Arcadian Archive

The following is an extract from a paper by Art Historian Professor Alexander Duffey in which he explores the many artists who contributed in one way or another to establish the Union Buildings as an important icon, not only of Pretoria, but also South Africa. These artists can be grouped into two distinct categories: those who contributed directly to the embellishment of the buildings and their surroundings and those who made representations of the buildings and their surroundings.

A large number of artists produced paintings, etchings and drawings of the impressive Union Buildings and through their work helped to make these buildings known worldwide and establish them as one of South Africa’s important architectural icons. The earliest known representation of the buildings are a number of watercolour perspective paintings by the architect, Herbert Baker, dating from June 1909. The most impressive is the water colour painting present in MuseumAfrica, which was also used in etch-form for the cover of the commemorative programme for the laying of the cornerstone by the Duke of Connaught on 26 November 1910.

Watercolour of the Union Buildings by Herbert Baker

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Residents of Arcadia and Pretoria are mostly unaware that trams were used to serve as public transport in the early 1900s, later being replaced by trolley buses and eventually buses as we know them today.

Trams are loosely defined as light rail vehicles running on steel tracks, serving as urban public transport, designed to travel on streets, sharing road space with other traffic and pedestrians.

Tram travelling along Church Street. Note tracks both sides of the transmission posts (via The Arcadian)

Two trams waiting at Church Square with the Tram Station in the background. Note the poles for the overhead powerlines onto which the trams were connected (via The Arcadian)

Horse drawn trams were first introduced in Pretoria in 1897 by The Pretoria Tramway Company with eight trams and 50 horses. When the horses were needed during the Boer...

In the article below, Graham Dominy highlights a number of heritage battles currently raging across Tshwane. The battles reveal many of the issues that continue to plague the heritage sector. Thank you to the editors of the Arcadian for giving us permission to republish.

The Old Pretoria central area of Tshwane is home to some of the most important architectural heritage in South Africa. The most visible of the buildings are the Union Buildings, set in Sir Herbert Baker’s beautifully terraced gardens. However, there are other important public buildings including the City Hall; there are churches (designed by both Baker and Gerard Moerdijk); schools, university buildings and ordinary homes. Sometimes it seems that they are all under attack, by developers, politicians, careless officials and planners who see the preservation of heritage as an obstacle to their grandiose visions. The developers mantra is that they are implementing the government’s densification policy which they like because it helps them turn a quick profit. Very little effort is made to relate this policy to the urban context in which it must be implemented unless there is public pressure.

The Old Pretoria East areas of Arcadia, Brooklyn, Clydesdale and Sunnyside East are under unremitting pressure from developers. The densification policy and the need for student accommodation at the University of Pretoria are used as excuses to destroy homes and dwellings with heritage value and to replace them with blocks and blocks of near-dormitory style dwellings for students. Even the university has woken up to the...

The Anglo-Boer (1900-1902) Vereeniging Peace Agreement document ending the war between the Boers and the British was signed at Pretoria’s gracious Melrose House on 31 May 1902 and formally announced on 2 June 1902 in front of the Raadzaal, Pretoria. This again put the whole country under the British rule. Alfred Milner, the High Commissioner for South Africa and Governor of Transvaal and Orange River Colony was responsible for the design and execution of the policy of South Africa until 1905.

After a long process the Transvaal (December 1906) and Orange River Colony (June 1907) were awarded responsible government. Jan Smuts had negotiated the deal in Britain in December 1905. But there was a greater goal in the minds of Generals Louis Botha and Jan Smuts: unification of the whole country. “I have the fullest faith that I shall be able …. to make those two great races of South Africa one solid, united and strong race,” Botha said at the 1907 Colonial Conference in London. Between October 1908 and May 1909 the National Convention was charged with the unification of the four provinces. (There was no Black, Coloured and Indian representation). Three years later Louis Botha became South Africa’s first Prime Minister and Herbert Gladstone the Governor General.

On the 31st May 1910 South Africa was united and the Union of South Africa was born.

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