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Colonial Offices
Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal

POWELL and SON: Architect
William Henry POWELL: Design Architect

Date:1895-1901 : 2008-2011
Type:Government Buildings
Status:Extant
Street:Church St

(RIBA Jnl Jul 28, 1900:450)

Three storey civic building: slate roof. The building derives from the late English Renaissance Revival period with elegant columns which rise through two floors to support the main pediment, heavily rusticated at ground floor to increase formality: A central domical roof. The walls and columns are of stone and the casement windows timber-framed. This building is one of the most important landmarks in the city, as well as being of considerable historical and architectural significance.

[Bassett, Brian ed, 1986:306]

Read the article 'A tale of two phoenixes: The Colonial Building and its architect William Powell' by Stephen Coan, published in the December 2012 issue number 42 of the Natal Society's annual publication Natalia.

WE ROBARTS was awarded second premium.

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COLONIAL BUILDING FACT SHEET

ADDRESS

Church Street, Pietermaritzburg

ORIGIN

Old Colonial Building was originally built in 1899 and the colonnaded front façade was subsequently completed in 1901. The building was home to various government offices over the years. The design of the building is attributed to William Henry Powell, who won £100 for its design back in 1894. The foundation stone was laid in 1897 and Powell died in 1900, before the building was completed.

GVK-SIYA ZAMA RESTORATION PROJECT: 2008 - 2011

WORK COMMENCED
WORK COMPLETED
June 2008
February 2011

SCOPE OF WORK

The project included complete refurbishment, renovation, rehabilitation, and waterproofing of the existing building. Parts of the roof were replaced and re-waterproofed, in most cases this was done using applications such as lead, as it would have been when the building was originally built. The interior of the building required extensive refurbishment. Ceilings and timber floors were replaced; as well as all electrical reticulation and plumbing. A new air-conditioning system was installed, along with extensive steel shelving and archive rooms, all in line with the requirements of the new tenants, the Master of the High Court and Justice Department.

Where possible, original materials were re-used, where this was not possible, elements were replaced using similar materials as close as possible to the original.

CONTRACT VALUE R53 million

FIRE

In June 2009 a fire caused extensive damage to the building. GVK-Siya Zama took immediate action by making the damaged areas safe and starting with repairs. Professionals were called on to provide design guidance for the reconstruction of the roof, the well-known domes and many intricate decorative finishes. The company completed the repair work, together with the original project, as scheduled and without compromise to the integrity of the original building.

POINTS OF INTEREST

The Old Colonial Building is a fine example of 19th century Victorian architecture. Many of the impressive sculptures on the façade of the building had been damaged over the years. Using traditional methods and systems many of these sculptures were re-created and restored to their original splendour.

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Restoration release:

PRESERVING OUR PRECIOUS PAST

From Colonial, Cape Dutch, Indian and Oriental to Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco, the architecture of Kwa-Zulu Natal is a treasure trove of the area’s rich history and multicultural diversity. Unfortunately, over time and due to weathering as well as a lack of adequate care, a number of the province’s architecturally notable buildings have fallen into disrepair. The provincial government and other agencies recognise the importance of preserving these sites for future generations and continue to invest in their restoration.

To ensure authentic and accurate restoration, specialist contractor GVK-Siya Zama - with its long-standing reputation and expertise in this field, has, over the years, been enlisted to carry out repairs and restorative work on a multitude of KZN’s historical landmarks. According to Group Managing Director Dumisani Madi, “the restoration of historic structures is very important. It ensures that our cultural inheritance survives, not only contributing to the legacies of the towns and provinces in which they stand, but also to the rich heritage of our country.”

“Over the years we have worked on hundreds of historical buildings from small Victorian houses to major landmarks such as the Supreme Court, Durban and Pietermaritzburg Post Offices, Alexandra Road Police Station, Provincial Legislative Buildings and the Durban City Hall”, says Madi. “Restorations such as these are complex projects which includes ensuring that repairs to components, such as brick work and mouldings, match existing finishes as closely as possible. Most of these buildings were built in the late 1800’s and we often have to employ the same methods and materials originally used - a challenging task since most of these materials are no longer in production and have not been for many years. “We are fortunate to be able to call on Szerelmey, our sister company in the UK, for advice. They are renowned for their expertise in stonework and have restored countless historical landmarks in the UK.”

While the work may have its challenges, the GVK-Siya Zama team continues to lend a bit of spit and polish to KZN’s architectural gems. Recent work has included two interesting projects in Pietermaritzburg at the Colonial Building Complex and Villa Sans Souci, a national monument in Pentrich.

Madi explains, “The ornate and intricately detailed Colonial Building had been vacant for a number of years and, prior to the start of this project, had been occupied by vagrants. The building had deteriorated dramatically, was pilfered of intricate lead and copper mouldings, priceless historical elements and suffered extensive water damage to the original timber flooring and remaining lead and copper detailing.

We replaced parts of the roof and re-waterproofed it; this was mostly done using lead flashings and cappings, as it would have been done originally. Externally, our work included cleaning the sandstone façades, as well as repairing or replacing many of the ornate moulded decorations which appear on grand old buildings such as this one.

On the interior we replaced pressed metal ceilings, moulded cornices and solid timber flooring; as well as completely re-wiring the building, installing new fire escape stairways, a lift, new air-conditioning and a specialist fire detection system - in line with the requirements of the new tenants, the Master of the High Court and Justice Department.”

Issued by Amelia Keefer
Corporate Communications Executive
Telephone (021) 461 6665
E-mail: ameliak@gvk.co.za

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SPEECH: Richard Williams

CEO of the Gordon Verhoef & Krause Group

Good afternoon, I’m Richard Williams Group CEO for GVK and Siya Zama.

Welcome to all of you here this afternoon and in particular our client, the Department of Public Works, and the professional team on this project - also a special welcome to one of the founders of our group, Gordon Verhoef.

We’ve been in the restoration business for 50 years now and it really is a privilege to have the opportunity to restore a building of this scale and vintage to a standard and for a purpose that reflects its stature in Pietermaritzburg and the Province.

While a large part of our work these days is in new building work and commercial refurbishment, it is vital to us to maintain and develop our skills in our traditional market of restoration and renovation.

A restoration project is never without its challenges and it takes constructive and committed teamwork between the client, professionals and contractor to bring it to fruition. That has certainly been the case here and I want to acknowledge and thank the entire team for the effort that they have put into ensuring the success of this project.

We’ve faced and dealt with the usual unexpected challenges that one encounters in restoration work, which on this contract were greatly added to last year with the fire that destroyed much of the roof above where we’re standing now, and extensively damaged the interior which was at an advanced stage of work.

The professionals and our site team wasted no time in making the affected areas safe, and getting on with repairing the damage involving extensive design work, particularly for the roof and domes and the complex construction details that went along with this.

While the fire was viewed as a disaster for the building, there is also the positive side of the story in that we have been able to complete the repair work within the contract period, and in the process, have renewed much of the structure and thus extended its life without compromise to the finishes.

It has been our privilege to undertake many noteworthy restoration projects over the years in Pietermaritzburg, such as the main Post Office, Loop Street Police Station, the Legislative Building Complex, the RTI Traffic Training Centre and Alexandra Rd Police Station, among numerous others. At present we are working on Villa Sans Souci in Pentrich, which is virtually complete, and Government House at UNISA which we have just commenced.

There is a rich architectural heritage in Pietermaritzburg and we hope that work done by ourselves and many others in preserving it, will encourage the custodians of neglected buildings to follow suit.

(Submitted by Stephen Coan)

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 Colonial Offices

Bassett, Brian (Editor). 1986. The buildings of Pietermaritzburg (Volume 1). Pietermaritzburg: Pietermaritzburg City Council. pg 306
Greig, Doreen. 1971. A Guide to Architecture in South Africa. Cape Town: Howard Timmins. pg 180
Hillebrand, Melanie. 1975. Aspects of architecture in Natal, 1880-1914. Pietermaritzburg: Unpublished MA. Dept Fine Art and History of Art, University of Natal. pg 196