The Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust : Architecture

Parktown was developed by the successful entrepreneurs who were keen to assert their achievement in concrete form – their homes. Initially these were simply transplants - fairly grand homes such as could be found in London Melbourne, Manchester or Birmingham. They were picturesque and showy; rather fanciful with turrets which came to be known as "Parktown baronial". The architects were mostl;y English or Australian and had a strong taste for the eclectic which appealed to their clients. Lord Milner described them as "displaying the taste of a London stock-broker."

He invited Herbert Baker to come to the Rand to establish "a new and better order of architecture. " In fact Baker proved equally eclectic, but he combined this with a dedication to the arts and crafts philosophy of using local materials and fine craftsmanship so that his became the fashionable and favoured domestic style.

Baker built his own home, The Stonehouse, in Parktown on the ridge and many commissions followed. He designed a number of grand homes, many which were more modest and several housing schemes for the mines.

He revolutionised domestic architecture in South Africa and made excellent use of the very hard koppie stone,

It was no surprise when he was commissioned to build the Union Buildings which symbolised the first Union government of 1910, and which also heralded the New South Africa with the Inauguration of President Nelson Mandela in May 1994. They were once again the setting for the inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki on 16 June 1999.

The township insisted that building plans were drawn up by registered architects so that Parktown and Westcliff display a range of good buildings, finely detailed revealing the changing taste over the next decades.

The owners of new Corporate headquarters remained in that tradition so that the new office buildings display a greater range and standard of design than is found elsewhere in office areas.

There were no trees in the area when the pioneers arrived and very little soil on the ridges themselves, so the beautiful gardens were a major part of the contribution made by those early residents to the character of the suburbs.

Surprisingly, for a staunch South Africa, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick gave his new home in Parktown the Irish name, CLONAVE. It’s a place name from County Westmeath in Ireland and also the name of a tiny island in a lake which certainly does not seem appropriate for the very beautiful 10 acres of land which had been part of the Hohenheim Estate where he had been living for ten years.

The land slopes down to the little stream at the bottom which can still be seen running through The Wilds into a small ornamental lake. The house was placed high up near the road and had a view towards the gap between the Parktown and Houghton Ridges. Today a very busy arterial, Houghton Drive, takes advantage of this route.

The house was commissioned by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick in 1910 and the property was registered in the name of his wife, Lillian Fitzpatrick. The architect chosen was W.J. de Zwaan (1867-1948). Born and trained in the Netherlands, De Zwaan spent most of his working life in Pretoria where he was associated with many public buildings. It seems likely that he came to the Transvaal when the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek was trying to attract Dutch immigrants for the civil service as there was a dearth of skilled administrators and other professionals. According to his obituary, de Zwaan settled first in Johannesburg and then moved to Pretoria where he practised successfully for 60 years.

Fitzpatrick must have met de Zwaan in Pretoria when he was a member of the Transvaal Colony Legislature from 1905 until Union. He was keen to bury the past enmities of the Anglo Boer War. Although a member of the Progressive Party and a strong supporter of Milner’s policies, Fitzpatrick favoured the union or federation of what was then the four colonies and went out of his way to support “equal rights” which meant equal rights between English and Boer. His choice of a Dutch architect from Pretoria seems part of that rapprochement.

The house was built in a significant year, 1910 - the year in which the Cape, Natal, Orange River and Transvaal colonies were united to form a new nation, the Union of South Africa. Fitzpatrick had been a member of the Transvaal team of negotiators led by Louis Botha which took part in the National Convention, and he had been insistent that the team should speak with one voice.

So Clonave has a meaning which extends beyond the bricks and mortar – it was for him a symbol of the new South Africa. Perhaps he chose the Irish name to indicate his own roots.

A partner in Rand Mines Ltd and a leading member of the Reform Committee, Fitz had been jailed for his part in the planned rebellion known as the Jameson Raid, and had been bound over not to take part in politics for three years. When that time expire he published "The Transvaal from Within", explaining the Uitlanders' dissatisfaction with Kruger’s Government. So his loyalty to the British Empire and Crown were known to all. When war came in 1899 he was not fit enough to bear arms himself, but raised funds to equip the Imperial Light Horse Regiment. His brother was killed in action at Willow Grange serving with the ILH.

In 1905, Fitzpatrick decided to give up his job with Rand Mines (he found business intensely boring) and concentrate on politics and writing. He won two elections against outstanding candidates and was an eloquent and very witty speaker, first in the Transvaal Legislature, and then in the Union Parliament. His other great love was farming in which he engaged initially in the Orange Free State and later at the Sundays River near Port Elizabeth.

His greatest success was his publication of Jock of the Bushveld, which relates the stories of himself as a transport rider and his beloved dog. The book proved extremely popular and was reprinted three times in the first six weeks. It was the money from this publication which enabled him to buy the land and build Clonave. The house was much smaller than the company house, Hohenheim, but certainly a lot bigger than neighbouring houses in Parktown in Princess of Wales Terrace.

It is a grand mansion, with generously proportioned reception rooms designed for entertaining people, rather than a simple family home. Their three sons were at boarding school and their daughter just next door at Roedean. Percy and Lillian were most hospitable and enjoyed having guests to stay. Clonave reflects Fitzpatrick’s sense of his own stature in society. This was after all the man for whom Queen Alexandra had sent for the Crown and Sceptre to show him the two great diamonds cut from the Cullinan Diamond. No one mentioned the fact that in the Legislature he had actually opposed the purchase and gift of the diamond to the King!

The first happy years at Clonave passed quickly and then came the Great War of 1914-1918. His eldest son, Nugent, was killed by a stray bullet in December 1917. This was a blow from which neither Lillian nor Fitz really recovered. He proposed the two minutes silence on Remembrance Day to King George V – at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It held great meaning for him and in the garden of Clonave each year a peach tree produced its first fruit on Nugent’s birthday.

Fitz, who had so many ideas for his farms, for irrigation and immigration schemes, was not good at managing money. After buying the farms on the Sundays River he was deeply in debt, and Clonave was first let to Mr and Mrs Charles and then sold to them in 1923.

Lady Fitzpatrick was greatly saddened to leave her gracious home and the society of all her friends in Johannesburg. She had been very active in fundraising for a number of charities and in 1914 immersed herself in efforts for the Governor-General’s War Fund. She was a good organiser and had a very efficient housekeeper who became a close friend and companion. She loved dancing and dining out, and really enjoyed entertaining in her beautiful home with its extensive gardens and views across the ridges. Life on the farm Amanzi proved terribly lonely for her and she died less than 5 years after leaving Clonave.

Standon

The next owners were Thomas and Anne Margaret Charles who named the house Standon.

Thomas had come to Johannesburg in 1888 to open a branch of the Cape Town wholesaler, J.W. Jagger and Co. Ltd. He brought with him by ox wagon from Kimberley seventy cases of goods valued at two thousand pounds. He must have been an excellent businessman because within five years a new warehouse was needed and the company took its place on the Market Square in a new building of three storeys. Thomas Charles, as managing director, and his assistant John Irvine, kept expanding and adding further storeys to the building. In 1928 he commissioned John Waterson to design the very impressive10 storey and largely Edwardian warehouse building which survives today. Chipkin describes it as “This powerful statement of a merchant house ”

By the time he died in 1935 Thomas Charles was the last surviving partner of the original three of a nationwide warehousing and manufacturing business. He was succeeded in the business by his son Thomas Woolfe Charles.

When son Tommy got married in1930 his parents divided the large property to create very spacious grounds for a new house and stables. The young Charleses shared the paternal home until their own house was completed. This happened in the same year as Thomas senior’s death so they transferred the name to their new house.

In 1937 the property was registered in the name of W.A. Mackenzie, but by 1940 it had been sold again to Albu Investments and another great lady renamed it Bornestead.

BORNESTEAD

The dowager Lady Albu, Gertrude, widow of Sir George, moved to Bornestead from Northwards some years after her husband’s death in 1935, the same year in which Mrs Charles had been widowed. Both men are buried, quite close to each other, in Brixton Cemetery.

Lady Gertrude Frederica Alice Albu had been born and educated in Berlin where in 1888 she met and married George Albu who was making his fortune in Kimberley. They moved to Johannesburg in 1891 and in 1912 moved to Northwards, the magnificent mansion on the Parktown Ridge which had been damaged by fire the year before. That was also the year that George was made a baronet, presumably for his role in the mining industry. They had five children, two sons and three daughters. The eldest son inherited both the title and Northwards on his father’s death.

Lady Albu loved Northwards and when she moved into her new home she brought with her two very beautiful display cabinets and the fireplace from the small drawing room. In 1990 when the National Monuments Council was inspecting the building which was then part of the property of De Kruin School, these items were recognised by Andre van Graan, a member of the Plans Committee. The Northwards Trust bought them from the school and they were reinstated in Northwards in their original position. The photograph albums of the Dale Laces and the Albus had confirmed their origin.

It was expected of society women that they play a role in supporting charities. Lady Albu had always been most interested in child welfare and even in 1909 had been a Vice-President of Children’s Aid Society, an organisation which functioned largely as social workers to homeless or ungovernable children. It was not simply a matter of raising funds. In this instance, committee members interviewed the children and the parents, drew up reports for the courts in criminal cases and regularly inspected the industrial school where some were assigned.

Although she is known mainly as a wife and mother, Lady Albu was rather surprisingly a member of the Vanguard Club which was concerned with the emancipation of women. Sir George was a stern and rather rigid individual and his wife seemed to echo these traits, which were in line with her upbringing. However, it was she who built the billiard room to the north of the house - completely out of keeping with Sir George who disapproved of billiards and had used the billiard-room at Northwards as his study.

Lady Albu frequently had her grandchildren to stay, and no doubt it was for their benefit that she provided this facility. She enjoyed the company of young people, and they appreciated her hospitality.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

The house’s glory days came to an end some years after the death of Lady Gertrude in 1950, when it was acquired by the government as an Afrikaans Trade School for girls. For a while the old house served as the school itself and the drawing room became a cutting-room for those learning dress-making. On the completion of the school buildings on the ridge to the north the house became a hostel and still served as such when in 1976, it changed to the Afrikaans School of the Arts, Ballet, Music and Drama, under the name of Hoerskool De Kruin.

It was succeeded by Parktown College which in turn was changed to the Parktown Campus of the Central Johannesburg College.

ARCHITECTURE:

There have been a number of additions over the years which have concealed the original symmetrical and highly formal design which is basically Palladian with three important facades. Each of these emphasised the portico or loggias which projected out all in different ways relating top their function. The front entrance was classical with a deep porch leading to the rather grand front door. To the east was a triple arched loggia stepping down into the gardens from the reception rooms.

The north had an Italianate projecting bay within a structured stone terrace and pergola.

The deeply moulded cornices are notable feature of the house. It is the service wing which shows the most obvious signs of change – a confusion of different roofs and rafter ends.

Internally the distinction between master and servant or supporting staff is evidenced by the difference in staircases, passages and the size of the rooms. Sash windows for staff while the master had casements.

RESTORATION

Over the years as a hostel a number of extensions and other alterations were made which were insensitive and diminished its grandeur. The Central Johannesburg College intends removing some of these, restoring the fine timber framed windows and re-instating a garden setting. This will be a major contribution to Parktown’s heritage and, while respecting the memory of its past, the building will remain functional and well-used by young people.

This change in attitude to the suburb’s heritage is most welcome and is strongly supported by the Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust. By adding grace and dignity to the campus the College will take its place most honourably amongst Parktown’s historic educational establishments.

Flo Bird

Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust

2009-06-12

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