ABBOTT, Reginald Carter

Architect

DipArch (Witwatersrand) (1935).

TPIA (1937); FRIBA (1954)

Joined the PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT as a junior assistant in 1926/27. He attended extension classes in architecture at Pretoria, organised by the University of the Witwatersrand, and graduated with a Diploma in Architecture in March 1935. Abbott remained with the Public Works Department until he transferred to the newly established architectural section of the Transvaal Provincial Administration, under JB DEY in 1936 as Assistant Chief Architect of the Transvaal Provincial Administration. In 1937 he undertook an extensive tour of Britain, Europe and the United States. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1954. He commented on the architectural responsibilities of the Transvaal Provincial Administration and the Public Works Department: 'in the Government service in this country no building can be said to have been designed solely by any particular individual. They are all regarded as joint efforts'. In 1959 he was recorded as a salaried member of the Transvaal Institute in the employ of the Transvaal Provincial Administration but by 1969 his employer is recorded as the DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS (ISAA 1959, 1969).

(FRIBA nom papers 4848, 1954; Abbott 1987, 1988; ISAA mem list; PSL 1934)(T.s.)

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 ABBOTT

ISAA. 1959. The Yearbook of the Institute of South African Architects and Chapter of SA Quantity Surveyors 1958-1959 : Die Jaarboek van die Instituut van Suid-Afrikaanse Argitekte en Tak van Suid-Afrikaanse Bourekenaars 1958-1959. Johannesburg: ISAA. pp 87, 193

ISAA. 1969. The Yearbook of the Institute of South African Architects and Chapter of SA Quantity Surveyors 1968-1969 : Die Jaarboek van die Instituut van Suid-Afrikaanse Argitekte en Tak van Suid-Afrikaanse Bourekenaars 1968-1969. Johannesburg: ISAA. pp 88, 137

ISAA. 1927. Register of Members the Institute of South African Architects. Johannesburg: ISAA (Unpublished Record). pp A1