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MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | MARGO, Saul LewisBorn: 1878 07 09Died: 1970 ArchitectSACA:Reg No: 76 Year registered: 1927 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ATA (1909); TPIA (1927); ISAA (1927). Was born in Odessa, Ukraine. His family moved to London c1890 and became British citizens. Margo trained as a mechanical engineer in Britain and travelled Europe executing commissions for his London employers. He was also responsible for the erection of a number of mechanical displays at the Paris Exhibition (n.d.). In 1902 Margo arrived in South Africa, after a three month voyage in a sailing vessel, to erect a mill for the firm Mangolds (Mangolis?), and settled in Johannesburg at the end of 1902. At first he was employed on the mines, transferring after a short time to architecture. He married in 1906 and became a founder member of the Association of Transvaal Architects in July 1909; he received a diploma in Quantity Surveying from the University of the Witwatersrand in about 1920. Margo's subsequent practice was varied and included industrial and commercial buildings, hotels, banks, schools, domestic works and blocks of flats mainly in Johannesburg. He also designed several synagogues, still in use: 'the ones best known for their simplicity of design and charm' (Norwich 1985) are those in Jeppestown, Doornfontein (Saratoga Avenue) and Turffontein. He enlarged Chandler's Brewery in Ophirton, Johannesburg after the Second World War for the Sumner family, which led to a lasting friendship with this family for whom he executed a number of small hotels throughout the Transvaal and in the goldfields of the Orange Free State. He admitted his son, Harold MARGO, and P BREEDVELD into partnership in 1938 (cf MARGO, BREEDVELD & MARGO). Margo retired to the Cape in 1950. But in 1959 he was still registered and working. By 1959 BREEDVELD must have left and the practice was then MARGO & MARGO in Johannesburg (ISAA Yearbook, 1959). By 1969 he is recorded as a retired member of the Transvaal Institute. The Saul Margo Memorial Prize, for the best graduate in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand was established in recognition of his services to the profession. (ISAA mem list; Norwich 1985) All truncated references not fully cited in 'References' are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon. List of projects With photographs With notes
Books citing MARGO
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