VAN DER BEN, F

Architect

Also known as BENN

Appears to have come to work in Pretoria from the Netherlands in the 1880s to work for the PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT (PWD) in the Transvaal Republic. He is recorded as being a member of the Third Platoon of the Hollander Corps (Ploeger, 1957: 307). After the Anglo-Boer War he refused to sign the oath of allegiance to the British Crown and was therefore required to leave the PWD and was employed as a draughtsman by Leslie SIMMONDS. While in the employ of SIMMONDS he was involved in the design of the Erasmus Castle near Pretoria, an elaborately decorated structure in the Jugenstil. Van der Benn was still listed working in Pretoria in 1915.

(General dir of United SA 1915; Musea News Mar 1985 vol 12)

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

Burgers' Park Caretaker's House: 1905. Tshwane (Pretoria), Gauteng - Design Architect

House CJ Erasmus - Bella Vista - Erasmus Castle: 1904. Erasmuskloof, Tshwane (Pretoria), Gauteng - Project Architect

Articles citing VAN DER BEN

Ploeger, J. 1957. Aantekeninge in verband met die eerste Hollanderkorps (1899). Africana Notes and News. 12 March 1956 - December 1957 298-312

Books citing VAN DER BEN

Bakker, Karel A, Clarke, Nicholas J. 2014. Eclectic ZA Wilhelmiens : A shared Dutch built heritage in South Africa. Pretoria: Visual Books. pp 199