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		Broadcast House Johannesburg, Gauteng COOK and COWEN: Architect F SAGE and CO (SA) LTD: Contractor René SHAPSHAK: Artist

Date: 1935 Type: Broadcasting Studios Status: Extant Street: Commissioner St   Click to view map Coordinates: 26°12'17.65" S 28°02'55.74" E Alt: 1749m

This building has also been ascribed to DM SINCLAIR but it in unlikely. Grille-work and relief panels were done by René SHAPSHAK. The advertisement (see right) was for the British Aluminium Co. Ltd. (SAB Apr 1935:lxxxv; SAB Sep 1935:57) Transcription of Blue Plaque: JOHANNESBURG CITY HERITAGE BROADCAST HOUSE Broadcast House, home of radio in South Africa, was designed in 1935 by J.C. Cook & Cowen for I.W. Schlesinger. Born in New York, Schlesinger came to South Africa in 1884 and created vast insurance, catering, entertainment and motion picture industries. In 1927 he rescued the earlier radio stations, ensuring that the Big Bands and the Jazz Age reached most South Africans. In 1936 it became the official public broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The low relief panels are by René Shapshak. The Heritage Portal. 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 Broadcast House Chipkin, Clive M. 1993. Johannesburg Style - Architecture & Society 1880s - 1960s. Cape Town: David Phillip. pg 99, 100 ill, 101