KANTOROWICH, Roy Herman

Architect

BArch 1938 (Witwatersrand); ARIBA 1940; MSAITP

Born in Johannesburg and educated at King Edward Vll school, Johannesburg, Kantorowich studied architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand from 1934 until 1938. He spent twelve months working in the office of AJ STEWART (1937-1938) and two months in DM SINCLAIR's office, graduating in 1938. As a fourth-year student, working in Stewart's office, Kantorowich designed the Halfway House Hotel, on the old Johannesburg-Pretoria road. He worked in the offices of GRINKER for a while and his influence can be seen in Raynor Court in the splay-shaped entrance route defined by planters and the CORBUSIER V-pole support to the entrance canopy. In 1939 he received a postgraduate scholarship to continue his studies for a further two years and appears to have gone to America for a time. He applied for Associate membership of the RIBA in 1940, his papers being witnessed by Harry Weese (?) in 1940 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1959 he was in partnership with G SKACEL (cf KANTOROWICH & SKACEL). Professor at the Department of Town and Country Planning, University of Manchester, Manchester, England. The University has a 'Kantorowich Building' (completed 1970) which he designed with Norman HANSON (cf HANSON, KANTOROWICH & PARTNERS).

In The Cape Town Foreshore Plan 1948 he is listed as 'Town Planning Officer' of the Cape Town Foreshore Joint Technical Committee. He was responsible for the master plan of the town of Ashkelon in Israel in 1948. President of the South African Institute of Town Planners in 1960.

He died in 1996 in Manchester.

(ARIBA nom papers (1940) 7466

Publ: Plastic Exploration 11 : House La Roche, SAAR May 1937:218-24; Aiton Court, SAAR Apr 1938:105-14; Acoustical design, SAAR Jan 1938:553-562; A model native township for 20,000 Inhabitants, SAAR Sep 1938:344-355.

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

Halfway House Hotel: c1935. Halfway House, Gauteng - Design Architect

Books by KANTOROWICH

Connell, PH; Irvine-Smith, C; Jonas, K; Kantorowich, R & Wepener, FJ. 1939. Native housing. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand, unpublished collective BArch thesis

Books citing KANTOROWICH

Cape Town Foreshore Joint Technical Committee. 1948. The Cape Town foreshore plan. Cape Town: Government Printer of the Union of South Africa. pp

Chipkin, Clive M. 1993. Johannesburg Style - Architecture & Society 1880s - 1960s. Cape Town: David Phillip. pp 119, 178, 179, 225, 265

Greig, Doreen. 1971. A Guide to Architecture in South Africa. Cape Town: Howard Timmins. pp 224

Herbert, Gilbert. 1975. Martienssen & the international style: The modern movement in South African architecture. Cape Town - Rotterdam: AA Balkema. pp 66, 143, 144, 164, 184, 186, 187, 189, 190, 196, 197, 228, 235, 238, 240, 248

ISAA. 1959. The Yearbook of the Institute of South African Architects and Chapter of SA Quantity Surveyors 1958-1959 : Die Jaarboek van die Instituut van Suid-Afrikaanse Argitekte en Tak van Suid-Afrikaanse Bourekenaars 1958-1959. Johannesburg: ISAA. pp 92, 208

ISAA. 1969. The Yearbook of the Institute of South African Architects and Chapter of SA Quantity Surveyors 1968-1969 : Die Jaarboek van die Instituut van Suid-Afrikaanse Argitekte en Tak van Suid-Afrikaanse Bourekenaars 1968-1969. Johannesburg: ISAA. pp 95, 159