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CATALOGUE NO: 637 (A) / Doornfontein

HERITAGE RESOURCES SURVEYING FORM

The National Estate comprises all places and objects of cultural significance, otherwise known as heritage resources. In terms of section 2 of the National Heritage Resources Act, 1999, a place could be a site, area or region, an open space, including a public square, street or park, an individual building or other structure, or group of buildings or structures, made by people and which are fixed to land. The immediate surroundings of a place of cultural significance are equally pertinent to the protection and management of such a place.

GREATER ELLIS PARK DEVELOPMENT DATE RECORDED: 2005

Compiled and recorded by: William Martinson; Henry Paine; Johann Bruwer; Catharina Bruwer; Jonathan Manning.

42, 44 Beit corner

NAME AND LOCATION:

Stand number/s / 637 (A)
Township / Doornfontein
Street address / 18, 20, 22, 24 Nind Street corner 42, 44 Beit Street
GIS reference
Previous stand number/s / 504, 505, 506, 507
Name of place / GOLDENBERG’S BUILDING
Previous/alternative name/s / GW Foods (Historical name as company appears to have moved on.
ARCHITECT / DATE OF COMPLETION / ESTIMATED COST
Wayburne & Wayburne / 1949 / ₤19000

henry paine

+

barry gould

Heritage Resources Management

BUILDER
BUILDING STYLE / BUILDING TYPE
Late Modernist. / Shops to street, offices / light industrial above.
TITLE DEED INFORMATION / Period
Original owner: Coldbee Investments (Pty) Ltd.

NOTABLE SITE FEATURES:

Nil.

ENVIRONMENT:

Buildings surrounding it are of similar scale but much higher scale across Nind Street to the south.

INSCRIPTION:

None.

CONDITION:

42 44 Beit; corner 24 Nind Street:
1989: According to the Architectural Survey, Technikon Witwatersrand, 1989, the condition of building is fair to good.
2003: Building is vacant and condition deteriorating.
2005: fair.
OCCUPIED / VACANT

DESCRIPTION OF PLACE:

Double storey face brick modernist building with cantilevered balcony; retail and manufacturing with residential above.
See also STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE.

ALTERATIONS:

1987: various alterations; estimated cost R3 760; Bartin Chaskelson Francois Architects.

INTEGRITY:

Good.
Unsympathetic canopy facing added after 1989.

ZONING:

Current use/s / Appears to be used as residential. / Previous use/s

OCCUPANCY HISTORY:

Date / Owner/s / Address / Tenant

SITE HISTORY:

GENERAL NOTES:

“WAYBURNE, Israel (6 Mar 1905 Aug 1983) was born in Russia and arrived in South Africa in 1910 where he was educated. It is not certain where he received his training although he probably studied at the University of the Witwatersrand. He was a member of the Institute of South African Architects by 1927 and in 1931 joined the staff of African Consolidated Investment Co Ltd as architect to their construction department. How long he stayed in this post is uncertain. He collaborated with GRINKER & SKELLY on a block of flats in Killarney, Johannesburg in 1933 and from 1933 until 1936 several blocks of flats by him have been recorded in central Johannesburg. After 1944 he was in partnership with C Wayburne (d.1957), practising as Wayburne & Wayburne. TPIA 1927; ISAA 1927; MIA; MCQS. (SAAR Dec 1931:127; South African Jewish Year Book 1929:568990; ISAA mem list).” (1.)

PROTECTION STATUS (under the National Heritage Resources Act, 1999):

Section 34(1) structure(*60 Year Rule*) / Provisional protection
Provincial heritage site / Protected area
National heritage site / Heritage area
Provincial heritage resources register, including places of local importance
Remarks:

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PLACE:

Assessment criteria as set out in Section 3(3) of the National Heritage Resources Act, 1999 / Points out of possible 10 / Explanatory notes
Importance in the community, or pattern of SA history.
Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspect of SA’s natural or cultural heritage.
Potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of SA’s natural or cultural heritage. / The building illustrates a phase in the historic development of non-residential buildings in Doornfontein.
Importance in demonstrating the principle characteristics of a particular class of SA’s natural or cultural places.
Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics valued by the community or cultural group.
Importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.
Strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
Strong or special association with the life or work of a person, group or organisation of importance in the history of SA.
Site of significance relating to the history of slavery in SA.
Contextual significance (not part of Section 3(3) criteria of the National Heritage Resources Act, 1999). / Contributes to character of the area and forms part of collection of Modernist / late Modernist buildings in Beit Street.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE:

Designed by the well known architectural practice of Wayburne and Wayburne, and dating from 1949, this double storey face brick Modernist building forms an integral part of the historic development of buildings in Beit Street. The building contributes in an important way to the small scale grain and texture of Doornfontein. It is a relatively intact example of a light industrial building of its age and represents an example of the transition from residential to light industrial. The building makes a group of similar buildings with its neighbour to the north as well as the group of face brick, gabled industrial buildings further north on Nind Street.
The building on the northern part on the Stand (44 Beit Street) is a late modernist structure with some merit. The building contributes to the scale and character of Beit Street and would be ideally suited to adaptive re-use. The canopy should be cleaned up to reveal the original structure. Canted, curved columns indicate its modernist origin and period of design. Also brick detailing, plastered window surrounds and shadow line cornice.


RECOMMENDATIONS:

Urgent action
Protection status of place / Specific recommendations, if any, and remarks
Should the place be formally protected under the National Heritage Resources Act, 1999?
Presentation of place / Specific recommendations, if any, and remarks
Measures to be taken with regard to the erection of explanatory plaques etc., in order to suitably indicate the heritage value of the place.
Future management of place as a heritage resource / Specific recommendations, if any, and remarks
Measures to be taken in order to ensure the sustainable conservation of the place.

SOURCES:

Preliminary heritage survey of Greater Ellis Park Development area (unpublished report), HJC Paine et al, December 2003.

Architectural Survey of Doornfontein (unpublished report), Technikon Witwatersrand, 1989.

Plans record: 637 Doornfontein (Archives, Building Control, Development Management, City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality).

1. Architects In South Africa 1780 – 1940; Draft manuscript, J Walker & G M van der Waal, 1992, HSRC, Pretoria.