RENNIE, Sir John

Architect

Was the son of John Rennie (1761-1821), the well-known British engineer, responsible inter alia for the Kennett and Avoncliffe aqueducts on the Kennett and Avon canal (1797) and for London Bridge (1825-31) which was constructed by Sir John Rennie, his son. John Rennie (the younger) did not come to South Africa but, as Engineer of the Admiralty in England, he prepared plans for the Royal Observatory in Cape Town (1821, 1825-7). John SKIRROW was appointed contractor to this work. It seems likely that Rennie had something to do with H REVELEY's appointment at the Cape; Reveley had studied engineering under Rennie's father.

(Greig 1971; Hitchcock 1978:174; Lewcock 1963; Macmillan 1982; The Bldr 1874 Sep:773 obit)

All truncated references not fully cited in 'References' are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon.

List of projects

With photographs
With notes

Royal Observatory: 1821 : 1894. Observatory, Cape Town, Western Cape - Architect 1821

Books citing RENNIE

Fransen, Hans. 2004. The old buildings of the Cape. A survey of extant architecture from before c1910 in the area of Cape Town - Calvinia - Colesberg - Uitenhage. Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers. pp 90, 590

Greig, Doreen. 1971. A Guide to Architecture in South Africa. Cape Town: Howard Timmins. pp 39, 171

Lewcock, Ronald. 1963. Early Nineteenth Century Architecture in South Africa : a study of the interaction of two cultures, 1795-1837. Cape Town: AA Balkema. pp 252, 266, 444

Martin, Desmond. 2007. Walking Long Street. Cape Town: Struik. pp 17, 27, 37, 45, 53, 55, 58, 61, 77, 78, 80, 85, 86, 98, 103

Picton-Seymour, Désirée. 1989. Historical Buildings in South Africa. Cape Town: Struikhof Publishers. pp 32