BUILDING AN ICON

In the latest in our series celebrating classic South African buildings, architect JOHAN SWART takes us on a deep-dive into one of Tshwane's most majestic Modernist jewels - the art-filled TRANSVAAL PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION BUILDING.

- JOHAN SWART

Alexis Preller's mural, Discovery, which once stretched across the interiors of the Transvaal Provincial Administration building, is now housed at the Old Merensky Library at the University of Pretoria.

THE BASICS The Transvaal Provincial Administration (TPA) building, now Public Works House, is one of Tshwane's most significant yet publicly unappreciated works of architecture. Inaugurated in 1963, the project was a highlight of state-sponsored Modernism - a prestigious and politically motivated development of immense scale and technological complexity, intended to portray the apartheid state as a progressive government. It also introduced an era of high-rise construction to the city. Mostly vacant since the mid-1990s, the TPA building towers over the southwestern part of Church Square, hiding within it a variety of architectural surprises - and a remarkable collection of artworks by some of the greatest white South African artists of the time.

The TPA building at the time of its inauguration in 1963. 

NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW THAT... In an interesting twist of history, remnants of an even earlier era can be found in the Old Pretoria Chambers on the 11th floor of the TPA building. These rooms borrowed from Hollard House in Jacob Maré (now Jeff Masemola) Street, built in the late 19th century to the design of architect Wim de Zwaan. Before its demolition in the 1950s, the interior features of Hollard House were salvaged and installed in the new TPA building. Beautiful panelling and timber ceiling scrolls define the spaces, and leaded glass windows depict ZAR-era political figures, such as President Paul Kruger and State Secretary Willem Leyds.