Victory House

Towards the end of 1940 the new Johannesburg Branch of the Permanent Building Society was nearing completion. It appears as though the building achieved a number of firsts including being the first planned for air conditioning and the first with basement parking. Another interesting aspect is that the safe deposit boxes from Johannesburg's second Stock Exchange may still be in the basement! Read on for more details from the book Building for Permanence.

When war broke out, new premises for Johannesburg Branch were in course of erection at the corner of Simmonds and Commissioner Streets, a block away from the old Permanent Buildings on the corner of Harrison and Commissioner Streets but on the opposite side of the later street.

Early shot of Permanent Buildings (Victory House) - Building for Permanence

The staff could watch as the old Palladium building, Johannesburg’s first cinema, was demolished and excavations begun for the sub-basement and basement of the parking garage for the new building - an innovation in Johannesburg.

It proved impossible economically to remove the safe deposit boxes in the existing basement of the old Palladium Building. These had belonged not to Johannesburg’s first Stock Exchange but to the second one built on the site. They had withstood efforts in the Anglo-Boer War to open them and they are used to this day...

Victory House, originally known as Permanent Buildings, is located on the historic corner of Harrison and Fox Streets in downtown Johannesburg. The passages below, taken from the official history of the Perm (1983), reveal part of the story behind its design and construction. The building is of great historical and architectural significance and is famous for having Johannesburg's first lift.

"…four firms of architects were approached to send, in competition, designs with an approximate cost not to exceed £8000 - £9000. The building was to comprise a basement and three storeys. The accepted design was to receive a reward of 25 guineas (to be deducted from the regular fees if the building was proceeded with) and the next best design a reward of ten guineas.

Emley and Scott, W. Leek, W.H. Stucke and R.L. McEwat submitted their designs by the middle of July and Stucke’s was unanimously accepted by the Board as the winner. But in view of the merit of the plans sent in by Emley and Scott and W. Leek, each of these firms receive ten guineas. Whether it was Stucke’s idea or the Local Board’s (and one suspects the architect) he was asked a month later what adding two storeys and installing a lift would cost – and also the running costs of a lift per month. Lifts were then unknown in Johannesburg. Were the Perm to have five storeys could not one lift serve both buildings, each to bear an equal cost of the erection and maintenance...