Page 6 - Bulletin 21

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Before 1890 all buildings, including hotels, due to the high risk of fire, were restricted to the

statutory height of three-storeys and had to have wide staircases. In 1891 the style of
architecture throughout the Western World changed dramatically after an American architect,

Louis Sullivan, introduced his famous “form follows function” architectural philosophy.

His revolutionary design was first seen in the Wainwright Building, St Louis, Missouri. It
was a square flat-roofed building of nine storeys with each storey having a concrete floor

with a separate outer wall, enclosed and supported within a single steel framework sheathed

with terracotta. An electric lift serviced each floor. This whole concept reduced the risk of
fire, and overcame the statutory limits regarding height and stairway widths.

Dutch-born architect Antony De Witt introduced this new design to Cape Town in 1892 with
his plans for the new J W Jagger & Co. store on St George’s Street. (Fig. 1.2.)

The City Council only approved these plans the following year after they had undertaken a

detailed investigation, since the concept departed from all previously approved plans. This
design was referred to as the ‘American Skyscraper’. It soon became the standard description

of any buildings, hotels or commercial concerns, which were built higher than the previous

restriction of three floors.

It was emphasised by Council when approving these plans that the foundations were of the
utmost importance (sometimes taking longer to build than the actual construction.)

Specifications of the steel-pile foundation, with each floor having its own outer wall, had to

be approved by a qualified structural engineer and were to be strictly supervised during
construction. No plan was passed without this qualification.

De Witt’s plain outer-façade was not endorsed by many architects who readily adopted the

use of concrete floors encapsulated by a steel frame, but remained committed to an art

nouveau outer façade, which De Witt himself used in 1894. He designed the first high-rise
hotel in Cape Town, the Hamburg Hotel, corner of Long and Castle Streets (later renamed

Hotel Metropole.) (Fig. 1.3.) The building is now the Grand Daddy Hotel.

De Witt’s most impressive hotel, however, was the double-storey International Hotel, Mill
Street, Gardens. (Fig. 1.4.) Here his favourite “Swiss chalet” design was well-received by