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House McIntosh Tshwane (Pretoria), Gauteng William Gordon McINTOSH: Architect

Date: 1936-7 Client: Self Type: Homestead Status: Extant   Click to view map Coordinates: 25°45'55.78" S 28°14'27.11" E Alt: 1411m

The ground and first floors of House McIntosh are slid apart on either side of a central staircase, providing a loggia under the bedroom wing and a roof terrace over the living room. This achieves a flow of space on the ground floor from lounge to dining room to stair to loggia and garden, and a reverse flow on the upper storey. The sculptural articulation of functional volume and consequent juxtaposition of volume and void and the direct connection with outside space were particular concerns of the Transvaal Group of the mid-1930s. These appeared in several other houses, notably in House Stern and in Norman HANSONS own house. The building is atypical in the use of Gropius rather than Le Corbusier as formal precedent, and in the beginnings of a regional interpretation, indicated in the unplastered brickwork and exposed concrete surfaces. In this it has some connection with the early work in Pretoria of Norman EATON and Helmut STAUCH. (Julian Cooke in UIA, 1985: 60) Books that reference House McIntosh Beck, Haig (Editor). 1985. UIA International Architect : Southern Africa (Issue 8). London: International Architect. pg 60 Fisher, RC, Le Roux, SW & Maré, E (Eds). 1998. Architecture of the Transvaal. Pretoria: UNISA. pg 128, 175-196, 128, 175-196, 214, 215, 216