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Click to view large map Coordinates: | Commissioned in 1936. Completed during WW2. Designed by MANSERGH for the DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS but completed in his absence as he was in War service in North Africa at the time. A three-storeyed building with basement. Plinth is of banded, rusticated granite, used also for entrance and sculpted vultures. Wall surfaces of textured plaster with decorative spandrel panels to street facades. There are various carved embellishments. On Parade Street is an ornamental pedimented gable at the entrance. There are granite overdoors and teak-framed doors and windows, with iron gates and grilles. Precast Protea emblems form vents (Rennie 1978:281-282 item 80.3). Much of the decorative iconography derives from traditional South African enterprises, alluding to the sources of revenue. Van Niekerk (1988) cites MANSERGH in the Cape Times (1977 11 19) as to the presence of the vulture sculptures: Interestingly, in Egyptian mythology, vultures symbolise divine protection, motherhood, and royal authority, embodied primarily by the goddess Nekhbet. As the patron of Upper Egypt and protector of the Pharaoh, the vulture was associated with maternal nurturing and often depicted with wings spread, symbolising watchful, all-seeing, and loving guardianship. In traditional Southern African mythology and folklore, vultures hold a complex, dualistic significance, revered as powerful spiritual messengers, protectors, and symbols of wisdom, while simultaneously being feared as omens of deaths. Known by some as "birds of the king" or "birds of the Lord" (Izingwony zenkosi in isiZulu), they were historically protected, with their feathers used by royalty and warriors (AI generated text). The Inland Revenue moved out of the building to their new premises at 90 Plein Street in the early 1980s. The Department of Justice later moved into the old building, which was then renamed 'Iustitia'. (Arthur Radburn, March 2026) References:
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