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		Merino Building Central Tshwane (Pretoria), Gauteng BURG DOHERTY BRYANT and PARTNERS: Architect

Date: 1987 Type: Offices Status: Extant Street: Pretorius St   Click to view large map Coordinates: 25°44'52.17" S 28°11'07.79" E Alt: 1321m

The "Merino Building" - until recently - housed the offices of the Department of Agriculture: Land Reform and Rural Development, which include the Surveyor General’s office and the Registrar of Deeds. This building, on the corner of Pretorius and Bosman Streets, was constructed in 1987 by Shoredits Holdings as headquarters for the South African Wool Board. The architect was ‘Burg, Lodge and Burg’. The name of their building was certainly appropriate! The South African Wool Board was constituted in 1946 as an independent and non-profit making statutory board in response to the rapid rise of synthetic replacements for natural wool fibre. Its objectives were the improvement of marketing, advertising, and technical research of wool and wool textiles. The board continued until 1997. The Department of Agriculture: Land Reform and Rural Development moved in April of this year to their brand-new offices at Berea Park, a project of R1.88 bn. One however wonders who will now occupy the “favourite wool sheep of South Africa”? (Posted on Facebook by Friends of Tshwane Heritage Research Centre)