 Contact Artefacts | MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | Natal Military Command Headquarters - The White House William Benjamin Turner NEWHAM: Design Architect Mary Agnes STAINBANK: Sculptor Bas relief panels |  | ||||||
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Click to view large map Coordinates: | The ... sketch, roughly traced from a photograph and finished in charcoal, shows the front facade of the main office block and officers' quarters at the new Defence Force buildings on the Snell Parade at Durban. The design of the building might be termed 17th Century Renaissance, but subject to the heavy proportion and simplicity characteristic of modern South African work of this nature. The entrance doorway, framed in the centre of a semi-Doric colonnade of four 25-ft. [7,5m] columns, and in a recess of 42 feet [12,6m] , is surmounted by a symbolic panel in plaster. Modelled by Miss Stainbank, of Durban, the two wildebeest, representing the spirit of Natal, are keeping guard over the future of the country's traditions of defence, commerce, and civic development, etc. Above the cornice, in the same line and on the raised part of the blocking course, is the Union Coat of Arms, also by the same sculptor. In sharp contrast to the long low lines of the building, a 100-foot carillon tower stands sentinel-like in the centre, with simple clock dials on the back and front. On either side of this central tower internally is an open courtyard, around which, on the south, are guard room and offices, etc., on the ground floor, and bed-rooms, etc., on the first floor. On the north side are arranged the library, ante~room, mess room, kitchen, offices, etc., with further bedrooms, etc., on the first floor. The general contractor for the works was Mr. A. T. Horner, of Durban; while the total cost of the completed building was in the neighbourhood of £35,000. TURNER NEWHAM. (PWSA February 1939 Vol I No 4:23). An interesting story of how this building has a place in the history of world science. More >>> |
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