Contact Artefacts
please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.

St George's Cathedral
Cape Town, Western Cape

BAKER and MASEY: Architect
Charles Douglas ST LEGER: Architect
Franklin Kaye KENDALL: Architect
James MORRIS: Chief draughtsman and supervisor
Ivan MITFORD-BARBERTON: Artist Sculptor
Ivan FLINT: Architect restoration

Date:1897-1911 : 1930 : 1957-1963
Type:Anglican Church
Status:Extant

 


Click to view map

Coordinates:
33°55'29.59" S 18°25'09.87" E Alt: 30m

1897 Designed BAKER, overall plan, and MASEY, working drawings, details and early superintendence.
1901 The foundation stone was laid by H.R.H. The Duke of Cornwall, later King George V.(Pryce-Lewis list 5 934)
1904-6 The foundations, crypt, sanctuary, choir and side chapel built. (Pryce-Lewis list 7 518)
1909 North chapel built
1909: Drainage planned (Pryce-Lewis list 8 175)
1911 Nave complete.

1930 North transept built to design by FK KENDALL (Pryce-Lewis list 15 613).

1957-63 South transept completed to design by CD St LEGER.

Patrick Henry Thomas SHILLINGTON claims to have designed choir stalls with FK KENDALL in 1935.

The cross standing outside the cathedral comes from the first St George's Church completed in 1836 and demolished in 1954.

Transcription of plaque to commemorate the 1989 protest march: (see photo)

On 13 September 1989
a march, led by
Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
then Mayor Gordon Oliver
and leaders from all sectors, began from this
Cathedral
which united more than 30 000 citizens of
Cape Town
in a demonstration of their
commitment to peace and justice for all.
They walked to the City Hall
in a common spirit of
hope and determination for the future.

Unveiled by the Mayor of Cape Town,
Alderman Dan Plato
13 September 2009

2014 RENNIE SCURR ADENDORFF ARCHITECTS are awarded the project - St George's Cathedral Phase 1 : eaves access, safety measures and window protection.

St John's Chapel [see postcard] is a memorial to Archbishop William Carter (in office 1909-30), and the six shields mounted on the reredos are the arms of his school (Eton College), university, previous parishes and dioceses, and the diocese of Cape Town. As they were sculpted by Ivan Mitford-Barberton in 1945, the photo must date from some time after that. (Arthur Radburn, July 2023)

Read an article The LABYRINTH at St GEORGE’s CATHEDRAL by Ivan FLINT.

(UCT BC 206: Boxes 78-86; SAAR Mar 1929:7-8; Shillington 1986; AB&E Mar 1926:7-9)

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 George's Cathedral

Baker, Herbert. 1944. Architecture & personalities. London: Country Life. pg b&w photo prev to and opp 145, 147-148
Burrows, Edmund Hartford . 1994. Overberg Odyssey : people, roads and early days. Swellendam: Privately printed in co-operation with the Swellendam Trust. pg 95
Cole, DI. 2002. The building stones of Cape Town : a geological walking tour. Cape Town: Council for Geoscience. pg 39-41
Duncan, Paul & Proust, Alain. 2013. Hidden Cape Town. Cape Town: Random House Struik. pg 118-125
Greig, Doreen. 1971. A Guide to Architecture in South Africa. Cape Town: Howard Timmins. pg 96-99
Keath, Michael. 1992. Herbert Baker: Architecture and Idealism 1892 - 1913: The South African Years. Gibraltar: Ashanti Pub. Ltd.. pg 54-58, 59, 82, 93, 136, 143, 148-149
Lewcock, Ronald. 1963. Early Nineteenth Century Architecture in South Africa : a study of the interaction of two cultures, 1795-1837. Cape Town: AA Balkema. pg 52, 254, 261-266, 269, 283, 292, 319, 334, 367-368, 379
Oxley, John. 1992. Places of Worship in South Africa. Halfway House: Southern Book Publishers. pg 37-39 ill
Picton-Seymour, Désirée. 1989. Historical Buildings in South Africa. Cape Town: Struikhof Publishers. pg 17-18 ill, 172, 173 ill
Rennie, John for CPIA. 1978. The Buildings of Central Cape Town 1978. Volume Two : Catalogue. Cape Town: Cape Provincial Institute of Architects. pg 267 item 77.1
Walker, Michael. 2012. Early architects of Cape Town and their buildings (1820 - 1926) with postcard illustrations, The. St James: Michael Walker. pg 94-95