Page 150 - Bulletin 20 2016
P. 150

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               dated  in  Daintree  while  three  lady  students  were  later  housed  at  Roxton  where  they  were

               companions to Jane Marsh. The number of students steadily increased and by 1949 were 35.


               With  this  steady  increase  a  prefabricated  building  housing  a  dining-room,  kitchen  and

               accommodation  for  new  students  was  proposed  by  architect  Nic.  Mansveldt,  but  it  was
               refused building permission by the City Council. This resulted in the building of Marsh in

               1955 which was a complete new double-storey block for the teaching staff, with flats and

               student-room  accommodation  (architect  Nic.  Mansveldt).  The  builder  was  P.  V.  Twine  of
               Plumstead  who  had  previously,  at  the  end  of  1951,  enlarged  Roxton,  which  became  the

               Educational and Administrative Centre of the Bible Institute after Jane’s death.


               More buildings followed as the Bible Institute grew. These included:

               •  Douglas, a single-storey men’s residence.

               •  Daintree,  destroyed  by  fire  December  1987,  and  rebuilt  as  a  three-storey  women’s
                  residence, with two flats, (architect Derek Tomlin).
               •  Kingon (1970) a double-storey building housing a kitchen, a dining-room, a two-bedroom
                  flat and a single-bedroom flatlet and linked to Marsh (architect Peter Pelser).
               •  Marsh:  the  original  double-storey  building  of  1955,  converted  into  offices,  flats  and
                  additional men’s accommodation. (architect Peter Pelser).
               •  Lecturers  and  their  families  were  accommodated  in  The  Cottage  (originally  Marsh’s
                  chauffeur’s residence), altered and upgraded in 1951/55 and 2006.
               •  Keswick at the north-end of the Institute was a double-storey building and was originally
                  the  home  of  the  Rev.  Vernon  de  Smidt,  (1880  -  1973),  who  was  one  of  the  founding
                  teachers at the Bible Institute in 1923. He later became the Rector of the Holy Trinity
                  Church Kalk Bay (1934-1956). He donated Keswick to the Bible Institute on his death per
                  his Will of July 1973, and today the building is the home of the Vice-Principal of the
                  Bible Institute and his family.

               •  The west extension of Roxton (known as the New Library) was financed by a donation
                  from Twin Oaks, a Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Illinois, USA. It is a double-storey
                  building  with  a  new  library  (which  forms  part  of  the  old  library)  on  the  ground  floor,
                  above which is a lecture-room with the appropriate sloped seating. The architects for this
                  extension, which was completed in 1985, were Messrs Pieter Pelser and Norman Calitz.
                  The new library consists of a reading room, a study area and a “short loan” section. The
                  library holds over 20,000 books, subscribes to over seventy periodicals, and has a large
                  tape collection. It was fully computerised in 1993.



               The Bible Institute has thus grown, not only in buildings but also in the number of students
               which,  as  of  2014,  comprises:  thirty-five  full-time  students,  ten  part-time  students  and
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