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Fishermen's Flats
Kalk Bay, Western Cape
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Click to view large map Coordinates: | In the late Thirties consideration was being given to the "slum" area of Kalk Bay, which was inhabited by fishermen. Initial proposals to move them to near Retreat were strongly resisted. In March 1937 a Flat scheme was approved for them at Kalk Bay, with two storey buildings providing 48 units. The Kalk Bay Flats are designed in an extremely conservative way along "traditional" lines. No indication is given in City Council minutes as to why this was done. (Housing & Slum Clearance Committee minutes: 30 October 1937; 6 Dec 1937; 7 March 1938; 6 March 1939; 2 Feb 1940). The City Council's Housing Department designed conservative housing blocks with pitched roofs and vertical windows, contrasting with the modernist inner city and Q-Town [later Kewtown] schemes. This traditional "Heimat" style, rooted in vernacular models, was supported by National Socialists in Germany, who marginalized modernists. Similarly, in Sweden during the late 1930s and early 1940s, social housing blended modern and traditional elements, featuring pitched roofs and small windows, reflecting the era's architectural contradictions. (Colquhoun 2003:168, 195-6) Condensed from André VAN GRAAN's Doctoral Thesis (2011): Negotiating Modernism in Cape Town: 1918-1948. See OpenUCT. |
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