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Panels, Santam & Sanlam Building, corner Burg & Wale Streets, Cape Town

The Santam / Sanlam building was built by Joseph Rubbi during 1930 – 32. It was designed
by Architects Louw & Louw part of whose brief from Santam was that the building should

reflect the company’s confidence in South Africa’s financial future - this was the time of

the Great Depression. It was therefore designed in the Art Deco style that was the
international idiom at this time. In its context it was one of many tall buildings, “sky-

scrapers” of seven or eight storeys, that were changing Cape Town’s skyline at this time.
By comparison, the true sky-scrapers of New York, such as the Chrysler Building, then the

world’s tallest, were being built to a height of 68 storeys. The Santam building was made
from the very best materials; the exterior surfaces of the ground floor and mezzanine were

of polished granite and the floors above of sandstone.

The façade contained many elements symbolic of a young and vigorous country, among

them Wynne’s 57 panels (11 sets of 5) placed at intervals between the spandrels. The

panels depict aspects of South African life: commerce, industry, agriculture, sport, and
nature. (Figs. 4.41 – 4.47). To execute them a template in 3-ply would have been made of

each scene, then the outline would have been marked out on the surface of the cement slab,
and then etched into the face of the slab using an electrically-powered chisel. Fine details

would have been finished with hand chisels and files. The work, which was carried out at
the Salt River Cement Works, would have been strenuous activity and may have taken over

a year to complete

In 1990 the building underwent a R12 million refurbishment under the supervision of

architects Munnik, Visser, Black and Fish. The building is today regarded as one of Cape
Town’s most important examples of the Art Deco period.