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SAR Stores Building
Johannesburg, Gauteng
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Click to view large map Coordinates: | EIGHT-STOREY OFFICE BLOCK for S.A.R. STORES DEPARTMENT New £44,000 Building In Rissik Street, Johannesburg One of the striking facts about modern South Africa is the rapid growth of facilities in all spheres administering to the public service. To this the South African Railways and Harbours is no exception for, today, another large building has been completed in Johannesburg to provide for the Administration's increasing demand for accommodation. The new building is a handsomely conceived structure eight storeys high, and has been erected on a site on the corner of Rissik and Noord Streets, immediately opposite the present S.A.R. Headquarters. The building faces east, and the windows on the north elevation overlook the Railway platforms. It provides office accommodation for the Railway Stores Department, and includes, on the ground floor, a section for the S.A.R. Sick Fund dispensary and doctor's consulting room. The seventh floor has been reserved for medical and health officials connected with Railway administration. * * * Brick and Brizolit Reflecting to some extent the treatment carried out in the new Johannesburg Railway Station and the present Headquarters, the new offices are of reinforced concrete-frame construction, brick-filled. Both east and north facades - the other two are hidden - are faced with a golden-brown facing brick from the top of the windows on the first floor to the parapet, which has a light brizolit coping. The narrow piers between the windows have been picked out by the use of dark brindle. Further relief, as well as a horizontal emphasis, has been obtained by the provision of continuous brizolit sills and lintels coupling the six windows in each of the wings flanking a slightly recessed central portion. On both facades a granite brizolit facing has been carried out from the pavement to the top of the first-floor windows. On the first floor the piers between the windows are triangular in shape, and penetrate slightly the light brizolit moulding which on this floor takes the place of the sills and lintels to the windows. A concrete slab canopy runs round both facades over the ground floor, merging into a small balcony fitted with a wrought-iron railing over the entrance doors in Rissik Street. On the slightly recessed central portion a brizolit facing has been carried up from the steps to the top of the second floor, and is continued in two narrow "pylons" rising to the top of the facade to carry the flag masts. Between these pylons and the central windows on each floor there is a precast decorative panel worked in brizolit of a light grey colour. The kejaat entrance doors, flanked by sidelights with projecting glazing bars, are glass-panelled, and are set in a raised, fluted frame which is carried to the top of the second floor. On the first floor, within this frame, a glass-panelled door opens out on to the balcony over the entrance way. The entrance doors are approached up a short flight of steps, faced with brizolit also. On the south end of the Rissik Street front there is an additional entrance comprising the same type of doors set in a small recessed porch. This is the entrance to the Sick Fund Department. All the bulk-head lights for the basement have been fitted with decorative wrought-iron grilles. * * * Plan and Interior TreatmentA simple plan has been carried out on a site which, on the Rissik Street front, is 100 feet [30m] long and 50 feet [15m] deep. The entrance doors lead into a small entrance hall with wall finishings in light tambootie marble up to a height of 9 feet [2.7m], with a light capping and plaster above. The flooring is of grey marble slabs with a black marble border. On the right-hand side of the hall are two passenger lifts, and on the left the main stairway, also carried out in marble. The marble finishing is repeated in the lift hall on the first floor, and is carried up the stairway to the intermediate landing between the first and second floors. As will be seen in the reproduced plan, the entrance hall leads into a corridor running north-south. At the north end this links up with a smaller corridor running at right angles to connect with the fire escape situated at the back of the building. This arrangement is repeated on all floors, the only variation being in the size and number of offices. The largest office on the ground floor is that accommodating the Purchase Section. Situated on the west side of the corridor, this has a wide counter opening facing the entrance hall, the counter being fitted with a decorative aluminium alloy grille. With the exception of the Sick Fund apartments, all the offices on this floor are ancillary to the main purchase office. In addition to office accommodation, each floor has its own conveniences, a double set being provided on the ground, third and seventh floors. The flooring in the offices is mainly linoleum. Cork tiles have been used in the corridors. The main stairway terminates on the seventh floor, so that access to the roof is up the last flight of the fire-escape stair at the back of the building, this being the only approach to the lift motor-rooms on the roof. On the south-west corner of the roof two double rooms, a shower room and lavatory have been added to accommodate the Native [sic] maintenance staff. * * * Special Features and a Variation It will be noticed from the reproduced plan of the ground floor that the south-west corner is occupied by a large store room behind the Sick Fund dispensary. By reason of the nature of the plan, the sole source of natural illumination would have been a window in the north wall overlooking the small yard. The south elevation has therefore been recessed a distance of eight feet [2.4m] from the first floor, starting from a point about midway back from the Rissik Street front. This arrangement has enabled glass-crete roof lights to be built into the small flat roof left exposed over the store room and partly over the dispensary. A, practically similar arrangement is to be found at the rear of the building, only in this instance there is no recessing of the elevation. On the ground floor the main office of the Purchase Section projects out from the rear elevation, so that the weight of the elevation above has had to be carried on square-section columns in the office concerned. Another interesting feature incorporated in the design of the building is the provision of cable ducts by building double floors to all the corridors. A space of 2 feet 9 inches [87cm] has been left between the concrete slabs forming the floor of each corridor and the ceiling of that below. Throughout the building, telephone cables are hidden behind built-up skirtings. The joinery throughout is in kejaat. Another point about the corridors is that they are illuminated by means of "borrowed" lights. In addition to the usual fire-protection appliances, hydrants being provided on each floor, the landing halls may be cut off from the rest of the building by means of automatically-operated fire doors. In the building there is a large basement, the plan of which is roughly a repetition of the upper floors. It is gained by the main stairway or the lifts, and contains a large store room, the boiler room, a large laboratory and a few small accessory rooms. It should be added that central heating is provided by means of radiators throughout. This new building was designed departmentally, the total cost being about £44,000 [R 88 000]. (PWSA 1940 May Vol IV No 19:15-16). 2026: The building is extant but vandalised. |