The William Cullen Library is a much loved landmark on Wits University's East Campus. It was built in 1934 on the west side of the Library Lawns and houses a vast number of valuable collections. The article below, compiled by Rowallan Hugh Fitchett, traces the architectural history of the building. It was originally published in a mid1990s edition of Between the Chains, the journal of the Johannesburg Historical Foundation.
The William Cullen Library on the east campus of the University of the Witwatersrand is almost certainly the building most appreciated by members of the academic staff. I have heard this opinion on numerous occasions from lecturers and students in a wide range of disciplines, outside as well as within the Faculty of Architecture.
My own interest in the building was stimulated first by architectural form, which appealed to me above all other buildings on campus when I registered as a postgraduate student in 1979. This interest was heightened in 1981 when my future wife informed me that it was the first building designed in this country by her grandfather, William George Whyte at the age of 25 after emigrating from Scotland. My interest was accentuated from 1987 onwards on account of the material contained in the library. I spent months if not years in transcribing material from irreplaceable 17th and 18th century volumes which (correctly) were not permitted to be photocopied. My association with the library is thus an intimate one, architecturally and academically.
The architectural history of the William Cullen Library begins with...
