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		St John's Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk - the Round Church Sea Point, Cape Town, Western Cape Charles AS FREEMAN: Architect

Date: 1878 Type: Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk - Church Status: Demolished 1931

Sometimes dubbed "Solomon's Temple" after the founder Henry Solomon. It was a Dutch Reformed Church but was shared by congregations of all denominations including members of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches. It was opened in 1878 and had a diameter of 15.5 metres with a capacity of 300 persons. Legend has it that it was designed to be round so that there could never be a denominational corner. It was bought by the Cape Town Municipality in 1924 for road widening and was demolished, despite vehement protests from local parishioners. (Walker 2012:20) (SALQB Dec 1967:57) All truncated references not fully cited below are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon. Books that reference St John's Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk - the Round Church De Beer, Mona. 1987. Lion Mountain, The : and the story of Bantry Bay, Clifton and Camps Bay on the Atlantic Coast of the Cape Peninsula. Cape Town: AA Balkema. pg 138 Maeder, GA & Zinn, C. 1917. Ons kerk album van Hollandsche kerken en leeraren. Capetown: Cape Times. pg 16 Radford, D. 1979. The architecture of the Western Cape, 1838-1901. A study of the impact of Victorian aesthetics and technology on South African architecture. Johannesburg: Unpublished Ph.D thesis. Dept of Arch. University of the Witwatersrand. pg 115 Walker, Michael. 2012. Early architects of Cape Town and their buildings (1820 - 1926) with postcard illustrations, The. St James: Michael Walker. pg 19 (ill.), 20