Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Crematorium Braamfontein, Johannesburg, Gauteng Edward Henry WAUGH: Architect

Date: 1931-1932 Type: Crematorium Style: Neo-Romanesque Status: Extant   Click to view map Coordinates: 26°11'46.08" S 28°01'39.36" E Alt: 1736m

Was built in 1931-32 and opened in 1932 at a cost of £9 000 (R18 000). The design of the crematorium almost disguises its purpose. It is in the shape of what van der Waal calls a 'neo-Romanesque' chapel built of cut Witwatersrand koppie stone. It resembles a church with neat small single, double and triple arches, a hip tiled roof and most imposing of all is a substantial square rather heavy tower, which, on closer inspection is not a bell-tower but rather a chimney for the cremation furnaces. In an undated (probably 1930s) pamphlet it is described as 'a chapel, chancel, organ chamber and spacious porch-way built of local stone in the Byzantine style', but adds that 'all appliances for modern cremation have been installed'. The idea of a memorial wall was introduced in 1934. There is an associated columbarium at the Braamfontein cemetery. In 2011 four new furnaces were installed giving the 'chapel' a more industrial look. Entry created from Munro, see The Heritage Portal: 'The Johannesburg way of death'.