THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD THE JOURNAL OF THE TRANSVAAL, NATAL AND ORANGE FREE STATE PROVINCIAL INSTITUTES OF SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTS AND THE CHAPTER OF SOUTH AFRICAN QUANTITY SURVEYORS. Vol. X I11. No. 49. MARCH, 1928 CONTENTS. The Old Domestic Architecture of Cape Town. By Charles H. N. Merrifield page 3 11 11 — 12 Herhert Meyerowitz. By G. E. Pearse 13 New Church at Kensington Professional News : The Institute of South African Architects. Transvaal Provincial Institute ... 11— 17 The Chapter of South African Quantity Surveyors 18— 20 Notes and News 20 Carnegie Gift to the W itw ate^a^l I. ni ,-orsity School of Architecture 20—21 T he Temples of the Gods. By G. E. Pearse 22—24 Dengue F ever and Defective Gutterings. By F. G. Cawston, M.D., Cantab. ••• 21— 25 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 o f acceptance. The name and address o f 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. Annual Subscribtion per post 5s., direct from the Business Manager. Hon. Editor—A. Stanley Furner. Business Manager—Murray K. Carpenter. 67, Exploration Buildings, Commissioner Street, Johannesburg. P.O. Box 2266. ’Phone 5821. ENTRANCE DOORS AND FANLIGHT Walgate & Elsworth, AT “ MYMERING,” MUIZENBERG. Architects. An Article on Mr. Meyerowitz appears on Page 11. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD THE OLD DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF CAPE TOWN. CHARLES H. N. MERRIFIELD. The period of Architectural development known plastered gables and cast cement columns which have long since lost all resemblance to their European pro­ as ‘Cape Dutch” has formed the subject of several totypes, reproduced ad nauseam over the length and writers’ appreciation and praise, but in the main infoi- breadth of the country ; intruding like an insidious mation to be gleaned from a study of their works, growth into the towns, details which have long since while of great interest to the dilettante and amateur, lost all bea.uty of form and suitability of purpose in affording a great fund of information upon the his­ the process of slavish copyism through which they torical, sentimental and even legendary association of have passed. The style of the buildings of which individual examples, is of comparatively little value this paper treats might, if developed to its logical con­ as an accurate record of the Architecture of the period clusion, form a sound basis upon which a modem or a chronologically consistent review of the develop­ South African style might be built. ment of the style. While valuable work has been done among the Farmhouses or Homesteads in the The simple charm of these old houses has much surrounding districts and measured drawings of the to recommend them and the motifs used in their design more important examples are available, the domestic are admirably suited to - present day requirements architecture of Cape Town itself has been allowed to where directness and simplffeity are the key-notes set languish in neglect for a long period of time dui ing by economic necessity. which many of the finest examples of the period have The history with which we are concerned may be been swept away to make room for the modern deve­ taken as from the end of Simon Van der Stel’s term lopment of the City, which, situated on a site of un­ of office in 1699, to the end of the first British Occupa­ rivalled beauty but with severely limited room for tion in 1803, when the Cape reverted to the Batavian expansion, has no predetermined town plan governing Republic by the Treaty of Amiens. the City’s development. The best and most charactei- The period opens with Adriaan Van der Stel’s istic work was done during the eighteenth and the term of office eleven years after the landing of William beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Of the few of Orange in England. The new Governor, son of remaining examples of the period, there is still suf­ Simon Van der Stel, was like his father, an able man ficient material worthy of comprehensive study and though something of an autocrat. He was keenly record. While it is impossible to deal adequately interested in the development of the Colony, an object with the subject within the limits of this thesis, the for which he worked with great zeal and enthusiasm author intends that it should be a general survey and. to further. He, however, unfortunately became ex­ an appreciation of this neglected period ; there is still tremely unpopular with the Settlers, who complained much to be done, for it is unthinkable that we should that he was mean and avaricious and attempted to fail to embrace the opportunity to preserve by play the “master over all.” The story of his down­ accurate data and records these charming fragments of fall is too well-known to be repeated ; he was recalled a virile Urban Architecture against the da,y when the in 1707. As a result of this upheaval the Council rapidly disappearing tangible forms shall have finally of Seventeen ordered that their officials should not passed beyond our ken. have land larger than a garden or engage in trade. A There are some who deny that “Cape Dutch” has virulent epidemic of smallpox broke out in 1713 carry­ any claim to survive, arguing that it is merely an in­ ing off one-fourth of the population. This occurred different off-shoot of the Flemish Renaissance with between the death of the Governor Louis Van Pletten- rather more than a hint of rococo in its detail; and burg, 1708-1711, and the arrival of Governor d.e who in the same breath cry aloud for a “ National Chavonnes in 1714. There is little of importance to Style” indigenous to the country, expressing the needs record of this period, 1714-1724, The Governor laid of modern life, social and civic, taking account of the foundation stone of the Chavonnes Battery in climatic conditions and the possibilities of local 1715, and in 1716 news of the death of Louis XIV was materials. At the present time the chief outward brought by the ships from Holland. Chavonnes died and visible signs of their philosophy consist of curved in 1724 and was succeeded by Pieter Gysbert Noort, J THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD Mar dh, 1928. 1727-1729. The .Chief Merchant de la Fontaine be­ During this war the Company suffered such severe came Governor in 1730, and retired to Holland in 1736. losses that it ceased to pay dividends and became A violent storm in 1737 resulted in the loss of eight greatly embarrassed; paper money was issued but Indianmen at that time anchored in Table Bay. gradually declined in value until the Rijksdaalder, Hendrik Swellengrebel was appointed Governor in 1739 originally equal to about four shillings, was worth and held office until 1751. The chief events of this only eighteenpence. period were the building of churches at Tulbagh The sudden influx of such a large body of French and Malmesbury, in 1743, and the formation of the troops to garrison the Cape appears to have had a district of Swellendam, in 1746. profound influence upon the architecture and the mode It was about this time that the decline in the of living ; the change can be distinctly traced in the power of the Dutch East India Company resulted in character of the detail, the plaster enrichments and a change of policy which had a far-reaching effect upon the modelling ; and it is very probable that at any rate the history of the Cape. Foreign ships were now in Cape Town and the vicinity, the features so often welcome and every possible opportunity for trade was attributed to the influence of the Huguenots who seized upon to counteract the rapidly diminishing arrived in 1688 in reality belong to this period. profits, and the population as a result of this reversal Further evidence may be deduced from a consider­ of policy became thoroughly cosmopolitan. Swellen­ ation of the treatment of the Huguenots upon their grebel was succeeded by Ryk Tulbagh in 1751 and for arrival. Simon Van der Stel was Governor at that twenty years the country enjoyed an unparalleled pros­ time and had very little sympathy with the new perity. The Cape, now an open port, became an in­ arrivals ; they were given land in the then new district valuable source for the supply of fresh provisions to of Drakenstein and at Fransche Hoek, situated about the English and French Indiamen. In addition to forty miles from Cape Town by road. The Company this, bribery and official trading, which had caused had given instructions that they should, as much as such discontent among the people for many years, were possible, be mixed with the Dutch Colonists and the forbidden and the taxes were light. In 1755 the children taught nothing but Dutch ; these instructions Council of India issued the Sumptuary Laws in an were rigorously enforced by Van der Stel. attempt to check the tendency to luxury and ease as a consequence of the presence of inferior races who per­ Compare with this treatment the conditions at the formed most of the manual labour. Tulbagh favoured Cape after the arrival of the French fleet and it at these laws although they were hardly necessary at the once becomes evident that the latter event was of far Cape where the inhabitants were not particularly wealthy.