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		House Levson Parkview, Johannesburg, Gauteng Douglas Maurice COWIN: Design Architect COWIN and ELLIS: Architect

Date: 1936 Type: Homestead Status: Extant   Click to view large map Coordinates: 26°10'20.36" S 28°01'09.46" E Alt: 1679m

House Levson is situated at 2A Tyson Road (Stand RE/1193) Parkview, and was designed for Leon Levson, a Russian emigrant who had arrived in South Africa and established himself as a portrait photographer in Johannesburg. After the Second World War, he travelled through South Africa capturing the changing social conditions, the migrant labour system and the rapid urbanisation taking place. Levson’s wife Freda ran her husband's photographic business from their new home in Parkview. Freda Levson was also involved as an administrator for the South African Treason Trial Defence Fund, over a period of four years. It has been stated that Nicholas Monsarrat wrote ‘The Cruel Sea’ while staying at the Levson’s House. Leon Levson died in Malta in 1968 and Freda Levson died in 2004 in London. William Martinson, December 2025 References: Flo Bird: Johannesburg Heritage Foundation; National Portrait Gallery website; SA History Online website. (SAAR May 1936:156-7; SAAR Mar 1944: 49-59; CE Dept plan 7 May 1935; Herbert 1975:145) Transcript of the text from a contemporary published article on the house, accompanied by plan drawings and various photographs: HOUSE LEVSON, WESTCLIFFE • COWIN AND ELLIS, ARCHITECTS The client had chosen a difficult Westcliffe [sic] site, sloping rapidly to the south, access being from the north and the main vista the west. Moreover, the architects had to adapt their scheme very largely to existing foundations, which had been laid according to plans prepared by another architect. Taking into consideration these limiting conditions, the architects must be congratulated on their achievement, which is all the greater because of the necessity for strict economy. (The final cost of the house, without painting, which was done by the owner, was £1,500.) The original requirements were: A very large photographic studio, a living room with dining alcove, one bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, laundry, garage and servant’s quarters. Good use has been made of the differences in level, studio, garage, etc., being arranged on the lower level, whilst living and bedroom are on street level. From the entrance hall a staircase leads down to the studio, which has ample light from the south. The garage is built out to the west, forming a delightful loggia and terrace in front of living and dining room. (It must be noted that the dining room was originally designed only as an alcove connected with the living room. The somewhat inorganic separation is one of a number of alterations asked for during the course of the job.) The living room is remarkable for the fine way in which the view has been made an integral part of the composition. The setting and elegant sub-division of the north window is particularly pleasing. So is the arrangement of the bedroom and bathroom, but here, on the other hand, the fenestration is open to criticism. The small type of window as used in the bedroom has come to be looked upon - in the vocabulary of standardised modern architecture - as the proper outward expression of minor elements. Hence, to use it for the main or only bedroom might easily result in a misinterpretation of the whole exterior composition, quite apart from the fact that the suitability of this type of window for this type of room might be argued. Apart from such minor points, House Levson is remarkable as much for easy circulation and efficiency inside as for crisp, competent handling of the outside. Among the small houses built recently it stands out as an example of how smoothly and unaffectedly the idiom of modern architecture is adaptable to complicated problems of site and construction. Reference: THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD The Journal of the Transvaal, Natal and Orange Free State Provincial Institutes of South African Architects and the Chapter of South African Quantity Surveyors. Johannesburg. Vol 21 No. 5, May 1936. pp 156 - 159 Submitted by William Martinson. 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.