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		House CL Andersson: Dolobran Parktown, Johannesburg, Gauteng James Alfred COPE-CHRISTIE: Architect

Date: 1905-1906 Type: Homestead Status: Extant   Click to view map Coordinates: 26°10'42.59" S 28°02'15.04" E

Dolobran was built in 1906 for Sir Charles Llewellyn Andersson, son of the famous explorer Carl Andersson. Andersson had amassed millions by speculation and brilliant accountancy. He was a prominent figure in the mining and financial world. The mansion was towered and turreted in a romantic mixture of medievalism and Queen Anne Style. The Llewellyn Andersons rejected the original design by Herbert BAKER which was less elaborate. They considered the windows too small for the heat and bright light of Africa. Dolobran is a two-storey building with many gables and a curious assortment of windows, some inlayed with stained glasswork. The interior is equally romantic with a particularly magnificent entrance hall with a double staircase leading to a broad landing lit by the most spectacular of the stained glass windows. The house was designed around this high central hall within the overall rectangular form of the ground floor plan. There is a variety of shapes in the rooms and bay windows, stoeps and verandahs. Most of the fittings, lamp brackets and chandeliers were art nouveau. The study is located in the octagonal tower. The retaining wall which raises the garden above Oxford Road had elaborate cast-iron railings that Sir Llewellyn salvaged during the demolition of the second Corner House. A fishpond, dove-cote and weather vane on the cupola put the finishing touches to Dolobran. _______________________ Transcription of the blue plaque: ANGLO-BOER WAR 1899-1902 CENTENARY COMMEMORATIONS FOLLOW THE FLAGS DOLOBRAN This house was designed by J.A. Cope Christie in 1905 for Charles Llewellyn Andersson (later Sir), an accountant, who helped raise, served with and later commanded the South African Light Horse Regiment. After the occupation of Johannesburg he returned to civilian life and assisted the military administration as a Justice of the Peace. Parktown & Westcliff Heritage Trust Click here to read an article from the Saturday Star January 3 2015, "Doloran mansion sits smug among Baker's Joburg icons" Books and articles that reference House CL Andersson: Dolobran Barry, Margaret & Law, Nimmo. 1985. Magnates and Mansions - Johannesburg 1886-1914. Johannesburg: Lowry Publishers. pg 116-119 Benjamin, Arnold, Aron, Helen & Zar, Shirley. 1972. Parktown, 1892-1972 : a social and pictorial history. Johannesburg: Studio Thirty-Five. pg MacMillan, Allister & Rosenthal, Eric. 1948. Homes of the Golden City. Cape Town: Hortors. pg 2 ill Picton-Seymour, Désirée. 1977. Victorian Buildings in South Africa. Cape Town: AA Balkema. pg 329, 331 Picton-Seymour, Désirée. 1989. Historical Buildings in South Africa. Cape Town: Struikhof Publishers. pg 157 Richardson, Deirdré. 2001. Historic Sites of South Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. pg 198 van der Waal, Gerhard-Mark. 1987. From Mining Camp to Metropolis - The buildings of Johannesburg 1886-1940. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council. pg 161-163 Viney, Graham with Proust, Alain (Photography). 1987. Colonial houses of South Africa. Cape Town: Struik-Winchester. pg 231-243