburg, will be pleased 
to answer any enquiries respecting the Exhibition.

We hegret to have to record the death of Mr. Cecil 
Alder, a member, and the first registrar of the Asso­
ciation of Transvaal Architects.

It is understood that two lady Architects have been 
registered by the Inaugural Board under the New Act, 
one in the Province of Natal and the second in the 
Transvaal Province.

Mesrs. R. E. Jackson, of Ing and Jackson, Holt’s 
Buildings, Durban, G. E. Le Sueur and C. H. N. Merri- 
field, of Capetown, and William Mollison, F. W. Mullins, 
D. J. Parr, of the Public Wbrks Department, Pretoria, 
have been elected Associate members of the Royal Insti­
tute of British Architects.

LIST OF MEMBERS.

The following 98 persons ha,ve been elected to membership of the Transvaal Provincial Institute of South 
African Architects.

N A M E .

Aldwinckle H. J. 
Asmond, W. P. 
Bailey, W. C. P. 
Beisly, P. S. 
Chandler, A., H. 
Chapman, A. L.
Cohen,M..............
Cole-Bowen, R. E. 
Collins, H. A. 
Cook, A. F. R. 
Cooper, J. R. 
Crothall, C. J.

B ox  N o. A D D R E S S .
718 Johannesburg.
— Public Works Department, Union Buildings, Pretoria.
—  Public Works Department, Pretoria.

2 Randfontein.
—  Room 114, Union Buildings, Fretoria.

442 Johannesburg.
—  170, Loveday Street, Johannesburg.
—  722, Park Street, Arcadia, Pretoria.
—  Warrington House, Nugget Street, Johannesburg.
— 41, Beresford House, Johannesburg.
— 42, Garden Road, Orchards, Johannesburg.
— 70, Mons Road Observatory, Johannesburg.



106 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD December, 1927.

N A M E . Box No. A D D R E S S .
Davie, W....................... — Public Works Department, Pretoria.
Day, J. E. T ...............  — 185 Pietersburg, Transvaal.
Drummond, A. L. .. — 760, Schoeman Street, Pretoria.
Edmeades, A. 0. — 17, Denbigh Road, Parkwood, Johannesburg.
Edwards (Miss), N. — 86, Marathon Street, Kensington, Johannesburg.
Elk, L ...........................  — 17 Pretoria.
Fleischmann, E. W. .. — Public Works Department, Pretoria.
Fort, H......................... — Criterion Chambers, Benoni.
Fraser, A. C................ — 152, Kitchener Avenue, Kensington Johannesburg.
Fripp, G. U................ — 143, Joubert Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria.
Gaw, J.......................... 777 Johannesburg.
Gernholtz, C. A. P. .. — 280, Schoeman Street, Pretoria.
Gibbs, J. R................... 4492 Johannesburg.
Gibbs, W. D................ 4963 Johannesburg.
Goldstein, M. — 28, Connaught Building, Pretoria.
Graham, J. 160 Brakpan.
Greer, L. M................ — 3, Greef Street, Pretoria.
Grinker, L ................... — Jubilee Lodge, 94, St. George’s Street, Bloemfontein.
Grubb, E...................... — 145 Germiston.
Gunderson, G. A. — 2, Bellevue Street, Troyeville, Johannesburg.
Hall, G. H.................... — — 22