Hidden Pretoria, by Johan Swart and Alain Proust
Hidden Pretoria, by Johan Swart and Alain Proust. Penguin Random House South Africa. Imprint: Lifestyle. Cape Town, South Africa 2019
Despite being South Africa’s capital city, Pretoria has often played a supporting role to bold and brash Johannesburg and Cape Town’s cosmopolitan charms. Hidden Pretoria, by Johan Swart and Alain Proust, introduces to the hidden gems of this city.
[...] Historical buildings on Church Square, such as the Palace of Justice and Old Standard Bank, are well-known neoclassical edifices in full public view that hide beautifully articulated interior volumes. The most dramatic example is perhaps the Capitol Theatre, featured on the cover. The incredible atmospheric auditorium, now derelict and used as a parking garage, is hidden behind a nondescript facade right in the heart of the city. Many spaces are hidden within the private realms of the city The locomotive repair workshops at Rovos Rail, the principal's office at Pretoria Boys High and the living spaces of House Taylor/Stutzer were opened to the author and photographer as a courtesy Other spaces remained beyond our reach: the Union Buildings, designed by Herbert Baker, is a notable omission, considering its exceptional architectural and historical significance. Some buildings are not only of architectural interest but also worth exploring for the hidden objects they contain. The secure storage areas of our national museums hide a wealth of historical artefacts, while incredible mural paintings by Alexis Preller and Walter Battiss remain locked up in the abandoned old TPA building. A number of intriguing buildings are hidden by their urban context. The Queen Street Mosque is enveloped by its neighbouring buildings and only reveals itself at the end of a small side street, while the Old Staatsmuseum stands within an unappreciated part of the inner city patiently awaiting a much-needed urban renewal project. Along the western periphery of the city, very few visitors find their way onto the ridge where the ruins of Fort Daspoortrand lie, unmarked and isolated by topography Other buildings are hidden behind the biases of public appreciation, unfavourable for their unadorned Modernism or their symbolic representation of a colonial past. The multiple values of heritage Hidden Pretoria sets out to inspire a general awareness and appreciation of architectural heritage in the city All the selected buildings are of heritage value and their relevance in the present can be argued along a number of themes. Buildings have value as tangible historical markers. For example, at the University of Pretoria, the Old Arts Building, Old Merensky Library and Law Building respectively represent the Edwardian origins, Afrikaner Nationalism and post-1994 optimism of the institution. The Dutch Reformed churches at Universiteitsoord and Burgerspark are of particular architectural and historical value, illustrative of the Regionalist and Brutalist design approaches that prevailed in the 1960s. Both the Voortrekker Monument and Freedom Park have value as places of reflection and debate, being reference points for dialogues about identity and memory In other cases the aesthetic value of architecture contributes to the quality of our daily routines. Leo Theron's wall of coloured light adds beauty to the interior of the Christ the King Catholic Church, while the intricate Art Nouveau detailing of the Old Netherlands Bank delights visitors to Church Square. The social value of buildings can be observed at places of gathering such as the Mariamman Temple, an anchor point for the identity of its faith community, or at Cafe Riche on Church Square, a favourite meeting point for locals and visitors until its recent closure. Then there are structures of exceptional technical achievement. [...]
This is an excerpt from Hidden Pretoria, by Johan Swart and Alain Proust.
Title: Hidden Pretoria
Author: Johan Swart
Photographer: Alain Proust
Genre: photo book
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Imprint: Lifestyle
Cape Town, South Africa 2019
ISBN 9781432304652 / ISBN 978-1-43-230465-2
Hardcover, 26 x 27 cm, 240 pages, throughout colour photographs
Proust, Alain und Swart, Johan im Namibiana-Buchangebot
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