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		Aegis Building - Second Johannesburg, Gauteng EMLEY and WILLIAMSON: Architect Frederick WILLIAMSON: Design Architect

Date: 1934-1936 Type: Offices with shops to street Status: Extant Street: Loveday St   Click to view large map Coordinates: 26°12'20.61" S 28°02'29.48" E Alt: 1766m

(SAB Apr 1935 suppl:vii ill; SAB Nov 1937:17) PEARSE's obituary for Williamson lists this work as being among the most important buildings in Johannesburg. Transcription of Johannesburg City Heritage Blue Plaque: The building was designed in 1934 by Emily & Williamson for an International insurance company which used the “aegis”, the shield of Jupiter (Father of the Roman Gods) and Minerva (Goddess of Wisdom and War). The storeys rise higher and higher until almost out of sight, and draw the eyes upward to the stepped roof line and the sky, the abode of the Gods. The facade lacks all decoration but the simplest geometric motif. 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. References: van der Waal, Gerhard-Mark. 1987. From Mining Camp to Metropolis - The buildings of Johannesburg 1886-1940. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council. pg 200 ill, 201