De Loor's Brood en Banket Bakkers

471 Church Street

Hidden behind a secondhand car sale outlet in Church Street East is one of the last remaining structures of the industrial area of Arcadia.

There were building contractors (Dorlas and de Veer Streets), stone masons (Bailey Lane) blacksmiths and farriers, coach and wagon builders, bakeries, a saw mill and an ’aerated and mineral water manufacturer’.

Very little is left of our industrial heritage in this area and what is still there is hardly recognizable. An example is the double volume bakery building of de Loor’s Bread and Biscuit Factory as shown on their calendar of 1935.

Who was de Loor?

Johannes Hendrikus de Loor was born in Buren, Holland and immigrated to Pretoria in 1896 and bought the Wilhelmina-bakkery in Blood Street. He moved the bakery to Potgieter Street and later to the site of the Arcadia Flour Mills of which EPA Meintjes was the proprietor, and changed the name to de Loor’s Bakkery.

The double volume building on the right still exists. (Calender Bouwmeester-huisversameling)

De Loor became chairman of the Master Bakers Association in Pretoria. His son, Barend de Loor, was the late lector of statistics at the Transvaal University College and professor at UP.

JH de Loor passed away on October 14, 1929 and was laid to rest in the Rebecca Street Cemetery.

Funeral notice of Johannes Hendrikus de Loor. (Bouwmeester-huisversameling).

To honour this entrepreneur and his achievements a commemoration plaque, the so called ’blue plaque’ on the site would be commendable.

References:
Andrews T & Ploeger J: Street and Place Names of Old Pretoria. JL van Schaik, Pretoria. 1989.Lochhead’s Guide, Hand-book and Directory, 1913.Ploeger Jan: Nederlanders in Transvaal 1850 – 1950. JL van Schaik, Pretoria. 1994.
Pretoria 1855 – 1955. City Council of Pretoria. 1955.

Reproduced from a article by Anton Jansen in the March 2011 edition of The Arcadian

Anton Jansen 
Tshwane Buildings Heritage Association
HERITAGE AND RESTORATION CONSULTANT