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		Customs House Johannesburg, Gauteng PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT: Architect Charles FS BUTT: Design Architect

Date: 1945 Type: Customs House Style: Modern Status: Unknown Street: c/o Prichard Street and Frazer Street

NEW CUSTOM HOUSE JOHANNESBURG An addition is to be made shortly to the already numerous state buildings in Johannesburg in the form of a new office block to house the Department of Customs and Excise. This new building, designed by Architects of the Public Works Department of the Union of South Africa, is to be erected on a site situated at the intersection of Pritchard and Frazer Streets, in the city. The building will have a West frontage to Frazer Street of 155 feet [46,5m] and South frontage to Pritchard Street of 103 feet [30,9m] and will consist of a basement and six floors. The basement will contain a large garage for the parking of cars belonging to the staff, and also accommodation for a very up-to-date central heating plant, with thermostatically controlled automatic stokers and circulating pumps to ensure a steady flow of water through the installation. Adequate Record Rooms and Strong Rooms for the storage of the essential Departmental records will also be provided in the basement. At this stage it is anticipated that the Department of Customs and Excise and its various branches will occupy the building from the ground floor to the third floor. The two upper floors will be occupied by other Government Departments, but will allow for further expansion of the Department of Customs and Excise when this becomes ·necessary. The building has been designed with a reinforced concrete frame construction throughout, in conformity with the usual practice for large buildings in Johannesburg. A highly satisfactory elevational treatment is achieved by a series of windowed panels, with deep hoods and sills to the windows, recessed between deep vertical fin-like piers, contrasted to expansive clean surfaces of brickwork. The panels are amply recessed on the Western front to provide protection against the strong afternoon sun. The windows on this elevation will also be provided with the latest type of metal Venetian blinds, as a further protection. Panels of face brickwork occupy the spaces between the windows. These panels and the remaining face-work will be of bricks carefully selected for colour. The roof to the Western front will be of a lean-to type, with three foot overhanging eaves. At the South- West angle of the building, set back so as to be invisible from the street, a pent house will contain, the lift machinery. The remainder of the roof is to be of flat construction, and quarters for the Caretaker will be provided at this level. The East and South elevations, away from the street frontages will have a simple plaster treatment. The main entrance has been located in Pritchard Street and consists of a granite surround and steps, enriched by a bronze grille of interesting design, with bronze doors. The interior of this entrance will be lined with marble, while on each side will be bronze direction boards, surmounted by the Union Coat of Arms in bronze and enamels. The main staircase to the first floor, the public space and the staff working space will also be lined with marble and the floors will be treated in light buff asbestos tiles, arranged in a rectangular pattern, bordered by strips of dark buff. The main staircase, providing access to the upper floors, will have marble treads and risers in harmonizing colours with margins and skirting of granolithic. A handrail of hardwood, supported on bronze bearers will be provided. Two high-speed lifts, each with a carrying capacity of 13 persons will provide a sufficient service to all floors. The subsidiary entrance in Frazer Street will have a simple granite surround and reveals and a concrete hood finished in plaster. The doors to this entrance will be of hardwood. This entrance and staircase will be lined in light buff terrazzo, and the risers and treads will be of the same material with skirting and margins of green granolithic, and a handrail similar to that of the main staircase. The treads will be provided with non-slip insets. The Eastern staircase, also providing access to all floors, will be similarly treated. A service and escape staircase, having direct egress into Pritchard Street, will be provided at the South East end of the building. All halls and corridors will have suspended ceilings to eliminate the shadow pockets caused by transverse beams when exposed. Counters to the public space on the ground floor will be of marble, with hardwood counter tops to the staff side, and with screens and grilles of metal and glass. The staff working space will have lantern lights masked by lay lights in addition to the side lighting on the North. These lantern and lay lights will be glazed in single rectangles of tinted glass to ensure softly diffused lighting for the working staff. Sufficient opening panels will allow of adequate cleaning of the glass of both the lay and lantern lights. The ceilings of the typists' rooms, public space, and staff working space, will be treated with acoustic plaster to ensure the suppression of noise. A telephone exchange on the first floor, adjacent to a cable duct, will provide telephonic communication to all branches. Steel windows will be used throughout. Internal doors will be of the solid laminated type, showing a facing of a pleasantly grained wood, those to the corridors having ventilating fanlights over. Artificial lighting generally will be of the fluorescent type. Adequate fire protection will be provided hydrants adjacent to the main stair hall on every floor, whilst the basement garage will be equipped with a Grinnel sprinkler system. Much care and thought has been put into the planning and finishings of this building, and the designers are to be congratulated on what will undoubtedly be another outstanding building to their credit. (PWSA August 1945 Vol VII No 45:10-14).