Page 39 - Demo

For this task, the SARB enlisted the services of Sir Herbert Baker, a famed and sought-after architect of that era. “... Baker was invited to submit designs for the Bank’s new Head Office building and, by the good offices of Mr. Montagu Norman, Governor of the Bank of England, declared himself willing to do so. [He] ... presented his plans to the ... Board during a visit to Pretoria in early September 1927. Clearing of the Bank’s Church Square site for construction ... was commenced ... in January 1929.” (1921−1971, p 15).
“Sir Herbert observed that he had obtained valuable information, for the design of the Reserve Bank at Pretoria, from the Federal Reserve Bank building in New York, which information had been used already in the re-building of the Bank of England in London,” reads a Sunday Times article (1927).
Sir Baker’s architectural imprint is etched across South Africa. He designed the Union Buildings, the Rhodes University building in Grahamstown, St John’s College in Johannesburg, St Andrew’s College in Grahamstown, and Wynberg Boys High School in Cape Town.
The discussions about the Head Office building provide insights about the value the Board placed on aesthetic prestige for the new institution.
At the February 1930 meeting, for instance, the Board approved the construction of an additional floor, or an ‘attic’, to hide “the uninteresting western wall of the Mutual building which, owing to its height, has spoilt the beautiful lines of the Bank’s building ...”.
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