M Bertish Co - House of Monatic Salt River, Western Cape Architect : ANDREWS and NIEGEMAN

Street elevation Photographer: Nicholas Clarke

Date: n.d. Type: Factory Status: Adaptive re-use

Notes: The design the clothing factory of M Bertish Co (now House of Monatic) also in Main Road, may well have been the first commission for the newly founded practice, but the exact date is unclear. The factory, in operation from 1951 and still extant, consists of two wings. The primary wing displays rhythmic glazing between structural columns contrasted with solid walls punctured by circular windows to indicate cores of circulation. This wing culminates in a windowless street-facing facade exhibiting the company branding and topped with a curved, floating roof. A secondary wing, far more utilitarian in appearance, meets the rear of this primary wing at a right angle, parallel with the road. (Mike Low in Common Ground 2021:131) The building was turned into student accommodation, called My Domain, c2021. (Google Street view)

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Oblique view from street Photographer: Nicholas Clarke Curved wall at end of wing Photographer: Nicholas Clarke Detail of curved roof Photographer: Nicholas Clarke Side elevation of wing Photographer: Nicholas Clarke Detail of stairs on side elevation Photographer: Nicholas Clarke Service room on roof Photographer: Nicholas Clarke