Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		High Court Building Johannesburg, Gauteng McINTOSH and MOFFAT: Architect 1904 COOK and COWEN: Architect 1932

Date: 1904 : 1932 Type: Court Buildings Status: Adaptive re-use   Click to view large map Coordinates: 26°12'22.21" S 28°02'35.39" E Alt: 1758m

The High Court Building has undergone several rebirths. Built in 1904 in the Edwardian style, it provided rooms for lawyers who practiced at the Law Court on the present Gandhi Square. In the 1930s two additional storeys in Art Deco style were added. The lawyers vacated the building in 1941 when the new Magistrates’ Court was built in Ferreirastown to the west of the spine. In the early 2000s the High Court Building was occupied by various commercial spaces including a bottle store, Millew's Fashions and a hairdressing salon on the ground floor, with seamstresses and tailors on the upper floors. OPH bought the building in 2016; it was restored in 2018 and is now occupied by a new generation of lawyers and small business owners. It retains its wooden staircase and pressed steel ceilings, with views on to the square and Fox Street. Restoring a heritage building such as High Court brings about many challenges that are unique to the heritage building. A small issue may seem like a harmless cosmetic defect, but it has in many cases in the past lead to a greater issue with the building causing scope creep and higher costs not planned for in the original project plan. Furthermore, dealing with building materials that have not been used in over a century is also a common obstacle faced as these building materials are more often than not, irreplaceable. High Court Building has, through having endured many obstacles over its lifetime, become an iconic symbol for heritage buildings still standing in Johannesburg CBD. (Olitzki Property Holdings, accessed 2021 09 22) ________________________ Transcription of Blue Plaque: JOHANNESBURG CITY HERITAGE HIGH COURT BUILDING The High Court Building derives its name from the High Court that was originally situated on Gandhi Square. The building housed lawyers and advocates, and in the 1940s writer Herman Charles Bosman had an office on the second floor. Designed in 1904 by McIntosh & Moffat in an Edwardian Style with pedimented corner gables, it was extended by two floors and redesigned in 1932 by JC Cook & Cowen to its current Art Deco appearance. The building was restored in 2018 by Olitzki Property Holdings. The Heritage Portal.