Page 67 - Bulletin 15 2011

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September 1922 the home Wynholme was designed for John Quail, who was
a partner with Alfred Babbs of the rm Babbs, Lamdon, Quantity Surveyors.
The home stood alongside Babbs’ home. These plans were signed Walgate
and Elsworth and may well have been one of their rst contracts after the
formation of their partnership in early 1922.

Elsworth’s partnership with Walgate prospered and local work in the

South Peninsula included the supervising of Sir Drummond Chaplin’s home
in Noordhoek, designed by Baker in London.
Other works of note in the early years of
that partnership included Herschel Girls School

and swimming pool, Claremont in 1923, the
design of Fuller Hall (women’s residence) and
Smuts Hall (men’s residence) in 1924 at the
University of Cape Town. Here the magnicent
panelled great halls and common-rooms of both
residences, as well as the impressive courtyards,
received much acclaim. Their partnership
also included the design of the War Memorial
Chapel at Diocesan College, Rondebosch.
(Builder: J. Rubbi), completed October 1926.
In Muizenberg they did extensive additions to Percy Walgate - 1920
Mrs. Isadore Schlesinger’s home, Mymering.

This was followed by their design of a new home for Mr. J.T. Flegg,
known as Worlds View, 16 Pentrich Road, in 1928.

In 1932 Elsworth designed his own home, The Rafters, in Upper
Kimberley Road.
This home received
widespread praise for
its English (as against
Cape) vernacular
architecture. It was
described in an

overseas publication,
Architecture Review
(1933: P.115/16) as a
charming study of 14
th
Century farmhouse-
type architecture
adapted to modern

The Rafters - January 2010