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Town Hall - Second
Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal
STREET-WILSON and BARR: Architect
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Contact Artefacts | MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | Town Hall - Second STREET-WILSON and BARR: Architect | |||
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| This replaced the 1st Town Hall which was destroyed in a fire on 12th July, 1898. The building was formally opened in August, 1901 by His Royal Highness the Duke of Cornwall and York. Three-storey public building: main roofs in copper, subsidiary roofs in pitched corrugated iron, red brick walls with plaster bands and elaborate quoins. This landmark building of high character was designed by the architect W STREET-WILSON. The original City Hall was completed in 1893 and rebuilt, after the fire that destroyed it, in 1898. It was declared a National Monument in 1969. The City Hall is the largest red brick building in the southern hemisphere and takes its architectural style from the Flemish Renaissance, evident in the variety of gables and turrets which punctuate the parapet. An imposing campanile rises on the Church Street/Commercial Road corner and evidences some of the most elaborate detailing to be seen in the city. The entrances from Commercial Road and Church Street have heavily moulded brick and plaster porte-cochère. The Pietermaritzburg City Hall is one of the best known period buildings in the Republic and, with its sisters, Publicity House and the old Supreme Court, form a core in the heart of the city unequalled in the country. [Bassett, Brian ed, 1986. The Buildings of Pietermaritzburg - Volume One. Pietermaritzburg: The Pietermaritzburg City Council. pp, 661-2.] (PTW&B:56) (A plaque inside the main entrance reads: 'the hall was restored in 1901 by Street-Wilson & W. Paton' on the occasion of the visit of Royalty at that time) All truncated references not fully cited below are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon. Books that reference Town Hall - Second
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