![]() Contact Artefacts | MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | House A Nieman Smith: St Margaret's | ![]() | ||||||
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| (Van Der Waal 1975:30a, b) The erf (formerly Portion B of Reserve 2, Parktown) with the historic house known as St Margarets thereon was declared a National Monument in terms of Government Notice No 2048, published in the Government Gazette of 5 November 1976. The property is situated between Stonehouse and Pilrig, (both of which had been designed by BAKER) and both of which are also Provincial Heritage Sites. The property was originally purchased by Arthur Nieman Smith, from the Township owners, The Braamfontein Company. Smith was the South African partner of a large London-based accountancy practice. In 1911, he appointed the firm of Baker & Fleming to design a house for the site. The planning of the original 1911 core of the house comprised a permutation of the H-plan, which Baker had used so successfully in a number of his Parktown houses. The house was built on the edge of the Parktown Ridge with a steep fall to the north, and a less severe fall to the south-west, the latter of which permitted the creation of a workroom at lower ground level. As is typical with houses of this era, an "earth closet" was located outside, on the west side of the house. The steeply pitched shingled roof was provided with typical English vernacular Dormer windows. The symmetrical elevation of the original house was reinforced by the pair of red brick "Sussex" chimneys projecting from the roof at the intersection of the ridge with both hipped ends. In 1930 Smith appointed FLEMING to design a major addition to the north-east corner of the house. This comprised of a substantially proportioned living room with a vaulted plastered ceiling and fine teak built-in cupboards along the east wall, together with a new enlarged entrance hall. It is suggested that the dining room was enlarged at the same time with the addition of the large fireplace recess and a substantial red brick chimney. Smith subsequently appointed FLEMING to design a major addition to the south-west side of the house, comprising staff quarters at lower ground and a new visitors' suite at ground floor. The roof space of the new south-west wing was not occupied and was used as a box room. A substantial new bathroom (accessed from the stair landing) was constructed over the original earth closet. The Smiths occupied the house until circa 1960, when it was purchased in 1996 from Smith's estate by Mr G Hinton, who subsequently applied to the (then) National Monument's Council for declaration as a National Monument. A few years later the house was purchased by Mr Strong, who commissioned Patrick WATSON to re-design the garden which survives substantially intact today. In 1984 a studio and gazebo were built designed by BJ BRITZ. The Strongs placed the house on the market around 1993 for the amount of R2.7 million, but had the misfortune to become involved with a prospective purchaser who offered an amount of R 158 million (payable over time with promissory notes). The procedure enabled the purchaser to fraudulently claim VAT refunds on the inflated purchase price from the Receiver of Revenue. After standing empty for a protracted period, the house was purchased by Sonderhausen Investments to provide accommodation for the Representative Branch of a German Merchant Bank. In 1996, FKH Architects were commissioned by Sonderhausen Investments to handle the adaptive re-use and restoration of the house. This included the creation of a living space within the 'box room' over the south-west wing, with a newel posted staircase down to the 'visitor's suite' below. St Margaret's was until recently used as offices by the Business Leadership organisation - previously known as The South Africa Foundation. [William MARTINSON, February 2011] In 1930 stables and outbuildings were built on the adjacent stand with an entrance off Jan Smuts Avenue. The stable has recently been converted into a Gym for the new offices. 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. |