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MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | ANDERSON, Michael KnightBorn: 1920 08 31Died: 2011 08 27 ArchitectSACA:Reg No: 404 Year registered: 1952 | |||||||||||||||
DipArch (Pretoria) 1952 Michael Knight Anderson was born on 31st August 1920 in Durban. He attended Selborne College in East London until 1933, after which he was schooled at Pretoria Boys High School where he matriculated in 1938. At Pretoria Boys High he was a prefect and played first team rugby, athletics and water polo. He was taught art at Pretoria Boys by Walter W Battiss, the renowned South African artist, from 1936 to 1938. The Natal Technical College sent Michael Knight Anderson a letter dated 16th November 1938 congratulating and awarding him an art scholarship. Battiss would later write in a recommendation letter for Michael dated 24th December 1939, that “As a small indication of his initiative he won the Baron Beaumont Art Scholarship of the Durban School of Art”. Walter Battiss would in later years marry Michael Knight Anderson’s aunt, Grace Anderson (an artist). In 1939 Michael Knight Anderson enrolled for the Bachelor of Architecture degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. However the Second World War intervened and he decided to enlist. He joined the 6th Field Artillery Regiment of the South African Artillery in 1940 and was deployed to Tobruk, North Africa in 1941. He fought in a number of key battles in the Desert Campaign against the Afrika Korps led by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. He was eventually captured by the German forces when the Allied Forces were overrun at Tobruk, Libya. He was handed over to the Italians and shipped to Italy where he was held until sent by cattle truck to Germany where he was consigned to hard labour in a benzine factory. He spent three years as a prisoner of war until liberated by the Americans in April 1945. In 1945, at the age of 25 and on his return to South Africa, he continued with his studies towards his Architectural degree at Pretoria University on a part time basis, qualifying on 19th April 1952. He married his childhood sweetheart, Grace Elsworth on the 11th January 1947 and had three children, Janis (1948), Garth (1951) and Craig (1961). During his part time studies, Mr Anderson was employed by the Transvaal Provincial Administration until 31st July 1949. He then joined W E Mussmann Architect as an Architectural Assistant working from their office in Park Street, Pretoria between 1st August 1949 to 31st March 1952. It is during this period that he qualified as an architect. His undertook site surveys, documented renovations of existing buildings, and prepared working and detail drawings. On 1st April 1952, he joined the firm, Horace Williams and Partners, Architects and Surveyors, based in Kitwe, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) which was then part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In 1954, he became a partner in the firm and in 1958 he opened a branch office in Blantyre, Nyasaland (now Malawi) where he was the resident partner. On 27th May 1960, the Governor in Council in Nyasaland appointed Mr Anderson as a Member of the Architects and Quantity Surveyors Registration Board, a position he held until his resignation on 3rd May 1963. Mr Anderson left private practice and on the 1st April 1961 he joined the British Colonial Government as Senior Architect, Ministry of Works in Nyasaland. He held this position until the 30th May 1963, when the family relocated back to Pretoria, South Africa after his father’s death in February 1962 and the imminent break-up of the Federation and the independence of Nyasaland. During his tenure in Nyasaland he designed various buildings, including Law Courts, a Farm Institute, a Trade School, School Hostels, Housing Schemes, Office Blocks, Flats, Hospital works, Police works and a Polytechnic, producing the sketch plans, working drawings, contract documents and awarding the contracts. Work ranged from Civic to Government and included the following:-
On the 20th February 1963 the Foundation Stone of the Polytechnic, Chichiri, was laid by Doctor the Honourable H K Banda, president of Malawi. On the 1st August 1963, he returned to the TRANSVAAL PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION, WORKS DEPARTMENT as an architect. In 1965 he was appointed as Architect Grade 1 and the following year was appointed as Principal Architect. On 5th January 1968 he appointed as Assistant Chief Architect. He was appointed as Chief Architect for hospitals in the Transvaal Provincial Administration, Works Department on 1st October 1973. From 1974 until its disbandment in 1981, he served on the Building Research Advisory Committee. Mr Anderson was co-opted to the Provincial Committee of The Institute of South African Architects in 1974, and he was elected to serve as a member of the Transvaal Provincial Committee of The Institute of South African Architects on 17th October 1983. On 12th August 1981 and again on 1st January 1983, the Honourable Minister of Community Development, re-appointed Mr Anderson as a member of the Building Industry Advisory Council. On 5th March 1984 he was promoted to Chief Architect, Transvaal Provincial Administration, Works Department. During his years at the TPA Mr Anderson was involved in a number of large projects such as the State Theatre, in Pretoria, the Johannesburg General Hospital , and numerous public schools, hospitals and other public buildings throughout the Transvaal. On 31st August 1985, at the age of 65, he retired from the Transvaal Provincial Administration and proceeded on pension. On 10th January 1986 he resigned from the Building Industries Advisory Council. After a short period in private practice Mr Anderson and his wife retired to Mtwalume on the Kwa-Zulu Natal South Coast and then to Cape Town where he passed away peacefully on the 27 August 2011. Compiled by Craig Anderson, September 2024. (Submitted by William Martinson, September 2024) | ||||||||||||||||
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