In the article below, journalist Lucille Davie looks at the restoration of the majestic old Reserve Bank Building in the Johannesburg CBD. The article was first published on the City of Joburg's website on 1 December 2005. Click here to view more of Davie's writing.
The Gauteng legislature got it for R1 in 2002, and now they’re spending R38-million on the building to restore it to its 1930s splendour.
The Old Reserve Bank Building, known now as Matlotlo House, built in 1938 on the corner of Simmonds and Fox streets, is a Gordon Leith design and just beautiful.
Old Reserve Bank from above (The Heritage Portal)
Walking into the building, one is drawn upwards into its beautiful, four-storey volume foyer, with ceiling shaped in the form of a dome, open at the top but originally filled with glass. The dome is supported by marble pillars, behind which are alcoves with vaulted roofs – quite breathtaking. The floor is an expanse of Italian marble.
At three storeys the building stands modestly on the corner, its classical columns and perfectly laid granite slabs offset by a large recessed “bird’s bath” above the impressive moulded, metal front door.
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We are very excited to publish this wonderful article from the Restorica archives (November 1976). M. A. P. Diemont Jr delves into the fascinating history of the design and construction of the old South African Reserve Bank Building in Cape Town. Today the building forms part of the Taj Hotel Complex. Thank you to the University of Pretoria (copyright holders) for giving us permission to publish. Restorica is the old journal of the Simon van der Stel Foundation, today the Heritage Association of South Africa.
In September last year Cape Town’s South African Reserve Bank building - one of the city’s least known yet most fascinating landmarks - changed hands. It was bought by the Board of Executors, the oldest trust company in South Africa, and although the deed of sale was signed in 1968, transfer was delayed until 1975 when the Reserve Bank’s new foreshore premises were ready.
Situated in the old, conservative heart of Cape Town - between Adderley, Wale and St George’s Streets - this magnificent old building styled on the lines of Florence’s Pitti Palace, has the distinction of occupying the highest municipally rated land in the country.
The South African Reserve Bank Building (Architecture in South Africa - L Cumming-George)
But it is the building itself and its quaint history, probably never before publicised, that deserve attention. It forms yet another fascinating...
