tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31130359307921071442024-03-13T10:25:32.850-07:00Melvin ResidenceRustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-21795346862207002822018-03-06T11:52:00.000-08:002018-03-06T22:41:39.803-08:00Mystery cars - Hoffman X-8<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Incedible Hoffman X-8 makes an appearance at Pebble Beach.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">POSTED IN HTTP://AUTOWEEK.COM - AUGUST 20, 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Among the Packards, Ferraris, and Cobras on the lawn at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours, there were some wonderful oddballs. One such car was the 1935 Hoffman X-8 that Myron Vernis of Akron, Ohio, brought with him to the Pebble Beach lawn. During the concours, dozens of people could be seen reaching for their programs to search for information on the Hoffman X-8.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qKSeucOK25w/Wp7v0A4BcVI/AAAAAAAABQ4/bnV7LwF_YRsGe7ro15mqB3bsh1SN_NdCgCLcBGAs/s1600/Hoffman%2BX-8%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qKSeucOK25w/Wp7v0A4BcVI/AAAAAAAABQ4/bnV7LwF_YRsGe7ro15mqB3bsh1SN_NdCgCLcBGAs/s400/Hoffman%2BX-8%2B1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hoffman X-8</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From the front, its shield-shaped grille and headlights give the little car a striking, art-deco appeal. In profile and from behind, it looks a bit like a two-thirds scale Tatra. Like the Czech car, it was a novel approach to car-building for its time. It's a steel unibody car, and its engine is mounted behind the passenger compartment, just like a Tatra. Unlike the Hans Ledwinka's creation, however, the X-8's engine is mounted in front of the rear axle, making it a mid-engine car.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OKMGLl_df94/Wp7v0FwQOII/AAAAAAAABRA/k6SPbROyNrIN6QNK8SGnSu5UoaPfOf0ZQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Hoffman%2BX-8%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OKMGLl_df94/Wp7v0FwQOII/AAAAAAAABRA/k6SPbROyNrIN6QNK8SGnSu5UoaPfOf0ZQCEwYBhgL/s400/Hoffman%2BX-8%2B2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The X-8 is powered by—you guessed it--an X-8 engine with eight cylinders, arranged in an X configuration. Henry Ford experimented with X-8 engines but the one in this car is a unique design. While Ford's X-8's were air-cooled flatheads, this car's engine has overhead cams and it's water-cooled. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Click <a href="http://melvinresidence.blogspot.co.za/2018/03/henry-fords-incredible-x-8-engine.html" target="_blank"><here></a> to see Henry Ford's X-8</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The X-8 was built as a prototype by an inventor named Roscoe C. Hoffman of Detroit. It's unclear which carmaker it was intended for, but Vernis believes that either the Fisher brothers or Henry Ford funded the project.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1961, Hoffman gave the car to Brooks Stevens as a gift and it remained in the famed designer's museum even after his death in 1995. Stevens' son, David Stevens was on hand with Vernis, eagerly assisting him in explaining just exactly what the X-8 was and what it was doing on the lawn at the most prestigious car show in the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Monterey car week is packed with car shows, vintage racing, and auctions. Autoweek will be there providing streaming photo galleries and live coverage of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, historic racing at Laguna Seca, the Monterey car auctions and plenty more. Go to Autoweek's Pebble Beach home page for complete coverage and live updates.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reIezdG9IsM" target="_blank"><here></a> to see a vdeo of Jay Leno discussing the car.</span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Read more: <span style="color: blue;">http://autoweek.com/article/events/incredible-hoffman-x-8-makes-appearance-pebble-beach#ixzz58wtw5Hs5</span></span><br />
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-46328586079535688242018-03-06T11:37:00.001-08:002018-03-06T11:58:39.704-08:00Henry Ford’s Incredible X-8 engine<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Henry Ford’s X-8 engine</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Henry Ford had some world-changing ideas—and some other ideas that went nowhere at all. Here’s the story behind his strange but fascinating X-8 engine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One notion that captured the imagination of Henry Ford throughout his life was the X-8 engine configuration, and he experimented with the oddball layout in various forms for decades. Despite its obvious shortcomings for automotive use (in our view, anyway) the concept is not as off the wall as it may seem. General Motors launched an extensive two-stroke X-8 development program in the 1930s, and the 1935 Hoffman X-8 prototype (created for the Fisher brothers by engineering consultant Roscoe Hoffman) uses the engine design to good effect. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Click <a href="http://melvinresidence.blogspot.co.za/2018/03/mystery-cars-hofman-x-8.html" target="_blank"><here> </a>to see the Hoffman X-8</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Though Ford’s experiments through the years included numerous variations, here we’re going to focus on one particular X-8 engine: the 1920-1927 prototype that Ford hoped would eventually replace the venerable 1908-1927 Model T. Let’s jump in for a closer look.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Henry Ford’s patent no. 1,639,333</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the left and below are the drawings for Henry Ford’s patent no. 1,639,333, which he applied for in 1920 and was granted on August 19, 1927. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Ford take on the X-8 could be described as two V-4 engines conjoined, one pointing up and one pointing down, but with one notable difference: The single-plane crankshaft has only two throws, one for each plane of four cylinders, front and rear. The two main journals carry caged ball bearings, and there are two camshafts on opposite sides of the engine, driving conventional L-head poppet valve gear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Much of the design and development work was carried out by Ford’s right-hand engineering man Eugene Farkas (1881-1963), a Hungarian immigrant and a graduate of the prestigious Royal Joseph Technical University in Budapest. Apparently, Ford’s contributions to the X-8 were mainly in vision and supervision, as there were dozens of Ford projects commanding his attention in these years, from railroads to rubber plantations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While there were water-cooled and overhead-valve versions of the X-8, the primary design settled upon an L-Head layout with air cooling and a fan at each end of the crankshaft. As many as two dozen prototypes of this model were built, and a good handful still exists today, including the example above on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Displacement in these prototypes was typically in the 110-120 cubic-inch range, with a bore and stroke in the neighborhood of 2.5 inches and 3.00 inches, respectively. The flywheel and ring gear doubled as a type of supercharger, but the crankshaft speed was insufficient to produce significant boost, reportedly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A car was designed to house the X-8 engine in 1925, and with no need for a radiator, the design employed a sloping front doghouse similar to the early air-cooled Franklin. However, by 1926 the X-8 was nowhere near ready for production. Despite years of development, the engine’s cooling and lubrication problems were never solved. As Ford’s inner circle, including his son Edsel, struggled to persuade him to replace the aging Model T, part of the difficulty was in convincing him to drop the troublesome X-8. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Their arguments won out, and when the Model A was introduced to the public on December 2, 1927, under the hood was a conventional 200.5 CID inline four.</span><br />
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-73170140383914431572018-02-23T05:58:00.000-08:002018-02-23T05:58:54.509-08:00Mystery cars: The Chrysler Plymouth XNR<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This one-of-a-kind Chrysler Plymouth XNR was <br />built in 1960 and is the only model in existence</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Outlandish: Its design was supposed to replicate jet aircraft and rockets, <br />while its bright red bodywork includes an exaggerated tail fin and two side fins</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This futuristic supercar was inspired by 1960s space race. It was on sale at a stratospheric $950,000... and it's worth every cent!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Plymouth XNR was a concept car developed by Chrysler and Plymouth and designer by Virgil Exner as a sports roadster to add to the Plymouth line and possibly compete with the Ford Falcon and the Chevrolet Corvette.</span></div>
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In the late 1940s America's motor industry saw a time of innovation and revolutionary car designs. Car designs emerged with styling cues such as fins and streamline bodies derived from various jets, rockets and other aircraft. Plymouth, in contrast to its competitors, valued engineering supremacy more than visual appeal.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1ddcBSJN4B4/WpAM33QziPI/AAAAAAAABO8/QMffuuGStFAyEAsOntMw67uhLPnLGDl0QCEwYBhgL/s1600/Specs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="303" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1ddcBSJN4B4/WpAM33QziPI/AAAAAAAABO8/QMffuuGStFAyEAsOntMw67uhLPnLGDl0QCEwYBhgL/s400/Specs.JPG" width="221" /></a>Eventually sales for Chrysler slowed, causing Chrysler to realize that their absence of style in their automobiles was taking its toll on marketing. In 1947 Virgil Exner, an automobile designer, changed Chrysler's designs into streamline cars, sharply contrasting from their previously squarish car bodies.</div>
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What Chrysler was lacking was a two-seater roadster to compete with the Ford Falcon and General Motors's Chevrolet Corvette. For the shorter length needed for a roadster, the chassis of the Plymouth valiant was adopted. A 170cid I-6 engine with outputs of more than 200 horsepower was a suitable choice.</div>
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Shortly after, the Plymouth Asymmetrica was born. It was renamed Plymouth XNR after its designer, Virgil Exner. The XNR sported a modified Plymouth Valiant chassis about 106.5 inches long.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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The XNR produced about 250 horsepower and could reach speeds of 150 miles per hour. However, The Plymouth XNR never made it to production and was shipped back to where it was built in "Carrozzeria Ghia in Italy".</div>
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Click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc8uuvBaUXc" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;"><HERE></span></b></a> to watch archive video of engineers </div>
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taking the Plymouth XNR for a test drive in 1960</div>
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<b>Sales and history after development</b></div>
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Virgil Exner showed interest in buying it but was unable to do so. “My dad wanted to buy it, but if it had stayed in the U.S., it would have to have been destroyed,”- Virgil Exner jr. After it was shipped back to Ghia, an unknown Swiss man purchased the Plymouth XNR and then sold it to Mohammad Reza Phalevi, the Shah of Iran. Afterwards it was sold again to Anwar al Mulla, a Kuwaiti car dealer. It was sold again in the early 1970s to a man in Lebanon where it resided in underground storage until Karim Edde found the car hidden during the Lebanese Civil war(1975-1991). He recognized it and kept it in various locations to preserve it from the carnage of the Civil war. After the war the car was sent to RM Restorations in Canada in 2008 and was finished by 2011. It was sold on August 18, 2012 for $935,000 at the RM's Monterey acuction</div>
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-89516116225090913002018-02-13T08:33:00.000-08:002018-02-13T08:34:31.954-08:00Sammy Marks Museum - The Survival of a Grand Century Old Estate<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: right;">Article Author: Kathy Munro</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: right;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On September 24th 2015 our private party decided on a Heritage day treat. An excursion for four friends by car to the Sammy Marks House museum. Zwartkoppies Hall was the home of Sammy Marks and his English wife, Bertha (née Guttmann). They lived there between 1884 and 1909, when they moved to their house in Parktown. Thereafter during Sammy’s lifetime it was their country weekend retreat. Sammy Marks died in 1920. It was then that Bertha gave up their Johannesburg home and returned to live formally at Zwartkoppies until her death in 1934. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a result of the legal device of entail built into the will of Sammy Marks (and there were two wills, ultimately both declared legally valid) the house passed on to the children who had the right of residence, but not sale. This is the fascination of the story – a family, a magnetic energetic patriarch, a successful business empire, the power of a will and the survival of period home. The home is now a museum. Its survival has been extraordinary. It is a special place frozen in the time of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras and captures the gracious lifestyle of an estate on the Transvaal Highveld<span style="color: blue;">.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sammy Marks</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bertha Marks</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This extraordinary family home is on what was once the farm Zwartkoppies, located some 23 kms east of Pretoria, a short distance from the N4 main road that takes one on to Cullinan and Witbank. You will find it easily as it is on the old Bronkorspruit Road, in an area called Donkerhoek. Today it is about an hour’s journey from Johannesburg, down the N1 motorway and sweeping around the city of Pretoria to the N4 off-ramp</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Before one even arrives one realizes that the city of Pretoria now spreads in every direction and particularly eastward. Here there is an obvious demand for old farmland to be turned into new somewhat uniform residential suburbs of our era. Secure townhouse clusters and walled complexes are being dropped onto the grasslands of the veld. Developers have an insatiable appetite for open land. This is the backdrop that makes one realize that for a grand century-old estate to survive into this new age of urban sprawl is an anachronism and perhaps even a miracle. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Integral to the story of the family who lived in the house a century ago is that even more fascinating sub-theme as to how and why this particular country home, although on a much smaller expanse of land, became a national museum. South Africa does not have a British National Trust organization nor a tax regime that makes heritage and history prizes to be saved, preserved and restored. Few seem to see the link between the unusual in the built environment and tourism potential. But here is a model that for a foresighted government if only they choose to prioritise heritage possibilities and we were open to “colonial history” successes of Britain, Australia or the East coast of the USA. There may be a lesson in how to celebrate the past and actually develop some tourist highlights that could be proudly nominated for a UNESCO list. Maybe I am dreaming but my visit to the Marks Museum set me thinking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To reach the house one takes a turn off from the main road onto a long dusty country road and approach through old stone gate posts. We are welcomed to the Ditsong Sammy Marks Museum passing through conspicuous gate posts. Watch out for a number of different old driveway gates on the property, each worth closer inspection.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Entrance to the Sammy Marks Museum </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is a country property that still means to impress the visitor as Sammy Marks intended. Mark was a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant from the town of Neustadt (also the hometown of Hermann Kallenbach), born in 1844, who first emigrated to England when he was eighteen. He arrived in South Africa in 1868 at the age of 24 and before long started a general dealer’s business in Kimberley. His cousin Isaac Lewis joined him. The cousins formed a successful lifelong business partnership, Lewis and Marks, that lasted until Sammy’s death in 1920. They became a powerful team and later Barnet Lewis, the brother of Isaac also became a partner. The business empire extended over almost every possible early enterprise in farming, land purchases, mining, transport, liquor and pioneering industries. Risk-taking combined with deal-making. Success in business was embedded in cultural norms that meant nurturing good relations with the government of the day through war and peace. Marks cultivated Boer generals and politicians of the South African Republic prior to 1900, later he hobnobbed with the British colonial administration of the post-Boer War era and in the final decade of his life, he was a stalwart supporter of the Union Government of Louis Botha and Smuts. He served as a Senator in the final decade of his life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To understand how Sammy Marks fitted into South African history, it is worth noting that Marks, though an immigrant was neither an “uitlander” nor “a randlord”. He was the man always for peace and preferred to get on with those in authority so that government would provide the right support for business and prosperity. He was an entrepreneurial capitalist who understood the power of business and the business of power.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lewis and Marks Building Johannesburg (Seventy Golden Years)</span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Marks made his fortune but he also spent a fortune in order to create an English country estate and the appropriate upper class lifestyle on the Highveld. His estate was a work in progress throughout much of his life. Richard Mendelsohn (his biographer) comments that the house represented a dimension of Marks’ creative energy and the transformation of Zwartkoppies was a vital element of his social strategy. That in turn was an integral component of his business and political plan. His personality was gregarious and entertaining the movers and shakers of South African political life at Zwartkoppies came naturally to Marks. The objective was to offer conspicuous entertainment as a social means to a business end, but the hospitality was nonetheless warm, genuine and generous. The Sunday lunches at Zwartkoppies were an institution.</span></div>
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Zwartkioppies was also a home for a large family. It was and still is a substantial house with over 40 rooms. It was set amid a rose garden, formal flower beds, tall evergreen conifers (but not bluegums) an orchard of fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Avenues were flanked by pruned hedges. There were once a tennis court and a swimming pool. Croquet was played on the front lawn. The right kind of animals was part of the lifestyle - a flock of guinea fowl, blesbok and stables for 14 horses and a coach house for five carriages. There was a cowshed and dairy. Water came from a well operated by a steam-operated pump. A lake was the home to imported English swans (“three fine boats on my lake and nine beautiful English swans”). Guests could punt on the canal that fed the lake. Electricity, from 1896, was generated on the estate by a small hydro-electrical plant fuelled by water from the river.</div>
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Bertha, the much younger English wife of Sammy Marks (age 22 when she married Sammy) was a capable prize-winning poultry farmer. She was a more retiring person and her letters reveal that the Sunday events were more Sammy’s projects than hers. She was nonetheless a gracious hostess. The estate cum farm was an entire community of people revolving around the needs and affluent lifestyle of the large moneyed newly rich and successful family. The family was unashamedly aspirational, so it was not surprising that the four sons were sent abroad to England to be schooled at the age of 8 and the girls departed from home also to be educated abroad from the age of 12. I found this surprising when one considers that life on a farm but with all modern conveniences was a dream childhood milieu.</div>
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In 1995 roughly 73 hectares of land, including the Victorian house, and the surrounding significant outbuildings were alienated from the rest of the farm and expropriated by the State enabling the National Cultural History Museum to run a viable and permanent museum (this was approximately one-tenth of the expanse of the original farm). In March 1989 Zwartkoppies was declared a National Monument. It is a national treasure.</div>
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Today, enough of the legacy imprint of the Marks family in residence circa 1903, remains for one not to have to stretch one’s imagination to visualise the lifestyle of a century or more ago. It is as though a family, their occupations, entertainments and possessions that made life purposeful and fun have been preserved in amber. I felt like I was entering a time machine to be a guest and visitor invited to call on Bertha Marks one hundred and twelve years ago. I should have arrived in a lace embroidered exquisite tea gown, hair coiffed in ringlets, a parasol in a gloved hand and worn a large floral hat.</div>
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We are here to see the house and its possessions and the only way to enter the home is on an hour-long tour of the interior, which happens on the hour. It was slightly disappointing as there was no external tour of other buildings or gardens. We decided to start our day by enjoying a pre-tour coffee and planning our post-tour picnic lunch. The German accent maitre’d of the little restaurant at the rear of the house, was very gruff... "No definitely you can't have your own picnic anywhere" on this huge estate, because they wish to sell their own picnic hampers. Understandable, but hardly welcoming. This was not the voice of the gregarious Sammy Marks or his more retiring but gracious wife, Bertha. We settled on savouring the Viennese iced coffee with lashings of real cream in those tall elegant tapered glasses (delicious) and the large scones, jam and cream (scones stale!). The admission tickets were a very modest and excellent value for money R25 for pensioners. </div>
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We also visited the small gift shop prior to our tour and other than the three helpful pamphlets, the souvenirs were priced at the level that assumed a captive market. I thought the young man who managed the till was welcoming and pleasant and he was keen to help us organize our picnic – he had the right attitude in the tourism business.</div>
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What is so remarkable about the home is that 98 percent of the household contents that you see today, originally belonged to the Marks family: the silver, crockery, ornaments, furniture, furnishings, fittings, kitchen utensils, musical instruments were all newly purchased from the best stores in England and were imported before the turn of the 20th century. Today these items are prized antiques but imagine them when they were regarded as the latest in style, fashion and technology. Sammy Marks was not a great collector of fine art but instead there are a huge number of family photographs, framed certificates, personal mementoes and memorabilia, studio photos of historical figures of note across the political spectrum of the pre and post Boer war period who Marks sought to influence and who figured as important people in his world view. One needs only look at what hangs on the walls to quickly grasp where Marks stood politically in his even-handed juggling. He was a man with a strong sense of family, traditional values, a secular Jewish identity. One gets the feeling that here was a man who was comfortable being himself in his own era, doing things his way.</div>
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<b>What of the history of the house and the estate? </b></div>
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Marks bought the farm (original size 902 morgen or 773 hectares) and a house then called Christienen Hall in late 1883 for 1400 pounds sterling. The original farmhouse was a simple L shape thatched roof, ‘wattle and daub’ (clay) wall dwelling. Marks initially lived simply in what was a Boer farmhouse. The house of 1882 was a rough and ready, modest homestead, better suited to a young bachelor and his male friends.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Old Zwartkopje 1882</span></td></tr>
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He rapidly planned and built a new mansion, renamed Zwartkoppies Hall (Zwartkoppies was the name of the earlier much bigger farm). It was a self designed new house to which he brought his young bride in 1884. </div>
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Harry Struben described the house as “neither Gothic nor Tudor but more Coney Hatch or Newgate". Marks “drew the plan I am told on a plank with a piece of charcoal”. Desiree Picton Seymour in her book on Victorian buildings in South Africa, informs us that Sammy Marks continued to add to the building in 1890 and 1896, without an architect, until eventually there were 23 rooms plus storerooms and outbuildings. However, the Maisels pamphlet and other sources mention that the 1890s additions and alterations were carried out by the Dutch architect Willem De Zwaan (1867–1948) of the firm De Zwaan and Van Dyk, who became well known as Pretoria architects. </div>
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The contractor for the additions was John Johnstone Kirkness, a builder from Pretoria. It was at that time that the kitchen wing and servants quarters were added. Being a long house with rooms on either side of the central corridor that ran the length of the house, more rooms and more corridors could be added when the need arose.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">A Slightly Pretentious Front Portico</span> </td></tr>
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The exterior can be described as vaguely Victorian, but it is not particularly imposing. Externally the house is a long, proportionately narrow double storey over much of its length, veranda house with shuttered windows. White walls are under a corrugated iron red roof. There is a wooden railing along the long gallery narrow stoep or veranda. The windows are shuttered with wooden rust coloured shutters. In the 1880s yards of cocoa nut matting 6 to 7 foot in width went around the stoep. On the roof there are some hip shaped air vents also made of corrugated iron, plus a couple of decorative plaster work chimneys. Originally the main entrance was on the South side of the house, and one ascended to the entrance via a set of steps and onto a porch cum balcony. Today, the main entrance is on the West and a slightly pretentious front portico, flanked by columns breaks the line of the veranda roof.</div>
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I noticed an interesting set of stained glass decorative small window panels in Art Nouveau patterned effect surrounding plain glass panes at first floor level and I wondered if there had been a more substantial feature here at one time.</div>
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The interior that is on a far grander scale than the exterior, with a fine teak staircase and an enormous number of rooms leading off the long central corridors.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">The teak staircase</span></td></tr>
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One really comes to see inside the house and it was definitely worth the journey. The tour does not give one access to all rooms and it is not possible to stray down the ground floor corridor to the old south side main entrance hall. Our party was a small one and our guide was charming and knowledgeable and an employee of Ditsong, who, she told us paid her salary (we had wondered if she was an employee of a family trust). She encouraged the young children in our party to play the piano in the music room and have a shot at banging the dinner gong. I liked the professional welcoming tone set by our tour guide who had studied her subject in depth and passed her exams with flying colours.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The house is fascinating because it looks like a home where an important family from the turn of the 20th century have just taken their leave. The home was occupied by members of the Marks family until 1978 and whilst restoration over a century was required because of wear and tear and possibly changing tastes (the original wallpaper and painted panels imitating granite and marble were painted over). Now it is a labour of love and careful study to re-establish the original look and return as much as possible precisely to the original period decor. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I kept coming back to the metaphor of a house utterly frozen in time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I found it impressive that so many personal family objects and possessions, circa 1900, toys, dolls, musical instruments, books, ornaments, furniture, kitchen tools, crockery, cutlery, utensils, old trunks are still in the house. It is remarkable that all these personal objects belonged to the family and fill most of the 40 rooms (although not all 40 rooms are accessible to visitors). The dining room is laid for a Sunday lunch, their books are in the library, you feel you have been invited to take tea with Bertha at a small table upstairs, the kitchen set out as it would have been at the turn of the century, ready to swing into action to serve a breakfast on a tray for Bertha or a gargantuan meal for 40 guests. There is an electric bell system to summon the servants to any room in the house. Perhaps you would be lucky enough to be invited to a game of billiards in the grand billiard room (which is the outstanding centre piece of the house because of its ornately decorated ceiling).</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Who visited Marks and his family at Zwartkoppies? The political movers and shakers of the late 19th century both British and Boer were guests. The Boer generals (De la Rey, De Wet, Reitz), the politicians, the business associates, the important sojourners and travellers were lavishly entertained. Lord Randolph Churchill came in 1891. Kruger came for a working breakfast in 1886. Rhodes when he was Cape Prime Minister, visited in the early 1890s and discussed viticulture and the possibility of the establishment of a fruit industry in South Africa. The preeminent legal figure James Rose Innes (who later became Chief Justice of South Africa) spent a night when observing the trial of the Jameson Raid plotters. Meals were five course marathons prepared in a kitchen that was rather like a hotel engine room. In keeping with the masculine habits of the era Marks had a huge stock of cigars for his male guests (there was an inventory of 4000 in 1902).</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bertha Marks and her Children</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By 1897 Sammy and Bertha were the parents of eight children, five boys ( Louis, Joe, Ted, Phil, and Montie) and three girls (Fanny Beatrice – called Dolly and Gertrude – called Girlie and Leonore). Two children died – Monty died at the age of 12 and Leonore in infancy. Large families were the norm and the Marks family was not atypical in its loss of precious offspring. A wet nurse was employed to breast feed the newest baby. Several bedrooms that one sees today are set out as children’s rooms – the domain of children, nurses, maids and governesses showing where they slept, played, and ate their meals.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l1WMi7TUCB0/WoLk2lWVWXI/AAAAAAAABMg/midPrMC2h-oIYlGDoas1GmyijS_BFRjPwCLcBGAs/s1600/Grand%2BPiano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="451" height="276" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l1WMi7TUCB0/WoLk2lWVWXI/AAAAAAAABMg/midPrMC2h-oIYlGDoas1GmyijS_BFRjPwCLcBGAs/s320/Grand%2BPiano.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As the older children grew they were sent to England to be educated, so the rooms we see capture a specific time in their upbringing. The boys were sent to boarding school when they were eight, but the girls were educated by the governesses until the age of 12. Women were not expected to be educated to the same level as men, and their sphere of life was the domestic domain. Boys were expected to learn the skills to enable them to take up a profession or join one of the family enterprises. Languages and music were important and French, German and English were taught by the governesses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bertha’s bedroom is feminine with goose feather quilt, fine sculptured olive wood wardrobe (all furniture and ornaments were imported and in the style of the late Victorian era). Bertha enjoyed breakfast served on a tray in her bedroom. But we were told it was the custom never to sleep on the bed during the day but rather to use the day bed for reclining at leisure. Curtains and drapes were heavy satins and silks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I found my eye drawn to the details of domestic architecture and taking a closer look at the technology of the house. Electric lights, hot water systems, servants bells, air cooling, storage spaces are worth exploring because they show a house as a machine for living and in this case living luxuriously but not without effort.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The library reveals the books that appealed to Sammy and Bertha Marks. Sammy sought practical information, books on mining, sheep farming, irrigation, iron manufacture all related to his business interests. He enjoyed reading the speeches of 19th century British politicians, Bertha read contemporary novels, Marie Corelli, Wilkie Collins, Ouida. There were also books likely to appeal to the children – Kipling’s Jungle Book, Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense. As can be seen in the photo below the leather bound sets almost gleam behind the glass doors of the beautifully crafted book cases. The library is the ultimate gentleman’s retreat. Marks was a self-educated man who because of weakened eyesight enjoyed having his children or his secretary read to him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is fascinating to read Bertha’s revealing letter to her husband (quoted in the Mendelsohn biography of Sammy) when in 1906 she gives the staff needs to run Zwartkoppies. The list covers a cook, kitchen maid, butler and assistant, 3 housemaids, plus staff for the laundry, dairy and poultry, a governess, a nurse for the youngest child and a maid for Bertha in addition to black staff to support this complement. Sammy retorts that its not necessary to keep an establishment of 12 white women. Zwartkoppies was a home for entertainment rather more for business and political purposes than for family. Marks was always hospitable and generous as his many donations and personal kindnesses testify.</span></div>
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The monogram on the fine bone china crockery was of the entwined alphabet letters, a large S M and a small B, Sammy Marks and his Wife Bertha. This was very much the status symbol. </div>
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Our guide quipped that on one occasion Bertha ordered some big platter covers emblazoned with a large B, to her husband’s displeasure. There are 400 items of fine china still remaining and in store. I tried to turn over a plate to check out the provenance of the china, only to be reprimanded and told “no touching”.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Billiard room</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Billiard Room on the first floor is perhaps the showiest room in the house. Shaded lights hang over the green baize of the imported billiard table. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our guide told us that only men played billiards but this is nonsense as Bertha is said to have enjoyed a game of billiards. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MKxUP5ucWKo/WoLn6LoNs2I/AAAAAAAABNg/UyVd31qCiscyF9WFlygkRikPOFP8euGCgCLcBGAs/s1600/Billiard%2BRoom%2BCeiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="490" height="210" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MKxUP5ucWKo/WoLn6LoNs2I/AAAAAAAABNg/UyVd31qCiscyF9WFlygkRikPOFP8euGCgCLcBGAs/s320/Billiard%2BRoom%2BCeiling.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Billiard Room Ceiling</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's the baroque painted ceilings that makes this room so impressive. The ornate decorative floral work was painted by an Italian craftsman from Pretoria. An enlarged portrait photo of Sammy Marks and his father Mordechai Marks (who died in 1908 and who never left his home country) hands in pride of place on a west wall.</span></div>
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<b>How do we jump from a family life in circa 1903 to the present museum?</b></div>
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In 1909 the Marks family moved to a home in St Davids Road Parktown Johannesburg and Zwartkoppies became a weekend retreat. After her husband’s death Bertha gave up the Johannesburg home and Zwartkoppies was her principal home though she travelled a great deal.</div>
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On Sammy Marks’ death in 1920 his assets including the farm and the family home became subject to entail which Marks successfully imposed onto the 3rd generation after he and his wife had passed on. He wish to decree that it was to be only after the death of his last surviving of the tier of great grandchildren that the descendants would be free to sell Zwartkoppies. The Marks will was extraordinary as he (Sammy ) tried to rule from the grave and his strictures about his children and descendants not marrying out of the Jewish faith.</div>
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This legal device proved to be both a burden and a positive legacy, as this was the thread whereby the tale of bringing a museum into existence hangs.</div>
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The son of Sammy and Bertha, Joseph or as he was called Joe, and wife, Kirsty, continued living there until the 1970s (the widow of Joe died in 1978). Joseph was the only son with a profession, he was trained as an agronomist. He was the son who took on the task of farming Zwartkoppies in the 1920s left in the thirties and then returned after war time service after 1945.</div>
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By the 1970s the question for the family trust was what was to become of the house and its possessions . It has become a magnificent white elephant. The various prospects for an old age home, a sanatorium , a school, a hotel and so on came to naught. But in 1980 the germ of the idea of a museum began to bear fruit. There were only 4 grandchildren and the descendants by the fourth generation, no longer lived in South Africa.</div>
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In 1984 the Trust estate of the Late Samuel Marks came to an agreement with the National Cultural History and Open-Air Museum to establish the Sammy Marks Museum in the Hall. It was Neill Maisels, ( Sammy and Bertha’s astute and foresighted grandson) the executor of the estate who saw the potential for a unique museum. Richard Mendelsohn writes of Neill’s vision and sums up what is still unique about the house “ Here was a wealthy upper- class , late Victorian residence captured in amber. Its Victorian and Edwardian furnishings , its glassware and ornaments, and its collections of silver, crockery and china were basically intact, little changed since the death of the owner more than half a century before, requiring only sensitive and skilled restoration.” ( p255, Mendelsohn, 1991)</div>
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It was a long drawn out negotiation to create the museum and begin a process of restoration that is still ongoing. Today the museum is a Ditsong Museum , and some 25 years later the museum still attracts visitors wanting to glimpse this affluent life style of a man who left his indelible imprint on the shape of South Africa’s economy. He was a man who with his partners, made his fortune (and lost some fortunes too) and was able to indulge his own his tastes and be a benefactor of many public charitable causes as well as many individuals (family and others) who could rely on his generosity.</div>
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The Marks papers were steered by Mendel Kaplan to the University of Cape Town’s Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research archives and hence resulted in the Richard Mendelsohn biography (Sammy Marks ‘The Uncrowned King of the Transvaal”). </div>
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The story of the house cannot be divorced from the story of Sammy Marks and his wife Bertha and their children. It is a story of an immigrant Jewish ill educated Jewish young man who had ideas and vision for the economic development of his adopted country. He was ambitious, entrepreneurial, shrewd and talented. He was an excellent financier and knew the importance of peace and being on the side of the government of the day. He was the man who worked on averting hostilities between Boer and British. Marks and his partner Isaac Lewis had an enormous spread of business interests from liquor manufacture to beer brewing. The partners invested in glass manufacture, tanning, iron and steel, mining (diamonds, coal, gold), fruit and meat preserving, the milling of maize, cold storage. power generation. The range of interests reveals the shift in the economy from agricultural to mining and then to manufacturing. By 1904 Lewis and Marks ownership of farms in the Transvaal placed them among the top five private landowners. The business empire and partnership of Lewis and Marks lasted half a century, but in 1945 the controlling interest in Lewis and Marks was sold to Ernest Oppenheimer and the Anglo American company.</div>
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However while the furniture, goods and chattels are beautifully preserved, the house after 130 plus years needs some careful restoration. Errors in past later paint jobs need correcting, the paint needs stripping off and some wall paper is peeling. There is a begging box in the foyer appealing for restoration funds, I thought this a little odd considering the huge wealth generated through the Marks enterprises and the fact that we all pay taxes to the State. Why is it that objects cultural are last in line when it comes to state funds? </div>
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In summary, the house as a museum is a period relic, a treasure, a burden and a fascination. It is a compelling must see place. I hope to return one day soon and to enjoy a picnic under the pines. Do come join me.</div>
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I was recently given an eight page pamphlet: “The Life and Times of Sammy Marks” by S J N Maisels, "the administrator of the estate of the late Sammy Marks". The pamphlet presents interesting photographs of Marks, his family and the exterior and interior of Zwartkoppies Hall. There is also an illustration of the official seal of Mark's Eerste Fabrieken Hatherley Distillery limited, established in 1882, plus the S M B monogram of Sammy Marks (large SM) and Bertha (small B). </div>
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The pamphlet carries no date, though is listed in the World Cat as 1987. Marks' daughter Dolly married Israel Maisels. The authoritative biography of Sammy Marks was by Richard Mendelsohn: Sammy Marks 'The Uncrowned King of the Transvaal' published by David Philip 1991. Mendelsohn does not mention this pamphlet, though it is clearly a publication associated with the Museum, which opened in 1986 and Zwartkoppies was declared a national monument in 1989. SJN or more familiarly called Neil Maisels was Sammy Marks' oldest grandson and the chairman of the Marks Trust. The Mendelsohn biography lists S J N Maisels as the author of Notes of an Epilogue to Sammy Marks Biography (Johannesburg 1986) in the section unpublished papers and MSS. </div>
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It is well worth reading the Mendelsohn biography of Sammy Marks ahead of a visit to Zwartkoppies. Marks was indeed the uncrowned king of the Transvaal, it was his foresight, vision, and risk taking that led Marks to venture into brewing, glass manufacture, fruit and meat preserving works, coal mining. He was a deal maker, investor and financier of the Transvaal Republic and later the Union of South Africa. </div>
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There are three useful current pamphlets on Zwartkoppies available from the small shop.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qbAO0fUo2Xo/WoMRw9T_26I/AAAAAAAABOI/yJmMxw0--fst6utQ0tAQygPzufU4DizGwCLcBGAs/s1600/Pamphets.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="781" height="193" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qbAO0fUo2Xo/WoMRw9T_26I/AAAAAAAABOI/yJmMxw0--fst6utQ0tAQygPzufU4DizGwCLcBGAs/s400/Pamphets.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Three Current Pamphlets available at the Sammy Marks Museum</span></td></tr>
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Acknowledgement of photographic sources - all external photographs are by K A Munro, some of the internal photographs are mine others are taken from public sources on the internet. Photography inside the house is discouraged but I found a discreet cell phone could be used effectively. I should add that a google image search will provide all the pictures of the interior that one could ever wish for.</div>
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Kathy Munro is an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand. She enjoyed a long career as an academic and in management at Wits University. She trained as an economic historian. She is an enthusiastic book person and has built her own somewhat eclectic book collection over 40 years. Her interests cover Africana, Johannesburg history, history, art history, travel, business and banking histories.</div>
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References</div>
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<ol>
<li>Mendel Kaplan . Jewish Roots in the South African Economy (1986) chapters 5 & 6.</li>
<li>Richard Mendelsohn : Sammy Marks ‘The Uncrowned King of the Transvaal’ (1991)</li>
<li>S J N Maisels: “The Life and Times of Sammy Marks” 8 page pamphlet (no date, circa 1988)</li>
<li>D . Picton-Seymour: Victorian Buildings in South Africa ( 1976) p 301</li>
<li>Dictionary of South African Biography, Volume 1, HSRC, 1969 entry for Sammy Marks p 515 -517 (one error spotted Bertha was not a widow)</li>
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<span style="color: blue;">Reproduced from The Heritage Portal</span></div>
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-40932156945241728252017-10-11T23:50:00.000-07:002017-10-11T23:57:55.861-07:00South Africa to come alive with the sights and sounds of 1930s Grand Prix Cars<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In November 2018, South Africa will come alive to the sights and sounds of a grid full of 1930's Grand Prix cars for the first time in nearly 80 years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The occasion is the South African Historic Grand Prix Festival which is being organised as a celebration of the iconic racers that originally participated in the South African Grands Prix in the 1930s.</span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uixDaDFPtxE/Wd8LQd3w6BI/AAAAAAAABIE/XV0ydfJa-kAMC_Jc3bsy3ZBpZBDvxvAkACLcBGAs/s1600/Race%2Bcar1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1151" height="212" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uixDaDFPtxE/Wd8LQd3w6BI/AAAAAAAABIE/XV0ydfJa-kAMC_Jc3bsy3ZBpZBDvxvAkACLcBGAs/s320/Race%2Bcar1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In this era, the South African GP took place at the Prince George Racetrack in East London between 1934 and 1939. These races were supported by two further events, the Grosvenor GP in Cape Town and the Rand GP in Johannesburg, the trio of events creating a mini 'Winter Series' for European and British racing drivers of the day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The UK organiser of the event, Speedstream Events, has undertaken considerable research to identify and trace as many of the original cars that participated in the South African events during the 1930's. The response has been tremendously positive, with several thrilling cars already committed to participating, including the Maserati 8CM with which Whitney Straight won the inaugural 1934 Grand Prix, the ERA which won the 1937 Grand Prix and the Riley Ulster Imp which finished second in the same event. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1ZCTArOOZZE/Wd8LQU_-kpI/AAAAAAAABIM/-Uk4LSgTThg5BCoEox3tbMiBfhOtc4d2ACEwYBhgL/s1600/1934%2BMaserati%2B8CM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1150" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1ZCTArOOZZE/Wd8LQU_-kpI/AAAAAAAABIM/-Uk4LSgTThg5BCoEox3tbMiBfhOtc4d2ACEwYBhgL/s400/1934%2BMaserati%2B8CM.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1934 Maserati 8CM - Winner of the inaugural 1934 SA GP (3) Photo Credit - Dave Adams.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other cars the organisers expect entries from include Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Talbot, Frazer Nash, Aston Martin, MG, Railton, Plymouth as well further ERAs, Maseratis and Rileys. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Billed as a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience for the owners, the South African Historic Grand Prix Festival will comprise of three elements taking place between the 25th November and the 2nd December 2018.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first leg, on the 25th November, is a commemorative race at the East London Grand Prix Circuit combined with a parade around the original 11-mile long Prince George race circuit. This will present a fantastic opportunity for vintage car and Grand Prix enthusiasts to see these cars being driven in anger in the country for the first time in 80 years.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J1Td3hPoNdw/Wd8LQXSVGJI/AAAAAAAABIM/96Vj5XqhstQX261VbJJDkG47KH_CJeWgQCEwYBhgL/s1600/1935%2BERA%2BR4A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1197" height="256" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J1Td3hPoNdw/Wd8LQXSVGJI/AAAAAAAABIM/96Vj5XqhstQX261VbJJDkG47KH_CJeWgQCEwYBhgL/s400/1935%2BERA%2BR4A.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1935 ERA R4A - Winner of the 1937 South African Grand Prix (3) Photo Credit - Alan Cox</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Festival then moves on to a private tour (from 26-30 November) for the road going Grand Prix cars, where they will drive some of South Africa’s most scenic and exhilarating roads between East London and the Western Cape. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The event will culminate in a two-day Grand Prix Garden Party close to Cape Town. This element will see the Grand Prix cars on display as well as being demonstrated, providing a further opportunity for the public to interact with the cars and owners in celebration of South Africa's proud history of hosting Grand Prix racing. The venue for this element will be confirmed in due course.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Grand Prix Garden Party will be set in a high-end venue and offer ticket holders the opportunity to get up close to the cars in a relaxed environment. There will also be a limited number of VIP hospitality tickets available in the Drivers Club hospitality at both the East London race event and the Cape Garden Party which will provide a unique opportunity to mingle with the owners of the GP cars, as well as network with celebrities, motorsport heroes, and like-minded enthusiasts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While preference will be given to entries where cars have authentic South African Grand Prix history, the ‘By Invitation Only’ event is also open to owners of age-related Grand Prix cars who may wish to participate in this once-off experience. Total entries are limited to 25 cars.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://sahistoricgp.com/" target="_blank">Click here</a> to view our website and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sahistoricgp/" target="_blank">here</a> to visit our facebook page</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Reproduced from The Heritage Portal 12 Oct 2017</span> </span><br />
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-72535128412470612832017-04-01T11:14:00.000-07:002017-04-01T11:19:16.931-07:00Forgotten fountain returns to the limelight<div style="text-align: right;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l6Ms6ibzCfs/WN_rWIhV-6I/AAAAAAAABFE/0r47c4hfB4AhdP5N2BcjQbgBvuXDjy0BwCEw/s1600/Fountain%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l6Ms6ibzCfs/WN_rWIhV-6I/AAAAAAAABFE/0r47c4hfB4AhdP5N2BcjQbgBvuXDjy0BwCEw/s400/Fountain%2B2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The fountain neglected in the bush (Cullinan Heritage Society)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="">A fountain built by Italian POWs who were interred at the nearby Zonderwater POW camp around 1943 has been moved from its original position to a new site in the garden of the McHardy House Museum in Cullinan.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ijh6XEYwkjU/WN_rWNSaxFI/AAAAAAAABE0/IHH-btKvCKs3PN7BcZGAqVAAkjHRAmOFwCLcB/s1600/Fountain%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ijh6XEYwkjU/WN_rWNSaxFI/AAAAAAAABE0/IHH-btKvCKs3PN7BcZGAqVAAkjHRAmOFwCLcB/s400/Fountain%2B1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fountain being secured (Cullinan Heritage Society)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The fountain was built in an area called Hallsdorp. The miners houses built in this area in the early part of the last century were demolished at the end of the Second World War. The area became derelict and the fountain was quickly forgotten.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many decades later the Cullinan Heritage Society located the fountain and later applied for permission to move it to an area where it could be appreciated by the many visitors to the village. Volunteers of the Heritage Society worked to secure the fountain to prevent any breakage of the stone structure.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M5LU4prwDKg/WN_rWOYWjqI/AAAAAAAABFE/CH8KyJjmFpc-iFuk_zc-OakSxeFMPmY5QCEw/s1600/Fountain%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M5LU4prwDKg/WN_rWOYWjqI/AAAAAAAABFE/CH8KyJjmFpc-iFuk_zc-OakSxeFMPmY5QCEw/s400/Fountain%2B3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The fountain being secured (Cullinan Heritage Society)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Petra Mine supplied the essential crane and transport to move the fountain. The operation progressed smoothly with no damage to 75 year old structure.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yJSnhDwc69k/WN_rWmyFW8I/AAAAAAAABFE/DN1qfXqdyWwpn9jWhYeXq5bfGuPuaqNsgCEw/s1600/Fountain%2B4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yJSnhDwc69k/WN_rWmyFW8I/AAAAAAAABFE/DN1qfXqdyWwpn9jWhYeXq5bfGuPuaqNsgCEw/s400/Fountain%2B4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Crane lowering the fountain into position (Cullinan Heritage Society)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Cullinan Heritage Society aims to restore the fountain to its original glory as soon as the necessary funds can be raised. The story of the fountain demonstrates what can be achieved when local enthusiasts, heritage officials and generous businesses work together for the common good.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vnqTHK-G7QU/WN_rWzjQHuI/AAAAAAAABFE/okLFeaI0JQUdHTvduaXDCiPFKdh2oekaQCEw/s1600/Fountain%2B5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vnqTHK-G7QU/WN_rWzjQHuI/AAAAAAAABFE/okLFeaI0JQUdHTvduaXDCiPFKdh2oekaQCEw/s400/Fountain%2B5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The fountain's new home in front of the McHardy House Museum<br /> (Cullinan Heritage Society)</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Reproduced from: The Heritage Portal</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Article Author: John Lincoln</span></div>
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-87250946705030741632017-03-27T04:18:00.000-07:002017-03-27T04:18:11.158-07:00The Early History of Irene Farm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uAqXWk6ng7k/WNjt-48vxUI/AAAAAAAABEA/xxXOqDF7fckkXjfh_m4PN93diJEj13CGwCLcB/s1600/Irene%2Bfarm%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uAqXWk6ng7k/WNjt-48vxUI/AAAAAAAABEA/xxXOqDF7fckkXjfh_m4PN93diJEj13CGwCLcB/s400/Irene%2Bfarm%2B1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Article Author: South African Panorama</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Irene is a wonderful village located less than twenty kilometres south of Pretoria. Visitors can feel the history around them whether staying at a local hotel, visiting the Smuts House Museum or touring the working farm. Residents are proud of the area's rich history and rightly so! Below are a few edited passages revealing the early history of Irene Farm. A longer version of the article appeared in a 1961 edition of South African Panorama.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6ONmpWwnpsI/WNjulXpPMrI/AAAAAAAABEU/TMFkw-CeT_Mwmy8xQ2Oewzq1sez_He9IgCLcB/s1600/A%2Brecent%2Bphoto%2Bof%2Bone%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bhistoric%2Bfarm%2Bbuildings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6ONmpWwnpsI/WNjulXpPMrI/AAAAAAAABEU/TMFkw-CeT_Mwmy8xQ2Oewzq1sez_He9IgCLcB/s400/A%2Brecent%2Bphoto%2Bof%2Bone%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bhistoric%2Bfarm%2Bbuildings.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A recent photo of one of the historic farm buildings (The Heritage Portal)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John Albert van der Byl was a man of foresight. Coming to Pretoria in the 1890s at the suggestion of Percy Fitzpatrick, writer, politician and adventurer, he bought with him from his previous home in the Bredasdorp district of the Cape Province a shrewd planning instinct and a love of gardens. Settling down some ten miles south-east of Pretoria, John van der Byl established himself, his wife and his young son Henry on a farm bought from a famous figure at that time, Nellmapius. But it was a farm in name only. Nellmapius, an adventurer, transport rider and financier whose name is linked with many stirring ventures in the early days of the Transvaal, had built himself a house there and surrounded it with some avenues of Casaurina trees.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p7dgDd9IIU8/WNjuARvlxZI/AAAAAAAABEQ/Fo_qmN2DzikYLL_No9jsvVI8UDEyHdBcQCEw/s1600/The%2Bmain%2Bresidence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p7dgDd9IIU8/WNjuARvlxZI/AAAAAAAABEQ/Fo_qmN2DzikYLL_No9jsvVI8UDEyHdBcQCEw/s400/The%2Bmain%2Bresidence.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main residence (South African Panorama)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For Nellmapius the farm was merely an investment, a part of one of the several fortunes which he made during his lifetime. He named the farm after his daughter Irene, and lived in the house for a while. Then he sold to John van der Byl. The latter took the garden and expanded it; he studied the 11000-acre farm and developed it. He spanned it with a network of irrigation furrows. He farmed crops, cattle and ostriches. Finding little market for his vegetables and milk he decided to create one. He cut up one section of the farm into plots, establishing the village of Irene. Soon the farm had a growing settlement; there was a market for its produce; and John van der Byl had become the local squire.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iydH6zxn1ss/WNjuAEcm6RI/AAAAAAAABEQ/ipdbryZ-fnQYlWt05okPXTHOL8OTZN7QQCEw/s1600/Riding%2Bon%2BIrene%2BFarm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iydH6zxn1ss/WNjuAEcm6RI/AAAAAAAABEQ/ipdbryZ-fnQYlWt05okPXTHOL8OTZN7QQCEw/s400/Riding%2Bon%2BIrene%2BFarm.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Riding on Irene Farm (South African Panorama)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John and son Henry farmed in partnership during the 1920s, the period which saw the end of the ostriches and the accent being placed on making Irene Estates a dairy farm. Eventually John handed over the farm to Henry, who continued its development and expansion. Under the care of Henry's wife the garden prospered, the avenues were extended, the trees grew into giants. The first Mrs van der Byl had landscaped the acres around the house into an old-world garden; Henry's wife added fountains, arbours and greenhouses, carpeted the shade with violets - which used to be sold in the village together with the farm's vegetables and dairy products. Nellmapius's house was enlarged, rivalling Pretoria's most gracious homes.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">A remarkable avenue of trees (South African Panorama)</span></td></tr>
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This was a period of elegance: transportation was by Cape cart - light two-horse carriages - and the main road to Pretoria crossed the Van der Byl farm, becoming the main avenue where it passed the door of the residence. But this was no inconvenience, for cars were almost unheard of, and scarcely two carriages passed during a day. The peace of the garden remained undisturbed. Its hydrangeas, wisteria and irises set the theme of quiet beauty.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CmG8wBEicdw/WNjt_z_DbSI/AAAAAAAABEQ/JBrg5kPiLEw4aEO9QtWUCr8MSsRc5HV2gCEw/s1600/Smuts%2BHouse%2Bnext%2Bdoor%2Bto%2BIrene%2BEstates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CmG8wBEicdw/WNjt_z_DbSI/AAAAAAAABEQ/JBrg5kPiLEw4aEO9QtWUCr8MSsRc5HV2gCEw/s320/Smuts%2BHouse%2Bnext%2Bdoor%2Bto%2BIrene%2BEstates.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Smuts House next door to Irene Estates <br />(The Heritage Portal)</span></td></tr>
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Distinguished visitors came to the farm. Among these a neighbour, General Smuts, called in frequently. Smuts used to seek mental relaxation in long walks through the veld. Doornkloof - his farm - sliced into Irene Estates like a wedge. Often he would begin his walk by calling in on the Van der Byls and wandering for a while with them enjoying nature's beauty in the garden. Then he would be off at the cracking pace which he knew would leave his official bodyguards straggling miles behind. For him the veld was something to be enjoyed alone.</div>
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The Van der Byls are still deeply involved in Irene and have opened up a number of spaces for the public to visit. <a href="http://www.irenefarm.co.za/" target="_blank">Click here for all the details</a>.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below are some more photos of the Irene Farm</span></div>
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-33802695523352306632017-01-25T21:45:00.001-08:002017-01-25T21:45:50.579-08:00Another revamp for Pretoria's Church Square<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria's historic Church Square is set for a major revamp and will receive its second make-over in three years. Landscaping and renovation work officially began yesterday and is set to give the city centre a whole new and improved look.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The overhaul of the square is scheduled to take up to nine months and will include changing the look and feel of the popular park.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There will be new trees, with the lawns landscaped, and the street furniture will be redesigned.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">City of Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the revamp would result in road closures and affect both motorists and pedestrians. It would also result in the removal of parking bays in some parts of the square.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"This redesigning will contribute to the cleanliness and rejuvenation of the city centre," he said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mashigo said the city had put up road signage informing people of the roadworks under way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Entry into Church Square and the adjacent Bank/Mutual Street, as well as Parliament/Palace Street, will be closed off for all vehicular traffic as of mid-October," he said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Parking after the square's restoration would be limited to the staff of businesses within the area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Motorists are to note that all parking bays on Church Square will be removed and drivers are advised to make use of parking decks that are to remain around the square.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"A limited number of parking bays will remain on the peripheral area of the square on Mutual and Parliament streets," he said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The spokesperson said upon completion of the facelift, a section of Paul Kruger Street around the inner perimeter of the square would no longer be accessible to motorists.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This road, he said, would be designated for use by A Re Yeng buses and emergency vehicles. "This will be done to allow pedestrians the pleasure of using the broad walkways."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mashigo said the city wanted to thank the public in advance for co-operation during the construction period and hoped the reconstruction project would be completed within the set timelines.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The square is the centre of activity in the city, and hosts tourists, students and passers-by on the lawns and benches everyday. The City of Tshwane holds its New Year's bash at the venue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Informal traders also ply their trade in the centre of the city, with florists, photographers, fruit and snack vendors camping there every day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The availability of free wi-fi has become a major attraction to the site and people enjoy relaxing on the square so that can make use of it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The square was established in 1855 and has undergone a lot of transformation since.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been a home for street performers, a testing ground for artists, a venue for impromptu sermons and a starting point for protests. It also turned into a popular meeting spot. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once the city's market place, it used to draw people from all corners of Pretoria to shop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The square's most prominent feature is the statue of the late Boer leader and president of the then-South African Republic, Paul Kruger, which sits at its centre and is surrounded by statues of four anonymous Boer soldiers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Old Capitol Theatre, Tudor Chambers, Ou Raadsaal (Old Council Chamber) and the Palace of Justice where the famous Rivonia trial took place are just some of the historical buildings situated around the square.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recent additions to the square included the A Re Yeng bus service lanes in 2014.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Construction workers unearthed tram lines believed to be 105 years old during the initial phase of the beautification process in 2014.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria adopted trams as its main mode of public transport in 1910 and they lasted until the advent of more modern modes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The construction of the new bus system forms part of the route that will connect the inner city with Rainbow Junction (Wonderboom Station) in the north of the capital, through Paul Kruger Street and Mansfield Avenue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first phase of the project consisted of Line 1 which will connect with Mabopane, Soshanguve and the inner city via the R80 and Es'kia Mphahlele Drive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phase 1 consists of 68km of dedicated median bus lanes, 52 stations, three depots and four terminuses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Motorists are advised to use the following alternative routes:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the north going south: turn left on to Boom Street, then turn right into Thabo Sehume Street and again right on to Pretorius Street to access Paul Kruger Street.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the south going north: turn left from Paul Kruger Street into Pretorius Street, then right into Bosman Street and continue all the way to Boom Street. There, turn right into Boom Street, from where drivers can turn left into Paul Kruger Street to exit the inner city.</span></li>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria News </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jan 24, 2017 </span></span><br />
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-78512234452192370472016-05-25T01:57:00.001-07:002016-05-25T01:57:03.749-07:00Some information about the Eureka Cigarette Factory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The L te Groen building today</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am sure a number of Pretoria residents have driven past this quaint little building among all the high rise buildings and wondered exactly what this perfectly restored building's significance is. It is called the<b> Eureka Factory</b>. It is one of few remaining 'flat-above-store' buildings in Pretoria and is thus of typological importance.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">The building used to be called the Eureka Factory<br />It is at 220 Madiba Street, Pretoria</span> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, I came across some interesting facts in The Heritage Portal and a number of other sources. This post is reproduced from an article by Pat Ellis.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Centenary of the Leendert te Groen Building Contributed by Pat Ellis SC, Pretoria Bar </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The original text can be read <a href="http://www.sabar.co.za/law-journals/2003/december/2003-december-vol016-no3-p29.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The building which currently houses the library of the Pretoria Bar is 100 years old. It was built in 1903, after the property had passed through the hands of such well-known owners as JHM Struben, GH Nellmapius, Sammy Marks and SA Breweries. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">E.P. Grant Building - taken on 16 December 1904</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was presumably built by one EP Grant, whose name used to appear faintly on the facade before restoration, who then sold it to the estate of one SF Richards, and became the tenant of the new owner. He was succeeded as tenant by the Pretoria Printing Works, the publisher of the Pretoria News until 1914, and thereafter by the Jewish Club, an architects' firm AG McGregor Ritchie and a construction company.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> In 1920 its new tenant, one Leendert te Groen, turned it into a cigarette factory where he produced Eureka cigarettes from locally produced Transvaal tobacco. The front portion of the lower level was used as a shop, and the rest was used for storage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Te Groen established his living quarters on the upper level. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1920 it became known as the L te Groen building </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Pretoria News building next to the Eureka Factory</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">A view of the </span>tobacco<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> factory</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A view of the shop floor</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1935 the property was transferred to the Union Government and in 1982 it was declared a national monument. The building was meticulously restored to its former glory and two years later, in 1984, some 347 paintings of the famous painter JH Pierneef were donated by the Department of National Education to the National Cultural History Museum. The building was then converted into the Pierneef Museum where paintings and various other artefacts belonging to Pierneef were exhibited. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A delightful coffee shop was added on the top floor to attract more custom. As such it formed, for many years, a popular meeting place of members of the legal profession, where many cases were settled or otherwise amicably disposed of in a spirit of postprandial contentment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Security, however, proved to be a problem and the number of visitors to the museum declined. In 1997 the Pierneef collection was moved to the new headquarters of the National Cultural History Museum, the newly renovated Mint Building in Visagie Street. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The building was then simply locked up and left to decay. Fortunately, in 2002, when the Pretoria Bar took up chambers in the adjacent Mutual and Federal Building, later to be renamed the High Court Chambers, it was discovered that the new building was not structurally suited for a library, and it was decided to take a lease on the Pierneef Building, as it had by then become known. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The building now houses those tools of the trade used by members of the Bar, as well as a valuable collection of old Roman-Dutch vellums donated by erstwhile members and referred to by some as 'those musty tomes of ancient learning'. Ironically, a superb watercolour painting of this building by the Pretoria artist, Peter Wykerd, recently commissioned by the Bar Council, was lost or stolen during the move from Momentum to the High Court Chambers. It is hoped that the artist will pick up the courage to repeat his earlier masterpiece (or that the painting may miraculously reappear). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Bar Council is still undecided as to what use the rooms on the top floor should be put. Members are invited to come up with suggestions in this regard. Perhaps part of the building may, with the blessing of the fire brigade of course, be turned into a smoking room in honour of the factory to which it owes its name?</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Centenary of the Leendert te Groen Building Contributed by Pat Ellis SC, Pretoria Bar. R</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ead it</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><a href="http://www.sabar.co.za/law-journals/2003/december/2003-december-vol016-no3-p29.pdf" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Horstmann, A. 1984. Die gebou van die vroere Eureka-sigaretfabriek. Pretoriana No 86, 1984. Read it <a href="http://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes.php?bldgid=13212" target="_blank">here</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Eureka factory, 220 Madiba Street, Pretoria City Centre, Tshwane. Read it <a href="http://able.wiki.up.ac.za/index.php/Eureka_factory,_220_Madiba_Street,_Pretoria_City_Centre,_Tshwane" target="_blank">here </a></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Heritage Portal</span></div>
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-89630629466747718112016-04-28T02:47:00.000-07:002016-04-28T02:47:01.520-07:00Some ordinary and extraordinary events from Johannesburg in 1904<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reproduced from an article in The Heratage Portal by Article by James Ball</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A while back we spent a few hours paging through the 1904 Minutes of the Johannesburg Town Council (still a town at that stage). It was a remarkable experience travelling back in time and imagining what life was like for people from all walks of life when Joburg was still a teenager. Below is a short selection of some ordinary and extraordinary events from 1904.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Smallpox Scare</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In mid 1904 a man named Mtumbela died of smallpox in Charlestown. This caused some panic among council officials as he was employed by a company based in Anderson Street. Urgent instructions were sent to disinfect the company’s premises and to ensure that all employees were vaccinated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As more information emerged the chances of an outbreak seemed minimal. Mtumbela had been out of town for some time and no cases had been reported in the interim. Nevertheless, with outbreaks in the Orange River Colony and Natal happening at the time, the Council put stringent measures in place to increase the vaccination rate across the town.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Norwood Petition</span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FlTJ20lFVNk/VyG-hdXEP4I/AAAAAAAAA-8/55GhxdtgVv8r45TStBu5XEefZ12bUFYIQCLcB/s1600/Orange%2BGrove%2BTram%2BPostcard%2B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FlTJ20lFVNk/VyG-hdXEP4I/AAAAAAAAA-8/55GhxdtgVv8r45TStBu5XEefZ12bUFYIQCLcB/s400/Orange%2BGrove%2BTram%2BPostcard%2B.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The year 1904 brought good news for the residents of Orange Grove and those wishing to travel to the suburb’s famous Hotel: the Council had approved funding for the construction of a tramline. The proposed extension of the line from the Hotel to the southern boundary of Norwood was, however, rejected. Residents of Norwood were incensed and sent a petition with 80 signatures to the Council. The Council’s response to this petition and others was minuted as follows:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>After careful consideration of these petitions, we are not prepared at present to recommend the Council to approve of an extension along either of the proposed routes. We think that in the first instance the line should be laid to the point about 600 yards beyond the Orange Grove Hotel, where the two alternative routes diverge and that any decision as to an extension beyond this point should be deferred. When the development of the district beyond is further advanced, the Council will be in a better position to judge as to the best route to adopt.</i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Death of President Kruger</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1904 was the year when Paul Kruger passed away. The following statement by the Mayor William St John Carr relating to his death was adopted unanimously by the Town Council on 20 July 1904:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I would like to make, and I think it is the desire of every member of the Council that I should make, some allusion to an occurrence which has taken place since the last meeting of Council. I refer to the death of the late President Kruger, whose name will live in history as that of one who worked strenuously for an ideal, who ended his days away from the scene of the many stirring episodes in which he had taken so prominent a part, and whose last wish was that he should be buried on the soil he loved so well. One cannot pass in review before the mind’s eye the long succession of recent historical events in South Africa, which are so familiar to all here present, without being impressed by the fact that the two great representatives of the human forces who have been engaged in endeavouring to shape the destinies of South Africa, have both already ceased from their labours. Our sympathies must be and are certainly with the friends of the late President Kruger, and also with all those that looked to him as their trusted leader, and one who had their interests at heart. I move: That this Council desires to place on record, and to convey to the friends and relatives of the late President Kruger, its deep sympathy with them in the loss they have sustained.</i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Spread of Billiard Rooms</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1904 31 Billiard Room licenses were granted in Johannesburg. The only building still standing from this list as far as we can gather is the Cosmopolitan Hotel.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Electrocution in Fordsburg</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another noticeable event that happened during 1904 was the electrocution of a young man in Fordsburg. The Acting Manager of the Light and Power Department reported that he was killed on a high tension line (10 000 volts) running from The Rand Central main line to the Braamfontein Railway Station. Very little detail of how the accident occurred is given but the Council decided to ask the Rand Central Electric Company ‘to consider the advisability of having a few feet of barbed wire fixed around each pole belonging to the Company which carries a high tension cable, about 7 or 8 feet above the ground in such a manner as to prevent climbing.’</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Early Litigation</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1904 there were a number of claims against the Council for damage caused by municipal vehicles. One example was the settlement the Council reached with Dr J W Matthews after a Sanitary Cart collided with his carriage. Another was the payment of £9 to Mr G L MacGregor after he was knocked off his bicycle by horses from the Tramway Department. The payment covered damage to the bicycle, time away from work and medical expenses.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fire at the Salisbury Mine</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In July of 1904, the General Manager of the Salisbury Mine conveyed his sincere thanks to the Fire Brigade for the excellent work done to extinguish a potentially devastating fire at the mine. The following description of the courageous death of a miner appeared in the Chief Officer’s report and is worth repeating:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>A native named Jim was suffocated in the Salisbury Mine. [He] went through the whole of the workings at No. 6 level and warned all the miners of their danger, and after doing so was overcome by smoke and suffocated. His body was found halfway between the Salisbury and Wemmer shafts.</i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Outbreak of Plague and the Opening of Klipspruit Camp</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cover of the Plague Report</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the most significant events of 1904 was the outbreak of plague in Johannesburg (around present day Newtown). Africans and Indians in the area were removed to the farm Klipspruit twelve miles south west of the central area. This settlement became Johannesburg’s first municipal location and was renamed Pimville in 1934. Below is an excerpt from the Report of the Rand Plague Committee providing reasons (still controversial) for the opening of the Klipspruit Camp:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>When on the 19th March it was obvious that there was in the Coolie Location an unknown number of centres of infection the first thing to be done was to prevent the spread of disease from any of these centres, and the area was therefore cordoned.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Every known centre was thoroughly disinfected but the danger of the unknown centres was so great both to the Indians themselves as well as to the community that it was at once decided that the inhabitants of the Location should be removed to an Accommodation Camp, and the Location burned.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Natives and Asiatics who were found living in overcrowded or insanitary parts of the town were from time to time removed to the camp.</i></span></div>
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-311647623877649732016-04-19T08:10:00.001-07:002016-04-19T08:10:32.226-07:00The Birth of the Union Buildings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RT4nK87qSxg/VxZE79vTjGI/AAAAAAAAA9s/BOO0uO1UgcE75-SJRq0K5hj4JdKiaaAsQCLcB/s1600/UB8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RT4nK87qSxg/VxZE79vTjGI/AAAAAAAAA9s/BOO0uO1UgcE75-SJRq0K5hj4JdKiaaAsQCLcB/s400/UB8.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Article Author: Claus Schutte</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Anglo-Boer (1900-1902) Vereeniging Peace Agreement document ending the war between the Boers and the British was signed at Pretoria’s gracious Melrose House on 31 May 1902 and formally announced on 2 June 1902 in front of the Raadzaal, Pretoria. This again put the whole country under the British rule. Alfred Milner, the High Commissioner for South Africa and Governor of Transvaal and Orange River Colony was responsible for the design and execution of the policy of South Africa until 1905.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a long process the Transvaal (December 1906) and Orange River Colony (June 1907) were awarded responsible government. Jan Smuts had negotiated the deal in Britain in December 1905. But there was a greater goal in the minds of Generals Louis Botha and Jan Smuts: unification of the whole country. “I have the fullest faith that I shall be able …. to make those two great races of South Africa one solid, united and strong race,” Botha said at the 1907 Colonial Conference in London. Between October 1908 and May 1909 the National Convention was charged with the unification of the four provinces. (There was no Black, Coloured and Indian representation). Three years later Louis Botha became South Africa’s first Prime Minister and Herbert Gladstone the Governor General.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the 31st May 1910 South Africa was united and the Union of South Africa was born.</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQP39PTeXtE/VxZFb5e_v_I/AAAAAAAAA9w/6BZQY4V9spY-l58OrqLjaUy64WH0BhYLACKgB/s1600/botha%2Bletter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQP39PTeXtE/VxZFb5e_v_I/AAAAAAAAA9w/6BZQY4V9spY-l58OrqLjaUy64WH0BhYLACKgB/s400/botha%2Bletter.jpg" width="310" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To keep most people happy, Cape Town became the Seat of Parliament, Pretoria the Administrative Capital and Bloemfontein the Judicial Capital. By that time, due to the opening up of the gold fields on the Rand, Pretoria already had a number of prominent government department buildings e.g. the Raadzaal, the Palace of Justice, the Central Government Offices and the Post Office on Church Square. Other buildings of that time were the Artillery Barracks, the old Museum as well as many commercial buildings.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cecil John Rhodes and Herbert Baker</span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SUod1IT_4lM/VxZGUcbLmoI/AAAAAAAAA98/68BaH2cr_748oKalWOrYq7jGTDLETTKwQCLcB/s1600/Rhodes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SUod1IT_4lM/VxZGUcbLmoI/AAAAAAAAA98/68BaH2cr_748oKalWOrYq7jGTDLETTKwQCLcB/s200/Rhodes.png" width="148" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cecil John Rhodes</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yDEXJ5RsczE/VxZGT7IK1EI/AAAAAAAAA94/Acsr47ZvF_MIZmxmIsXs3gGJcvAaXq05wCLcB/s1600/baker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yDEXJ5RsczE/VxZGT7IK1EI/AAAAAAAAA94/Acsr47ZvF_MIZmxmIsXs3gGJcvAaXq05wCLcB/s200/baker.jpg" width="165" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Herbert Baker</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1890 Cecil John Rhodes became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and in 1891 Herbert Baker became Associate Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Baker came to South Africa in 1892 and the following year was commissioned by Rhodes to restore and remodel Groote Schuur, Rhodes' house on the slopes of Table Mountain. This was the start of a deep friendship that lasted until Rhodes’ death in 1902 aged 49, and resulted in Baker getting significant appointments from him.. Rhodes sponsored Baker's further education in Greece, Italy and Egypt, after which he returned to South Africa and stayed the next 20 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Baker also had the patronage of Lord Milner, and was invited to the Transvaal to design and build residences for the British colonials.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l5_5vL0xWyU/VxZG5a_qdaI/AAAAAAAAA-A/j2fuxjgzG2Ax9Ft5Nj5lKS7iFIWkvA0qwCLcB/s1600/Stonehouse%2BParktown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l5_5vL0xWyU/VxZG5a_qdaI/AAAAAAAAA-A/j2fuxjgzG2Ax9Ft5Nj5lKS7iFIWkvA0qwCLcB/s400/Stonehouse%2BParktown.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Baker also designed and built his own home Stonehouse in Parktown </span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sir Herbert Baker’s Commissions in Pretoria</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At Bryntirion (1902-3) Baker was commissioned to design houses for Judges and Ministers of State, culminating in the appointment for the design in 1905 of Government House.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1909 Baker received his first large commission for a secular public building in the Transvaal, being the Railway Station in Pretoria.</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Iqv6WkUr1EM/VxZHS8tNpoI/AAAAAAAAA-E/ktXoNyGZUNkpgyTJxnAw8GfQsxVHqI0zACLcB/s1600/Pretoria%2BStation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Iqv6WkUr1EM/VxZHS8tNpoI/AAAAAAAAA-E/ktXoNyGZUNkpgyTJxnAw8GfQsxVHqI0zACLcB/s400/Pretoria%2BStation.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Railway Station in Pretori</span>a</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Choosing the Site for the Union Buildings</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also during 1909 Herbert Baker was commissioned by the Transvaal Government to design the Government Building of the Union of South Africa. In choosing the site, Baker recounts in an article in the Pretoria News of 7 November 1941: “I was given a free hand in suggesting sites in and around the city. I was shown the blocks the Government had bought on Market (Paul Kruger) Street leading from Church Square to the new station” (which he was then building). “But with the high ideals we all had at the time, I thought this site unworthy of the capital buildings of the now united South Africa. So I explored the surrounding kopjes, and selected two sites overlooking the city”. “(The) One on the kopje to the south had the advantage of flat land on the top for the building and for extensions and gardens; and also of sunlit front (northern) facades. The other was opposite to it on the northern Meintjes Kop, which rises on the east of the city like an acropolis, and terminates in Government House at the other end. (Bryntirion). The only possible site on it near the city was a narrow platform halfway up, so that without the expense of colossal retaining walls it had to be a narrow building with its front façade almost always in shadow. But there was in the rock platform a depression such as the Greeks might have chosen for an amphitheatre”…… “So the vision came to me of two great blocks built around an amphitheatre“. When visiting the sites with Lady Selbourne, “she stressed the importance of nearness to Government House (in Bryntirion) as well as the heart of Pretoria”. ”These factors, and the charm of the site, determined my recommendation. Making some rough sketches and visiting the site with General Smuts” ….. “he with his quick insight and imagination, at once visualised the idea with the power to give dignity and beauty to the instrument and symbol of the Union”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was some criticism of the site. The Earl of Selborne had no sympathy with the critics and said “that people who chose this site have chosen one of the finest sites in the world “ “people will come from all over the world to wonder at the beauty of the site, and to admire the forethought and courage of the men who selected it.”</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CO-DwYLIkYI/VxZIEKoFTuI/AAAAAAAAA-M/ugv9OaOo2hcqzKWULF5LVudLFqYsX1QpQCLcB/s1600/Union%2BBuildings%2Band%2BGardens%2Bcirca1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CO-DwYLIkYI/VxZIEKoFTuI/AAAAAAAAA-M/ugv9OaOo2hcqzKWULF5LVudLFqYsX1QpQCLcB/s400/Union%2BBuildings%2Band%2BGardens%2Bcirca1920.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Union Buildings and Gardens 1920</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Scheme</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Baker made exquisite use of the chosen site. In considering the site he realised the design by placing the two blocks on the natural terraces on either side of a depression or gorge down to the valley, which he chose to place the colonnaded semi-circular amphitheatre block with two tall domed towers, standing as sentinels and joining the flanking blocks and framing the central amphitheatre.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The two blocks each have, at either end, strong columned porticos and a central entrance porch leading into a finely colonnaded courtyard of pink sandstone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the plans were made public the chief criticism was concentrated around the Amphitheatre - “what was the use of such a thing”? The value however was proven by many political gatherings held there and is still used today for important occasions. (Botha’s triumphant return from the conquest of South West Africa, Smuts’ victorious return from the East African Campaign, Verwoerd’s Funeral, and now the presidential inaugurations of our Presidents).</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VM45GODTtSE/VxZIZN4xcVI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/iSzqNRTgDTIi3zH6wsnm7LOXzOFrTky0gCLcB/s1600/Early%2Bsketch%2Bof%2Bthe%2BUnion%2BBuildings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VM45GODTtSE/VxZIZN4xcVI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/iSzqNRTgDTIi3zH6wsnm7LOXzOFrTky0gCLcB/s400/Early%2Bsketch%2Bof%2Bthe%2BUnion%2BBuildings.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Early Sketch of the Union Buildings</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Building</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">General Jan Smuts gave the go-ahead for the planning. The Meintjies Kopje was surveyed; Baker further developed plans and estimates and submitted them for approval to the Minister of Public Works and the Cabinet. After a speedy approval General Louis Botha expressed the urgency for the work to proceed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two firms of contractors were appointed on the Building. Meischke, a Hollander to build the two blocks, and Messrs Prentice and Mackie for the central Amphitheatre Block. On the 26th November 1910 the cornerstone of the Union Building was laid by the Duke of Connaught.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aKG5rLnKu-M/VxZIzbLdseI/AAAAAAAAA-U/dYnG3S5uoJQ_derLcxHB0_J8cAtWBPdzgCLcB/s1600/Union%2BBuildings%2B-%2BCorner%2Bstone%2Bbeing%2Blaid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aKG5rLnKu-M/VxZIzbLdseI/AAAAAAAAA-U/dYnG3S5uoJQ_derLcxHB0_J8cAtWBPdzgCLcB/s400/Union%2BBuildings%2B-%2BCorner%2Bstone%2Bbeing%2Blaid.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Union Buildings - Corner stone being laid</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Union Buildings - Hoisting Atlas Statue</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to communication from the Department of Works to the City Treasurer the building was completed in October 1913. Nearly three years from start to finish.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Significance of the Union Buildings</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Statement of Significance as formulated in the CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN by UBAC. The Union Buildings as a place or site of significance enriches people’s lives, providing a deep and inspirational sense of connection to community and city landscape, to the past (history) and memories. It is a tangible expression of a proudly South African identity and experience.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eYWqCJCcgx0/VxZJdTYj8LI/AAAAAAAAA-g/pIpk1zV8CRssuTH3tlcWfdrq3TMKwyhTQCLcB/s1600/Mandela%2BStatue%2BUnion%2BBuildings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eYWqCJCcgx0/VxZJdTYj8LI/AAAAAAAAA-g/pIpk1zV8CRssuTH3tlcWfdrq3TMKwyhTQCLcB/s400/Mandela%2BStatue%2BUnion%2BBuildings.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mandela Statue Union Buildings</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a place of significance it reflects the diversity of the South African society, telling us who we are, the past that has formed us as well as the South African landscape. The site is therefore irreplaceable, precious and indeed of national importance; hence it must be conserved for present and future generations”.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Information as gathered for the Conservation Management Plan by UBAC Consortium 2007)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Published in The Arcadian and an older version of The Heritage Portal in 2013</span></div>
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-48456480108377898922016-04-19T07:26:00.002-07:002016-04-19T07:26:40.538-07:00Memories of Grand Prix Racing in Johannesburg in the 1930s<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TMpMbc9S-9o/VxY88CBDpTI/AAAAAAAAA9c/z6mLz4IhPGIJuJdbPdjJmy38FrT3-OeggCLcB/s1600/Bugatti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TMpMbc9S-9o/VxY88CBDpTI/AAAAAAAAA9c/z6mLz4IhPGIJuJdbPdjJmy38FrT3-OeggCLcB/s400/Bugatti.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prosser Roberts with his Bugatti </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have noticed that many people are trying to establish the location of the Lord Howe Race Track in Kelvin. It is possible that the borehole is still there so if one can find it the rest may fall into line (see sketch below). Another clue that could assist the heritage enthusiast is that the main straight was at the top of a hill and finished in a dip. I can recall these details as I spent quite a bit of time in the pits and in the grandstand as a child as my dad, Prosser Roberts, was a fearsome racer during the 1930s. He raced the Bugatti pictured above.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Memories of the Lord Howe Circuit</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZIK6ps-8JY/VxY89AEzrBI/AAAAAAAAA9g/djp4sL_JlVklkS-IYW1JBU7hipzalCAWgCKgB/s1600/Lord%2BHowe%2BRace%2BTrack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZIK6ps-8JY/VxY89AEzrBI/AAAAAAAAA9g/djp4sL_JlVklkS-IYW1JBU7hipzalCAWgCKgB/s320/Lord%2BHowe%2BRace%2BTrack.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sketch of the Lord Howe Race Track in Kelvin, Sandton</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The borehole was a godsend in the summer months as the track got stinking hot. I can remember walking from the grandstand to the borehole for a drink of that cold clear water but by the time I got back to the grandstand I was thirsty again! It had an old reciprocating pump driven by a Villiers two stroke motor with no silencer. The crack of the motor’s exhaust hurt my ears. The drive was a flat belt which was looked after by a kind hearted old man who was liked by everybody. When you arrived for water he would give the belt a pull to start the motor and when you were done he would short the plug with a screwdriver.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My dad would often take my brother and I for a run to warm up the engine but once, just before the pits were cleared for the big race, he took me on a test run which was clocked on a stop watch by one of the other drivers. We exited the pit lane and made our way gently around the track towards the main straight. My dad hit the accelerator and we passed 120 MPH! I remember I was told to close my eyes at top speed to protect them (I was jammed between my dad and the side of the cockpit at the side of the windscreen so there was no protection). I tried to open them a crack to see the speed but I could not open them at all! These runs were common place in order to ensure the car was performing normally. When we got back a member of the pit team asked how I liked the speed. My reply was, "It is better than standing around doing nothing". The laughter this brought about lasted a long time. It became a bit of a hit phrase from that point on.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5duFj4u3Gyc/VxY87XhOG_I/AAAAAAAAA9k/Ens5d1bIeqMuzVQiiKgMb3ODXH9wBt_SQCKgB/s1600/Aunt%2BClo%2Bracing%2Ba%2BBugatti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5duFj4u3Gyc/VxY87XhOG_I/AAAAAAAAA9k/Ens5d1bIeqMuzVQiiKgMb3ODXH9wBt_SQCKgB/s320/Aunt%2BClo%2Bracing%2Ba%2BBugatti.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aunt Clo racing a Bugatti</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of a racing day there was the ladies race which always had two ladies: my aunt Clo in my dad's Bugatti and our friend Bruce’s wife driving his Teraplane. Almost every time my aunt came around the hairpin bend she would accelerate too hard and spin out. I can still hear the groan from the grandstand. Bruce’s wife who always trailed would then nip past and win the race. Incidentally the main races were run anticlockwise but the ladies races were run clockwise.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4l-xe6bLtuI/VxY86_3HP1I/AAAAAAAAA9k/Wp_JhfvmuhUR8cOaIHY26R3HiYJex45BgCKgB/s1600/Bruce%2Bin%2Bhis%2BTerraplane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4l-xe6bLtuI/VxY86_3HP1I/AAAAAAAAA9k/Wp_JhfvmuhUR8cOaIHY26R3HiYJex45BgCKgB/s400/Bruce%2Bin%2Bhis%2BTerraplane.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bruce racing in a Teraplane</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Engines overheating was quite a problem in those days. The reader may notice that my dad’s Bugatti has an oversize radiator. If you come across pictures of the Auto Unions with no covers around the engines that would be at the Lord Howe Circuit. For half my life I thought that was how they were made until I came across a picture of them with their bonnets on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Germans must have been very disappointed racing at Lord Howe as Hitler ordered them to use only tyres made with rubber made from coal. With the heat of the track and the fact that the track design allowed the cars to come around the last bend before the main straight at seventy to eighty MPH they were up to 120MPH by the time they were a quarter of the way down the main straight. That was where they shed the treads on their tyres, rubber flying in all directions. What a disaster! </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dealing with Mr Bugatti</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P0gmPMk2mDo/VxY87cnv5oI/AAAAAAAAA9k/BoE2wxt1R6QuY9NPy3wcOxJ82Gm9HlMGwCKgB/s1600/Bugatti%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P0gmPMk2mDo/VxY87cnv5oI/AAAAAAAAA9k/BoE2wxt1R6QuY9NPy3wcOxJ82Gm9HlMGwCKgB/s400/Bugatti%2B2.jpg" width="296" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two seater Bugatti</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The picture below is of a two seater Bugatti which I think is the second Bugatti my dad bought. It had an eight cylinder engine. He was disappointed in this car because its top speed was the same as the super charged four cylinder he owned. My mother was French so we had no difficulty dealing with Mr Bugatti. The Bugatti crank shaft was a compo design made up of a series of discs and pins. My dad tried to buy a conrod pin and rollers but Bugatti claimed the factory was the only one that could do crankshafts. This racing lot were very capable mechanics, probably the best in the country. I don’t think there was anything they could not do. They were all highly insulted, the cost of shipping the crank to France and back was as much as the car was worth. This was over 300 pounds which was half the price of a small three bedroom house in those days!</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reproduced from an article by Maurice Prosser Roberts in the Heritage Portal 24 March 2016.</span></div>
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<br />Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-26065165800500032942015-10-29T11:36:00.000-07:002015-10-29T11:36:38.957-07:00Corrugated Irony - A Short History of the Tin Roof<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UkqpOpnZjTc/VjJlZ1hZuVI/AAAAAAAAA8k/T-dfbteH26Y/s1600/Corrugated%252520Iron%252520Structure%252520-%252520Source%252520Unknown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UkqpOpnZjTc/VjJlZ1hZuVI/AAAAAAAAA8k/T-dfbteH26Y/s400/Corrugated%252520Iron%252520Structure%252520-%252520Source%252520Unknown.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Corrugated iron was developed and patented in Britain around 1830 and has travelled the world. Born during the industrial revolution it travelled to the expanding colonies of the Empire, notably to Australia, India & South Africa; it also found popularity on the frontiers of the Americas and wherever it went it transformed the landscape.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The gold rushes of the nineteenth century were a spur to the migration of thousands of people to the far corners of the globe, where there was little infrastructure. Victorian Britain was the workshop of world and saw export opportunities for corrugated iron on the goldfields of California, Australia and South Africa. The nature of corrugated iron, being light, easy to stack, and portable, made it an ideal building material to export to places such as Kalgoolie or Pilgrim’s Rest, which were at the back of beyond.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is corrugated iron? Corrugated comes from the Latin word “Ruga” which means to wrinkle or crease, thus to corrugate a thin metal sheet, the sheet has to pass through a set of rolls in order to fashion it into a series of sinusoidal waves which gives it greater strength and stiffness (in direction of span). Originally made from wrought iron, but since the 1890’s made from mild steel, it is often supplied with a hot-dip galvanised finish to prevent rusting. Its merit over traditional building materials, i.e. masonry or timber, is that it is cheap, durable, lightweight, strong, re-usable and easily transported; such versatility is the key to its continuing use.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the South African context, the demand for corrugated iron arose as a result of the many major mineral discoveries made in the late 19th Century; the first being the Kimberley diamond rush of 1871, which was closely followed by several gold rushes, culminating in the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886, which founded the City of Johannesburg. These mine camps were at first tented at best and required better accommodation as the mineral reserves were proven to be more than just “a flash in the pan”. This in turn meant that more permanent dwellings were essential to cope with the Highveld’s cold winters and hot summers.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"Tin tabernacle" constructed entirely from corrugated iron</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mine villages that developed along the Witwatersrand’s Main Reef, between Springs & Krugersdorp made much use of corrugated iron as a cladding, both for the roof & walls of the buildings, which included houses, shops, halls and churches (so called “tin tabernacles’”), as well as the mine surface workshops. The lack of local infrastructure meant that all building materials and mining equipment had to be transported, by train, vast distances from the ports to the rail-heads and then taken onward by ox wagon. The story goes that Paul Kruger, the then President of the Transvaal Republic, imported corrugated iron roof sheeting for his farmhouse situated nearby to Rustenburg; on its arrival, after <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OA9bhc83XJQ/VjJlaa5sdCI/AAAAAAAAA80/CQ5RGFZgpbM/s1600/800px-Goondah_Corrugated_Iron_House.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OA9bhc83XJQ/VjJlaa5sdCI/AAAAAAAAA80/CQ5RGFZgpbM/s320/800px-Goondah_Corrugated_Iron_House.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">"Tin tabernacle" constructed entirely from corrugated iron</span></td></tr>
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several months in transit, it was found that there were not enough sheets to cover the roof. Being the wise old man he was, he had the oxen in-spanned and by rolling the wheels of his wagon over the corrugations he managed to widen the sheets enough to provide the required coverage. It is rumoured that this act was the origin of the saying “n boer maak ‘n plan”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Corrugated iron has stood the test of time, has gone in and out of fashion and has extended its usefulness; apart from it still being used for roofing, it is also used for tanks, farm reservoirs, grain silos and culverts. A secondary role has now come into play with the recycling of the material for the building of informal settlements, to be seen on the outskirts of not only the major cities of South Africa, but also most of the cities of the third world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In conclusion, some say that corrugated iron is a blot on the landscape, a curse. However I say it is a blessing as it has served mankind well over the last 170 years or so. It has great durability, is easily recycled and can finally be melted down for scrap, making it a sustainable, eco-friendly building material, which will continue to serve for many.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reproduced from the Heritage Portal - </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Article Author: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peter Ball</span></span><br />
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-8521956132107470012015-06-18T00:47:00.003-07:002015-06-18T00:50:48.465-07:00A short history of Tudor Chambers <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ihQgHO4tCag/VYJmyk-EE1I/AAAAAAAAA6w/1tTZbICTNqQ/s1600/3903_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ihQgHO4tCag/VYJmyk-EE1I/AAAAAAAAA6w/1tTZbICTNqQ/s320/3903_01.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>View from Church Square<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Sammy Marks fountain is in the foreground</span></b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>View from Church Square</b></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Tudor Chambers today </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tudor Chambers was originally a speculative development intended for street-level retail and luxury offices in typical high-street or city-centre square fashion.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Melrose House in 2005</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coach magnate and businessman George Heys </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: blue;">George Heys</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">purchased the site in 1893 and set in motion the construction of Tudor Chambers, designed by British architect John ELLIS, in 1903 with material imported from Scotland by Heys’s own maritime transport company. It had Heys’s own offices. Heys had had Melrose House built as his own residence. Read more about Melrose house <a href="http://hubpages.com/hub/Melrose-House-historic-Pretoria-home" target="_blank"><here></a></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Advertisement for "George Heys and <br />Company's Express Saloon Coach Service."</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Its architecture is typical of the late Victorian but untypical in its place, being an Arts and Crafts Tudor Revival with distinctive Art Nouveau features in the decorative framing of the shop-windows at ground floor retail, and in the brassware furnishings of the three upper storeys. With its parapets and corner tower it was the tallest building in Pretoria at the time of its construction. Over time the building fell into disrepair, the roof deteriorating to such an extent that the building repeatedly flooded, causing damage to walls, floors and ceilings in addition to the exterior damage by the elements. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Detail</span></b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MuNGppCp3Ds/VYJm1eCsHaI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/YABCjpikz1I/s1600/TudorCPassage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MuNGppCp3Ds/VYJm1eCsHaI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/YABCjpikz1I/s200/TudorCPassage.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Passage</span></b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7mnKGr_8wOA/VYJmzBRaOzI/AAAAAAAAA7A/ozVv5PhJT1s/s1600/3903_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7mnKGr_8wOA/VYJmzBRaOzI/AAAAAAAAA7A/ozVv5PhJT1s/s200/3903_03.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A modern tower that <br />replaced the original dome</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The original tower was lost in a windstorm and it is now commemorated in a newly configured steel structure of lighter construction so as to be less prone to wind load.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was purchased in 2007 by Alec Wapnick of City Property, an ardent art lover and property magnate. Wapnick has also purchased all the furniture and photographs of the office of JG Heys (No 3 Tudor Chambers) as well as the counter of the maritime transport and insurance company which Heys undertook in the next door office (No 2 Tudor Chambers). A museologist has restored the furniture and reconstructed the office in Alec Wapnick’s private gallery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Restored in 2008 for the City Property Group by GAPP Architects & Urban Designers. Nicholas CLARKE of ARCHIFACTS acted as heritage consultant to CULTMATRIX on the project.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For related content on Artefacts.co.za click <a href="http://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes.php?bldgid=3903" target="_blank"><here></a></span></div>
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-60164789011560230432015-04-16T13:08:00.000-07:002015-04-16T13:08:02.254-07:00The Magnificent Gardens of the Union Buildings <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0QPaIAvflI8/VTASKUSNflI/AAAAAAAAA6E/H_OPRLweNPQ/s1600/P1080683-UnionBuilding.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0QPaIAvflI8/VTASKUSNflI/AAAAAAAAA6E/H_OPRLweNPQ/s1600/P1080683-UnionBuilding.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Union Building gardens today</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following article, compiled by <b>Penny Blersch</b>, appeared in the April 2015 issue of The Arcadian. It provides some historical snippets about the gardens of the Union Buildings and the many memorials dotted around the site. Thank you to the Arcadia Residents' and Ratepayers' Association (ARRA) for sharing it. Enjoy...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The gardens of the Union Buildings were planted and constructed over a period of seven years by the Department of Public Works. Work was completed in 1919. Since the gardens and buildings are situated on Meintjieskop, the site is quite sloped and the garden is therefore divided into stepped terraces. The impressive steps run up the middle of the garden leading up to the main entrance of the Union Buildings. The formal garden lines up with the 285m wings of the Union Buildings. The terraces and retaining walls are built predominantly of mountain stone that was quarried on site.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TGmGCzFGAws/VTAOXNY2GhI/AAAAAAAAA54/Z5MwaQPlSLY/s1600/Union%2BBuildings%2Band%2BGardens%2Bcirca%2B1920.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TGmGCzFGAws/VTAOXNY2GhI/AAAAAAAAA54/Z5MwaQPlSLY/s1600/Union%2BBuildings%2Band%2BGardens%2Bcirca%2B1920.png" height="260" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Union Buildings and Gardens circa 1920</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Originally all the plants in the formal garden were indigenous. However, over the years this has changed, for example, roses have been planted and many of the annuals are exotic. Although the formal garden takes centre stage, there are many significant smaller gardens, statues and memorials which have been added over the years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. The Flanagan Arboretum was planted in 1920 on the western side of the Union Buildings and houses more than 50 indigenous trees. The plants were bequeathed to the South African Government by Henry Flanagan, a botanist and plant collector.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Western Smuts Garden and Memorial was commissioned by the Jan Smuts Memorial Committee and unveiled in 1975.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4csVlmWAEF4/VTAOStCRShI/AAAAAAAAA5o/Vuv-8yBbrw4/s1600/Smuts%2BMemorial%2BGardens.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4csVlmWAEF4/VTAOStCRShI/AAAAAAAAA5o/Vuv-8yBbrw4/s1600/Smuts%2BMemorial%2BGardens.png" height="360" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Smuts Memorial Gardens </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. 1956 Women’s March Memorial was erected at the top of the Amphitheatre in a vestibule between the east and west wing. It was unveiled on 9 August 2000. It consists of a grinding stone mounted on metal. The steps leading up to the memorial have been inscribed with extracts from the petition that the more than 20 000 women presented to the then Prime Minister JG Strijdom against the carrying of passes.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dUcNxxs98Gs/VTAOLlcRVrI/AAAAAAAAA44/FEkIXah2I-w/s1600/1956%2BWomen's%2BMarch%2BMemorial.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dUcNxxs98Gs/VTAOLlcRVrI/AAAAAAAAA44/FEkIXah2I-w/s1600/1956%2BWomen's%2BMarch%2BMemorial.png" height="350" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1956 Women's March Memorial </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. The Delville Wood War Memorial, standing proudly at the top of the stairs of the terraced garden, pays tribute to the South African troops who died during the First World War. A few terraces further down are plaques with the names of South Africans who died during WW1, WW2 and the Korean War.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e2r_JKbZuug/VTAOMidBIFI/AAAAAAAAA5A/aRubyuwBfGs/s1600/Delville%2BWood%2BMemorial.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e2r_JKbZuug/VTAOMidBIFI/AAAAAAAAA5A/aRubyuwBfGs/s1600/Delville%2BWood%2BMemorial.png" height="355" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Delville Wood Memorial at the Union Buildings</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_oeXduWgPuA/VTAOKpQrWXI/AAAAAAAAA4w/n1HBGQ7xThw/s1600/Delville%2BWood%2BMemorial%2Bat%2BSunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_oeXduWgPuA/VTAOKpQrWXI/AAAAAAAAA4w/n1HBGQ7xThw/s1600/Delville%2BWood%2BMemorial%2Bat%2BSunset.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Delville Wood Memorial at Sunset</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. The 9 metre high bronze Statue of Nelson Mandela is the newest addition to the gardens. It was unveiled on 16 December 2013. A statue of Prime Minister JBM Hertzog stood on this site for many years but was moved to another position in the gardens.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7D0BMXqMW3I/VTAOP84qFnI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/_j4yXpQmBbw/s1600/Mandela%2BStatue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7D0BMXqMW3I/VTAOP84qFnI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/_j4yXpQmBbw/s1600/Mandela%2BStatue.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nelson Mandela Statue at the Union Buildings</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7XG2qENnLQY/VTAON-D0YeI/AAAAAAAAA5I/RhuY5dH3HYw/s1600/Distant%2Bview%2Bof%2Bthe%2BMandela%2BStatue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7XG2qENnLQY/VTAON-D0YeI/AAAAAAAAA5I/RhuY5dH3HYw/s1600/Distant%2Bview%2Bof%2Bthe%2BMandela%2BStatue.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Distant view of the Nelson Mandela Statue at the Union Buildings</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. The Police Memorial and amphitheatre was built on the old tennis courts of the Craigielea Estate. It was unveiled by the State president, PW Botha, on 17 October 1984 to honour all policemen and women who have died in the line of duty.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CWy0LLpaARg/VTAOQbr6CzI/AAAAAAAAA5c/fLpgsSRJFvg/s1600/Police%2BMemorial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CWy0LLpaARg/VTAOQbr6CzI/AAAAAAAAA5c/fLpgsSRJFvg/s1600/Police%2BMemorial.jpg" height="272" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Police Memorial at the Union Buildings</span> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. The Southern Lawns have been the location for many public gatherings over the years. Crowds have gathered either in protest or celebration for marches, speeches and inaugurations. The statue of the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, General Louis Botha, takes centre stage on the lawn. It was unveiled in 1946."</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-trIkBrdnMCc/VTAOTRd7DrI/AAAAAAAAA5w/YkHsQleDtCU/s1600/Southern%2BLawns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-trIkBrdnMCc/VTAOTRd7DrI/AAAAAAAAA5w/YkHsQleDtCU/s1600/Southern%2BLawns.jpg" height="248" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View of the Union Buildings from the Southern Lawns<br /> with statue of Louis Botha in the foreground.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">Source: April 2015 issue of The Arcadian, a monthly publication of the Arcadia Residents' and Ratepayers' Association (ARRA) </span> </span><br />
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-81834135613582957252015-03-21T06:54:00.000-07:002015-03-21T06:54:50.736-07:00HF Gros and his remarkable collection of early Transvaal Photographs <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">This blog entry is reproduced from a article in the Heritage portal written by Rod Kruger</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Camera similar to the one used by H.F. Gros 1885</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>H Ferdinand Gros</b> was of Swiss origin. He arrived in South Africa circa 1869. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On July 16th 1870 he was advertising that the Photographic Salon 'will resume again' in the 'Burgherdorp Gazette'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the 'Diamond News' on March 9th 1872 he announced that he was taking over the studio of Weber and Gros and that he would soon open a 'Superb Salon' at New Rush (Kimberley). The New Rush studio was advertised for sale in 'Diamond News' 13th April 1872. However, this sale appears not to have happened as in 'Diamond News' on October 8th and December 10th 1872 he was still advertising the New Rush studio. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tXaNELGcFwE/VQx-q3PE0wI/AAAAAAAAA3o/aGAbOLlNx0A/s1600/STUDIO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tXaNELGcFwE/VQx-q3PE0wI/AAAAAAAAA3o/aGAbOLlNx0A/s1600/STUDIO.jpg" height="136" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HF Gros' photographic studio in Pretoria</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He visited the goldfields at Pilgrim's Rest and Mac Mac ('Diamond News' May 9th 1874 and February 13th 1875). He also visited Lydenburg goldfields. In 1877 he set up the 'Photographic Gallery' at the corner of Church Street and van der Walt Street, Pretoria. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1877 he photographed the Transvaal Annexation Commission at Ulundi House, Pretoria. He also photographed scenes in Pretoria during the First Boer War, these were later bound in to the limited edition (200 copies) of 'News of the Camp' (1880-81).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p5_LKUB9kIE/VQx8qQW-eEI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/KHcRoYHlBus/s1600/News%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bcamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p5_LKUB9kIE/VQx8qQW-eEI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/KHcRoYHlBus/s1600/News%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bcamp.jpg" height="286" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">News of the camp</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He photographed Chief Sekukuni in 1879. Circa 1888 he made a photographic tour of the Transvaal. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-njkB1EC5VVE/VQx8plahLHI/AAAAAAAAA3M/4ZilD_vKK0s/s1600/Picturesque%2Baspects%2Bof%2Bthe%2BTransvaal%2B1888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-njkB1EC5VVE/VQx8plahLHI/AAAAAAAAA3M/4ZilD_vKK0s/s1600/Picturesque%2Baspects%2Bof%2Bthe%2BTransvaal%2B1888.JPG" height="320" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Picturesque aspects of the Transvaal - 1888</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He returned to Europe in 1895 and his Pretoria studio was taken over by J. Perrin (Cowan 1978, pp.99-101).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is a small selection of wonderful photographs taken by Gros. Enjoy..</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9HqHQJa2RUI/VQx5IiwKh7I/AAAAAAAAA28/5i8R_J811DM/s1600/TAB18009TVLVryheidsoorlog18801881.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9HqHQJa2RUI/VQx5IiwKh7I/AAAAAAAAA28/5i8R_J811DM/s1600/TAB18009TVLVryheidsoorlog18801881.jpg" height="400" width="292" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The men who took on Victoria's soldiers.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The men were:</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Back Row:</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1. Veldkornet L.P. Bezuidenhout, Potchefstroom</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2. Kmdt. S.P. Grove, Middelburg</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3. Asst. Kmdt. Generaal H. Schoeman, Pretoria</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4. Kmdt. Henning Pretorius, Elandsfontein, Pretoria</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">5. Kmdt. Lewis Fourie, Lange’s Nek</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Second Row</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">6. Kmdt. H.R. Lemmer, Potchefstroom</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">7. Kmdt. J.D. Weilbach, Potchefstroom en Lange’s Nek</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">8. Weesheer J.S. Joubert, Sen., Gijzelaar te Newcastle</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">9. Kmdt. J. du Plessis de Beer, Wonderboom, Pretoria</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">10 Kmdt. D.J. Muller. Leydenburg</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Third Row</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">11. Kmdt. Hans Erasmus, Raad Huis, Pretoria</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">12. Generaal J.P. Steyn, Leydenburg</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">13. Kmdt. Hans Botha, Zwartkop Pretoria</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">14 Kmdt. G. Engelbreght, Standerton</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Front Row</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">15. Veghtgeneraal J.M. Kock, Potchefstroom</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">16. Veghtgeneraal Frans Joubert, Bronkhorstspruit</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">17. Kmdt. Generaal J.P. Joubert</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">18. Generaal N. Smit</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">19. Generaal P.A. Cronje, Potchefstroom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same rifles, bandoliers and clothing can be seen on a few individuals, which indicates that they were studio props and not necessarily the property of the individuals on the photos. This fact has been overlooked by many researchers, who used this set of photos when researching Boer firearms.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vjT1mfUa6JQ/VQx5Cs29eDI/AAAAAAAAA2c/IfH-VfQOrB4/s1600/Passenger%2Band%2BGovernment%2BMail%2BCoach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vjT1mfUa6JQ/VQx5Cs29eDI/AAAAAAAAA2c/IfH-VfQOrB4/s1600/Passenger%2Band%2BGovernment%2BMail%2BCoach.jpg" height="330" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Passenger and Government Mail Coach (circa 1888)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oKFgsHUdP2A/VQx5GlzGd7I/AAAAAAAAA20/7tUQmB34IGQ/s1600/Sticking%2BFast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oKFgsHUdP2A/VQx5GlzGd7I/AAAAAAAAA20/7tUQmB34IGQ/s1600/Sticking%2BFast.jpg" height="316" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'Sticking Fast' - In the Six Mile Spruit near Pretoria (circa 1888)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nuqHG7JdNHI/VQ1x03MSJRI/AAAAAAAAA4M/XanvZX4JyXA/s1600/Camping%2Bat%2BMatocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nuqHG7JdNHI/VQ1x03MSJRI/AAAAAAAAA4M/XanvZX4JyXA/s1600/Camping%2Bat%2BMatocks.jpg" height="313" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Camping at Matocks</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j5li8GjTbas/VQ1vzfqY0FI/AAAAAAAAA4A/hYmD_6KBUp0/s1600/A%2Btimbered%2Bstope%2B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j5li8GjTbas/VQ1vzfqY0FI/AAAAAAAAA4A/hYmD_6KBUp0/s1600/A%2Btimbered%2Bstope%2B.jpg" height="318" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A timbered stope - Meyer and Charlton (circa 1888). <br />Harry Struben is wearing the bowler hat</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6PcxLLlpzw8/VQx4_-Rx0GI/AAAAAAAAA2M/hQnHNwBXnF8/s1600/Knights%2Blake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6PcxLLlpzw8/VQx4_-Rx0GI/AAAAAAAAA2M/hQnHNwBXnF8/s1600/Knights%2Blake.jpg" height="321" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knights lake at Driefontein (circa 1888). <br />Again Harry Struben is wearing the bowler hat.</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jSxXWRvSApM/VQx8qQbgqUI/AAAAAAAAA3c/CI5hNT0WIUQ/s1600/Struben%2BBrothers%2BStamp%2BMill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jSxXWRvSApM/VQx8qQbgqUI/AAAAAAAAA3c/CI5hNT0WIUQ/s1600/Struben%2BBrothers%2BStamp%2BMill.jpg" height="246" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Struben Brothers Stamp Mill (circa 1885 )</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cJCJi5GjJUk/VQx48pJyXPI/AAAAAAAAA2A/UGj6oORxFSM/s1600/Fred%2Band%2BHarry%2BStruben.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cJCJi5GjJUk/VQx48pJyXPI/AAAAAAAAA2A/UGj6oORxFSM/s1600/Fred%2Band%2BHarry%2BStruben.jpg" height="400" width="261" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fred and Harry Struben - Confidence Reef Mine (circa 1885)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RoLMQ_eByXs/VQx5BKDv6kI/AAAAAAAAA2U/ChPRYTowGd0/s1600/Native%2BLabourers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RoLMQ_eByXs/VQx5BKDv6kI/AAAAAAAAA2U/ChPRYTowGd0/s1600/Native%2BLabourers.jpg" height="323" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Native Labourers working on an incline shaft (circa 1888)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SX45YRtPSAw/VQx481PjrNI/AAAAAAAAA2E/2C3vZsCcsr4/s1600/Hatherley%2BDistillery%2Bnear%2BPretoria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SX45YRtPSAw/VQx481PjrNI/AAAAAAAAA2E/2C3vZsCcsr4/s1600/Hatherley%2BDistillery%2Bnear%2BPretoria.jpg" height="323" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hatherley Distillery near Pretoria (circa 1888)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oIz1QwlZLFM/VQx5FphCoyI/AAAAAAAAA2s/cfhHRoXLnUc/s1600/Botanic%2BGarden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oIz1QwlZLFM/VQx5FphCoyI/AAAAAAAAA2s/cfhHRoXLnUc/s1600/Botanic%2BGarden.jpg" height="400" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Botanic Garden (Witpoortjie) falls (circa 1885)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m0g0mVTYf18/VQ13GkVy5MI/AAAAAAAAA4c/zd-eo44v8_g/s1600/Rod%2BKruger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m0g0mVTYf18/VQ13GkVy5MI/AAAAAAAAA4c/zd-eo44v8_g/s1600/Rod%2BKruger.jpg" height="200" width="168" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rod Kruger with a Gros album</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sources:</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Rod Kruger, Bull, Marjorie and Joseph Denfield (1970) 'Secure the shadow: the story of Cape photography from its beginnings to the end of 1870 '. Cape Town: T. McNally.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Cowan, N. (1978), 'Photograficana of H.F. Gros', 'Africana notes and news'. Volume 23, number 3, pp.99-104.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">'Transvaal almanac 1877'.</span><br />
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-40395961300436480862015-03-05T13:19:00.002-08:002018-02-23T04:29:28.279-08:00Mystery cars: Nardi Bisiluro's asymmetrical Le Mans racing car<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CqlMBPxyhPw/VPjEFmkSYaI/AAAAAAAAA0s/lgKAT12NlAI/s1600/2013-11-12-nardi-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CqlMBPxyhPw/VPjEFmkSYaI/AAAAAAAAA0s/lgKAT12NlAI/s1600/2013-11-12-nardi-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nardi Bisiluro's asymmetrical Le Mans racing car with</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> the driver on the right, engine on the left, radiator in the middle</span>.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-czG9uLk7PfU/VPjB2LiYYhI/AAAAAAAAA0I/LulBXJd7lpA/s1600/2013-11-12-nardi-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-czG9uLk7PfU/VPjB2LiYYhI/AAAAAAAAA0I/LulBXJd7lpA/s1600/2013-11-12-nardi-1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Blohm & Voss BV 141 in 1938.</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1938, the German airplane maker Blohm & Voss created several examples of asymmetrical bombers which, although nimble and fast, would not enjoy much success as part of the Luftwaffe. Several years later, an Italian, Nardi Bisiluro would use the idea to his advantage, this time on four wheels...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Never lacking imagination, but often lacking the financial means, <b>Enrico Nardi</b> continued his quest to evolve the car from its first appearance in 1932. Considering the 24 Hours of Le Mans as the only event worthy of showcasing his ideas, he took on the challenge of beating French auto-makers Renault and Panhard in their favourite class of engines smaller than 750cc. After a debut cut short in only the second lap in 1954 (water pump), he returned the following year with an ambitious project, thanks to a unique perspective.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W4bRh9voOMc/VPjD98WrTVI/AAAAAAAAA0g/phOqeeB_NEs/s1600/carlo-mollino-bisiluro-struttura-interna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="106" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W4bRh9voOMc/VPjD98WrTVI/AAAAAAAAA0g/phOqeeB_NEs/s1600/carlo-mollino-bisiluro-struttura-interna.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AsqDtOxnYc8/VPjDEVvytvI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/k-VA4LwySE8/s1600/carlo-mollino-bisiluro-progetto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AsqDtOxnYc8/VPjDEVvytvI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/k-VA4LwySE8/s1600/carlo-mollino-bisiluro-progetto.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GTepVai2lZQ/VPjEFQxYbDI/AAAAAAAAA0o/byxgvItnUjY/s1600/2013-11-12-nardi-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GTepVai2lZQ/VPjEFQxYbDI/AAAAAAAAA0o/byxgvItnUjY/s1600/2013-11-12-nardi-11.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rather than adapt the exterior forms to the chassis, why not design the ideal bodywork first, then adapt the rest of the car to it? Following this logic, Enrico Nardi hires engineer-architect Carlo Mollino to design a very aerodynamic car, with a radiator in the middle, which he sees as a wing. He then added all the essential elements to make the car totally asymmetrical, with two fuselages. The left side housed the engine and transmission while the right side carried the driver, who needed to be small in stature.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--BSpY0ShIVo/VPjDdFqqKII/AAAAAAAAA0Y/KqWeR15snJw/s1600/2013-11-12-nardi-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--BSpY0ShIVo/VPjDdFqqKII/AAAAAAAAA0Y/KqWeR15snJw/s1600/2013-11-12-nardi-3.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: start;">The middle section was equipped with an <br />air brake... or a jumpseat ! </span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1fNdtYZYkFc/VPjEF-H7rvI/AAAAAAAAA0w/dtDJ3Y-TeIk/s1600/2013-11-12-nardi-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1fNdtYZYkFc/VPjEF-H7rvI/AAAAAAAAA0w/dtDJ3Y-TeIk/s1600/2013-11-12-nardi-4.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The tight quarters in the cockpit necessitated <br />a very special steering wheel for the time.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To improve the braking performance, the car was equipped with an aerodynamic flap in the center. The ingenious air brake unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your view) was replaced by a jumpseat (!) on the eve of the practice sessions, as the rules required a passenger seat in the car. Another innovation, the radiator was comprised of rectangular tubes aiming to disperse the heat thanks to the air flowing through them. Thre rest of the car was made up of various vehicles: Lancia Appia or Fiat 1100, with the entire weight totally only 400 kg.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VPapS74yxiA/VPjHOu67JyI/AAAAAAAAA1E/T50yxQfnXCk/s1600/Nardi-Bisiluro-1955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VPapS74yxiA/VPjHOu67JyI/AAAAAAAAA1E/T50yxQfnXCk/s1600/Nardi-Bisiluro-1955.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Nardi Bisiluro at Le Mans</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During practice for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Nardi Bisiluro shows great speed (220 km/h) and performs very well in its class. Despite that, the drivers are worried to even turn around in the cockpit as the car requires a very soft touch due to extreme sensitivity to any change of direction. Even worse, they have a difficult time driving the car in a straight line! Their fears would come true in the race when after only 148 minutes, the Bisiluro driven by Damonte is overtaken, or rather "blown" over by a Jaguar...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Retrieved from the ditch without much harm done to car or driver, the Nardi Bisiluro would spend the rest of its days at the National Science and Technology Museum ‘Leonardo da Vinci’, in Milan.</span><br />
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-62352813444380418102015-02-05T10:07:00.003-08:002015-02-18T00:28:02.005-08:00Timeline of Pretoria’s History<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uXDwgKik-2s/TdO0YUs5N0I/AAAAAAAAAqg/_mbv0M0qTcc/s1600/union%2Bbuildings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uXDwgKik-2s/TdO0YUs5N0I/AAAAAAAAAqg/_mbv0M0qTcc/s1600/union%2Bbuildings.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Union Buildings</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This timeline was reproduced from the ShowMe Pretoria website</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://showme.co.za/pretoria/tourism/timeline-of-pretorias-history/" target="_blank">http://showme.co.za/pretoria/tourism/timeline-of-pretorias-history/</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1600s</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Southern Transvaal Ndebele tribe settles in the area which was to become the location of the city of Pretoria, after travelling from Natal led by a chief called Musi.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1836</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Andries Pretorius, who would later become a national hero of the Voortrekkers after his victory over the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River in 1837, arrives in the area north of the Vaal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Southern African king Mzilikazi and his tribe, who’d been residing in the region since 1825, is defeated by the Voortrekkers and forced to flee across the Limpopo.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1840</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First permanent White inhabitants arrive in the Pretoria area.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1852</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The United Kingdom signs the Sand River Convention treaty with approximately 5 000 Boer families, recognizing their independence in the region to the north of the Vaal River and by doing so, laying the foundation for the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (South African Republic).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eFc6g0wbNcg/VNOXO_ypJWI/AAAAAAAAAto/83U_LCvikwU/s1600/Pretorius.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eFc6g0wbNcg/VNOXO_ypJWI/AAAAAAAAAto/83U_LCvikwU/s1600/Pretorius.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Statue of Andries Pretorius at the City Hall</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1853</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marthinus Wessel Pretorius purchases two farms named Elandspoort and Daspoort. The farms are declared a town in November, originally named ‘Pretoria Philadelphia’ in honour of MW Pretorius’ father and his father’s brothers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1855</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria is founded and established as the capital of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, named after General Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius- a leader of the Boers who was instrumental in the creation of the Transvaal Republic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Church Square is created on the order of MW Pretorius. Town planners, The Deveraux brothers, design a square for market and church purposes.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-de-QtChxCNY/Uu_AFJOeo2I/AAAAAAAAAkA/sc50pv-H4YQ/s1600/Church%2Bsquare%2B1904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-de-QtChxCNY/Uu_AFJOeo2I/AAAAAAAAAkA/sc50pv-H4YQ/s1600/Church%2Bsquare%2B1904.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Map of Church Square</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1856</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Andries Francois du Toit, in exchange for a Basuto pony, acquires a part of MW Pretorius’ farm ‘Elandsfontein’. He names the pony ’Arcadia’. The Union Buildings would later be constructed on Elandsfontein Farm.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1857</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marthinus Wessels Pretorius is elected the first President of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first church in Church Square is completed and inaugurated by Reverant D Van Der Hoff.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SBZNJ80P19M/Uq_mOb8GX9I/AAAAAAAAAV0/JFCFXjzfzSk/s1600/Picture1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SBZNJ80P19M/Uq_mOb8GX9I/AAAAAAAAAV0/JFCFXjzfzSk/s1600/Picture1.png" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Andries Francois du Toit is sworn in as Pretoria’s first magistrate and is responsible for the layout of the city.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1BeulFvDT_w/TtNMaDhn6bI/AAAAAAAAAE8/v4p0jTs9Zt4/s1600/Andries%2Bdu%2Btoit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1BeulFvDT_w/TtNMaDhn6bI/AAAAAAAAAE8/v4p0jTs9Zt4/s1600/Andries%2Bdu%2Btoit.JPG" height="200" width="151" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Andries Du Toit</span></td></tr>
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<b style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1859</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first state aided school is opened with qualified Dutch teacher Hendrik Stiemens as headmaster.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1860</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marthinus Wessels Pretorius resigns as president of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) and is elected President of the Orange Free State.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria is named the capital of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek on the 1st of May 1860.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1864</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria’s first Raadsaal (council boardroom) is erected on the corner of Market and Church streets.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9EEmi0aMmhY/VNsVZJg4OiI/AAAAAAAAAwc/4hFD2aX-xXw/s1600/Eerste%2Braadsaal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9EEmi0aMmhY/VNsVZJg4OiI/AAAAAAAAAwc/4hFD2aX-xXw/s1600/Eerste%2Braadsaal.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First Raadsaal</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marthinus Wessels Pretorius is elected as President of the ZAR for the second term.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Okspf9sNzaA/VNOXalQlKvI/AAAAAAAAAt0/i6BB8i3n2Lc/s1600/MWPretorius.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Okspf9sNzaA/VNOXalQlKvI/AAAAAAAAAt0/i6BB8i3n2Lc/s1600/MWPretorius.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Statue of MW Pretorius at the city hall</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1864</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first mail coach is established in Pretoria.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1871</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretorius is forced to resign as President after consenting to the Keate award.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1872</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thomas Francois Burgers is elected State President of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Pretoria Post Office is established.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1873</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘De Volkstem’/’Die Volkstem’, a Dutch- and Afrikaans language newspaper, is established by President Burgers and circulation starts in Pretoria.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z3IdOWMMIoM/VOD-wV9MoII/AAAAAAAAAyU/E57SyAdRAHA/s1600/De_Volkstem.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z3IdOWMMIoM/VOD-wV9MoII/AAAAAAAAAyU/E57SyAdRAHA/s1600/De_Volkstem.JPG" height="400" width="347" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">De Volkstem</span></span></td></tr>
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<b style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1877</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">British statesman Sir Theophilus Shepstone proclaims the annexation of the Transvaal to Great Britain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First telegraph office is established in Pretoria.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1880</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, insists on maintaining British control in Pretoria.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The First Anglo-Boer War begins on the 16th of December and Pretoria is surrounded by Boers in order to stop the British forces stationed there from taking part in the fighting.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ljnmcr6CiRQ/VNOXs2A5-OI/AAAAAAAAAt4/IpFhOZ3xqts/s1600/Klapperkop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ljnmcr6CiRQ/VNOXs2A5-OI/AAAAAAAAAt4/IpFhOZ3xqts/s1600/Klapperkop.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fort Klapperkop</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1881</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The First Anglo-Boer War ends with the restoration of the Transvaal Republic under the Pretoria Convention.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1883</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paul Kruger is the new elected President of Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dPyhNBotsFo/VNsOxbL8h6I/AAAAAAAAAv8/wKx_b5Ontpw/s1600/Kruger%2Binauguration%2B1883.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dPyhNBotsFo/VNsOxbL8h6I/AAAAAAAAAv8/wKx_b5Ontpw/s1600/Kruger%2Binauguration%2B1883.jpg" height="181" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Pres. Kruger on the balcony</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1884</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The London Convention replaces the Pretoria Convention.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1885</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek passes Law 3 of 1885, which empowers the government to specify the areas where Asians can reside.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1886</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Construction of the first Post Office building on the north corner of Church Street begins.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ttGevMG4aE/VNsVXM4kUII/AAAAAAAAAwU/Wis6Yrc4mFQ/s1600/New%2BPost%2Boffice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ttGevMG4aE/VNsVXM4kUII/AAAAAAAAAwU/Wis6Yrc4mFQ/s1600/New%2BPost%2Boffice.jpg" height="261" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">New Post Office building with mail coach</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1888</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The President Theatre, also known as The Empress from 1903 to 1910 and the first theatre in the city, is erected.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Nederlandsche Bank opens. The name later changes to Nederlandsche Bank Voor Zuid Afrika.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q-QJnjyIK6c/VOD-O9jzQbI/AAAAAAAAAyM/koOIAFxCMJg/s1600/Old_Nederlandsche_Bank.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q-QJnjyIK6c/VOD-O9jzQbI/AAAAAAAAAyM/koOIAFxCMJg/s1600/Old_Nederlandsche_Bank.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Nederlandsche Bank</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1889</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The suburb of Arcadia is incorporated into Pretoria.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JnCPqTUUIi0/VOOgQRmN4lI/AAAAAAAAAzE/EFL6yNmUcj4/s1600/map_plan_pretoria_1878.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JnCPqTUUIi0/VOOgQRmN4lI/AAAAAAAAAzE/EFL6yNmUcj4/s1600/map_plan_pretoria_1878.jpg" height="400" width="291" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Plan of Pretoria 1878</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Work starts on the new Raadsaal (council boardroom), with the foundation stone being laid by President Kruger on 6 May.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Magistrates Court is built on the north east corner of Koch and Pretorius Streets.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1890</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first telephone exchange, that was ordered for Johannesburg, is installed in Pretoria due to insufficient subscribers in Johannesburg.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The suburb of Sunnyside is incorporated into the city of Pretoria.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The suburb of Les Marais, as well as the Asiantic Bazaar, is established.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The foundation stone of the Pretoria Hospital is laid by President Kruger.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>1891</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Construction on The Raadsaal is completed.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5tJ3cm1zOU0/VNOZELQyg2I/AAAAAAAAAuE/JnVNsWB8oNY/s1600/raadsaal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5tJ3cm1zOU0/VNOZELQyg2I/AAAAAAAAAuE/JnVNsWB8oNY/s1600/raadsaal.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The "Ou Raadsaal" on Church Square</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Press Printers is established on the corner of Koch and Vermeulen Streets.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1892</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The suburb of Pretoria West is established.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first railway station is erected in Pretoria. The Nederlandse-Zuidafrikaanse Spoorwegmaatchapij is responsible for the maintenance of the railroad.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PWQIjwnnzvo/VOOepKRh_PI/AAAAAAAAAy4/p1zw-5s_s2c/s1600/arrival%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bfirst%2Btrain%2Bat%2BPretoria%2BStation.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PWQIjwnnzvo/VOOepKRh_PI/AAAAAAAAAy4/p1zw-5s_s2c/s1600/arrival%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bfirst%2Btrain%2Bat%2BPretoria%2BStation.JPG" height="283" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Arrival of the first train at Pretoria Station</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lmptn7Fqnjk/VNscTDzbLkI/AAAAAAAAAws/7sTQtYS41vM/s1600/station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lmptn7Fqnjk/VNscTDzbLkI/AAAAAAAAAws/7sTQtYS41vM/s1600/station.jpg" height="215" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria Station</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Electricity is introduced to Pretoria. The residence of the president is the first in Pretoria to be lit by electricity.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1893</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Staatsmodelschool is established on the corner of Van der Walt and Visagie Streets.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2fVwDDwKRQ/TdLYFWJnKQI/AAAAAAAAACA/u0eMYnKahWw/s1600/Staats%2BModel%2BSkool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2fVwDDwKRQ/TdLYFWJnKQI/AAAAAAAAACA/u0eMYnKahWw/s1600/Staats%2BModel%2BSkool.jpg" height="204" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Staatsmodelschool</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The State Gymnasium is established for the training of teachers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1894</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">State Girls school (now Hamilton Primary school) and State Gymnasium is established.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R0qmmDqTB2E/VOOhr3RRlvI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/G2WCKoFNV3M/s1600/State%2BGymnasium%2BSchool.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R0qmmDqTB2E/VOOhr3RRlvI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/G2WCKoFNV3M/s1600/State%2BGymnasium%2BSchool.JPG" height="275" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">State Gymnasium</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1895</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Delagoa Bay railway line is officially opened by Paul Kruger on 8 July.</span><br />
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<b style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1896</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The suburbs of Mayville, Eloffsdal and Villiera are established.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1897</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Suburb of Hermanstad is established.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Foundation stone of the building of the Palace of Justice is laid by President Kruger in Church Square.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7eRPyB4D56A/VNOuruy_0hI/AAAAAAAAAvs/re_Vom-zfL0/s1600/justice.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7eRPyB4D56A/VNOuruy_0hI/AAAAAAAAAvs/re_Vom-zfL0/s1600/justice.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">Palace of Justice</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1898</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Roseville and New Muckleneuk are established.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Construction on the Palace of Justice in Church Sqaure is completed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria News is launched by Leo Weinthal, the first editor of the Printing Press.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eh0mG9urpSI/VNONfrqToHI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/fb93LR_VQms/s1600/The%20Press%20Pretoria_0.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eh0mG9urpSI/VNONfrqToHI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/fb93LR_VQms/s1600/The%2520Press%2520Pretoria_0.png" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria News offices</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Erection of the Staats Meisjies Skool (State Girls School) building.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1899</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">War is declared between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1902</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging, ending the South African War. The republics then become British colonies.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z5sxXirPJsE/VNseGVOLEqI/AAAAAAAAAw4/kaCRs5OJFlo/s1600/Melrose%2BHouse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z5sxXirPJsE/VNseGVOLEqI/AAAAAAAAAw4/kaCRs5OJFlo/s1600/Melrose%2BHouse.JPG" height="296" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">Melrose House - where <span style="text-align: start;">the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed</span></span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j_aNRPHFsBA/VOBTzF9BMcI/AAAAAAAAAx8/l7V6obXsn_8/s1600/Signed%2BTreaty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j_aNRPHFsBA/VOBTzF9BMcI/AAAAAAAAAx8/l7V6obXsn_8/s1600/Signed%2BTreaty.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Signatures on the treaty</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The suburb of Brooklyn is established.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Transvaal Museum as well as Pretoria Zoo is established by J. W. B. Gunning, who is appointed as first director.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O2_yNc4LuwY/VNOdYksQaeI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/mCXwibAz83E/s1600/Museum.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O2_yNc4LuwY/VNOdYksQaeI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/mCXwibAz83E/s1600/Museum.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">National Museum of Natural History</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gezina, Wonderboom South, Rietfontein, Parktown, Mountain View and Claremont are established</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">1903</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria Gardens, Daspoort, Rietondale and Waterkloof are established as residential suburbs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A sewerage system introduced in Pretoria.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1904</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Opera House is opened by the Pretorian Mayor of the time, Eddie Bourke.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RcKUTvXPR38/VNsfM9qIGOI/AAAAAAAAAxA/UX2f38YpPWo/s1600/Oera%2Bhouse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RcKUTvXPR38/VNsfM9qIGOI/AAAAAAAAAxA/UX2f38YpPWo/s1600/Oera%2Bhouse.JPG" height="400" width="390" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The facade of the old Opera House</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1905</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Foundation stone laid for the new Town Hall.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lady Selbourne, Hatfield and Booysens are established as residential suburbs.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1906</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A fountain is erected in the middle of Church Square. This fountain was later moved to the Zoological Gardens in 1911.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FNMqMNY-q2c/Uq9XbEPttvI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/jOzgpLZfx6A/s1600/CS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FNMqMNY-q2c/Uq9XbEPttvI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/jOzgpLZfx6A/s1600/CS3.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The fountain on Church Square</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1910</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The birth of the Union of South Africa with Pretoria as administrative capital and Cape Town as the legislative capital.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Louis Botha becomes the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Electric trams are introduced to Pretoria.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWT6pyFeg98/U9akHV-9x9I/AAAAAAAAAqI/OjZ1yXvdARk/s1600/Elektriese%2Btrem%2Bin%2BAndriesstraat..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWT6pyFeg98/U9akHV-9x9I/AAAAAAAAAqI/OjZ1yXvdARk/s1600/Elektriese%2Btrem%2Bin%2BAndriesstraat..jpg" height="302" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Electric tram in Pretorius Street</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bgm8Ba_7ol8/VOBSlqIYu7I/AAAAAAAAAx0/0Z6o9vvWVdI/s1600/tram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bgm8Ba_7ol8/VOBSlqIYu7I/AAAAAAAAAx0/0Z6o9vvWVdI/s1600/tram.jpg" height="245" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tram in Church Square</span></td></tr>
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<b style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1912</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A statue of President Kruger is erected in Princes Park.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The National Party is established.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Municipal Tram Sheds are built on the corner of Van Der Walt and Schoeman Streets. There were about 13, 5 miles of tracks for trams in Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1913</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Construction on the Union buildings is completed.</span><br />
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</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AHJKoMZk-_I/Uql9N-zbb0I/AAAAAAAAAR8/ZDLQLVPqZQw/s1600/UB1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AHJKoMZk-_I/Uql9N-zbb0I/AAAAAAAAAR8/ZDLQLVPqZQw/s1600/UB1.jpg" height="245" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The Union Buildings</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>1914</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Capital Park is established as a residential suburb.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1923</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First pass law is introduced in South Africa, designed to regulate movement of black Africans in white urban areas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1928</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Iscor Limited, a South African parastatal steel company, is founded by the South African Government with its first works in Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The residential suburb of Colbyn is established.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1931</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria is officially declared a city and construction of the City Hall begins to celebrate the city-status.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1934</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The United Party government is formed under Generals Hertzog and Smuts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Menlo Park is established as a residential suburb.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1935</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Pretoria City Hall is inaugurated on the Paul Kruger Street south of Church Square and across the street of the Transvaal Museum.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mlCPSVvUOtE/VNOeG2I5OpI/AAAAAAAAAug/e0W8XeG7hG4/s1600/city%2Bhall.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mlCPSVvUOtE/VNOeG2I5OpI/AAAAAAAAAug/e0W8XeG7hG4/s1600/city%2Bhall.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Pretoria City Hall</span></td></tr>
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1939</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Establishment of Atteridgeville, named after the Deputy mayor Patricia Atteridge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Waterkloof Ridge is established as a residential suburb.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1940</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First 50 families are relocated from Marabastad to Atteridgeville.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1942</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The suburb of Danville is established.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1945</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is established. It’s South Africa’s central and premier scientific research and development organisation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1948</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The National Party runs victoriously in the elections and subsequently enacts a mass of racial legislation that is designed to preserve white supremacy in South Africa. The National Party names it’s policy “apartheid.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The residential suburb of Groenkloof is established.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1949</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Hercules municipality is merged with Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1951</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The township of Mamelodi is established by the government on the farm Vlakfontein on the northeast outskirts of Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1956</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">20 000 women marches to the Union Buildings in protest against South Africa’s apartheid-era pass laws on 9 August 1956.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5DCvA8tSeXQ/VOEAtkG9fhI/AAAAAAAAAyg/-NewsSSzIqU/s1600/15BAHA-Women's-March-4%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5DCvA8tSeXQ/VOEAtkG9fhI/AAAAAAAAAyg/-NewsSSzIqU/s1600/15BAHA-Women%27s-March-4%5B1%5D.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1956 Womens march</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1957</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Black inhabitants from the Lady Selborne district, as well as other areas including Attridgeville, Mamelodi and Ga-Rankua takes part in a protest against a decision to raise bus fares.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Treason Trial begins, in which 30 of the accused, including Nelson Mandela, were only released in March 1961, because the State could not prove its case.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T3fjYIX3h1E/VNOeXFuboRI/AAAAAAAAAuo/Eo89NFE99vA/s1600/synagogue.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T3fjYIX3h1E/VNOeXFuboRI/AAAAAAAAAuo/Eo89NFE99vA/s1600/synagogue.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="treason" rel="nofollow"></a>Old Synagogue where the Treason Trial (1958 – 1961) took place</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1958</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">H.F. Verwoerd becomes Prime Minister of South Africa.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1960</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Establishment of Laudium, a residential township for Indians.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;">1961</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">South Africa becomes a Republic and leaves the Commonwealth of Nations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1962</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eersterus, an area created by the government to allocated and relocated people of the coloured race to, is laid on the farm Vlakfontein, 15km east of Church Square.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1963</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Rivonia Trial began at the Palace of Justice in Church Square. Nelson Mandela was among the accused.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hQTodx0m9wg/VNOegpIHSSI/AAAAAAAAAuw/0CqaBprror4/s1600/rivonia%2Btrial.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hQTodx0m9wg/VNOegpIHSSI/AAAAAAAAAuw/0CqaBprror4/s1600/rivonia%2Btrial.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Rivonia trial court room</span></td></tr>
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1964</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Pretoria Art Museum is inaugurated by the new mayor of Pretoria, Dr PJ van der Walt.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The municipalities of Silverton and Pretoria North are incorporated into Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1966</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The township of Ga-rankuwa is officially opened in the Tswana homeland.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1968</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A new nationalist daily newspaper, Hoofstad, as well as the morning newspaper Oggendblad, are established.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Petrol driven buses are introduced in Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1972</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">UNISA moved into its new home on Muckleneuk Ridge.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MgFkXeH2O_o/VNOerh95HRI/AAAAAAAAAu4/9u6YfOgKIXE/s1600/Unisa.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MgFkXeH2O_o/VNOerh95HRI/AAAAAAAAAu4/9u6YfOgKIXE/s1600/Unisa.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unisa with the Telkom tower in the background</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1977</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko dies in a Pretoria prison on the 12th of September 1977.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eu04ZGoP8Og/VORMOyfCdNI/AAAAAAAAAzg/EenumuB5IrM/s1600/Biko.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eu04ZGoP8Og/VORMOyfCdNI/AAAAAAAAAzg/EenumuB5IrM/s1600/Biko.JPG" height="200" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve Biko</span></td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wIm6Oj2UMSs/VORMPDgg7MI/AAAAAAAAAzk/bWj0bNC7Fp8/s1600/BikoFuneral.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wIm6Oj2UMSs/VORMPDgg7MI/AAAAAAAAAzk/bWj0bNC7Fp8/s1600/BikoFuneral.JPG" height="260" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Biko's coffin in a cart drawn by oxen</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1980</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Three ANC men take 25 hostages in the Pretoria suburb of Silverton, demanding the release of Nelson Mandela. The three ANC men and two white female hostages are killed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1981</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Voortrekkerhoogte Military Base outside Pretoria is attacked. Two British citizens, Nicolas Heath and Bonnie Lou Muller, are identified as accomplices in the assault.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1983</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A car bomb at the South African Air Force in Pretoria kills 15 people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On 20 may 1983 a motor bomb was detonated outside the Poyntons builging in Church Street. 19 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5KwGvDylCnE/VOBNvEH3VoI/AAAAAAAAAxc/EfN5xoIPPns/s1600/scan0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5KwGvDylCnE/VOBNvEH3VoI/AAAAAAAAAxc/EfN5xoIPPns/s1600/scan0002.jpg" height="310" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Scene after the explosion</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ZNcoExlIK4/VOBNv9oVF3I/AAAAAAAAAxg/IVKcHwMg0bs/s1600/scan0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ZNcoExlIK4/VOBNv9oVF3I/AAAAAAAAAxg/IVKcHwMg0bs/s1600/scan0003.jpg" height="400" width="336" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Scene after the explosion</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1984</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Approximately 7 000 people attends an Afrikaner Volkswag rally in Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1985</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two grenade attacks occur in townships in Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1986</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Esther Masuku, mother of youth activist and South African Council of Churches-member Oupa Masuku, is killed in a hand grenade attack on their house in Atteridgeville .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The P. W. Botha regime declares a nationwide state of emergency to crush Black resistance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1987</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Four municipal police officers are killed and one injured in Atteridgeville.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1988</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A bomb explodes prematurely outside Pretoria’s Sterland cinema, killing the carrier and wounding a bystander. According to the ANC, the intended target was a nearby government building.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In September, a bomb explodes at the Laudium home of a Pretoria municipal election candidate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1990</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Pretoria Minute is signed as a result of talks between the South African government and the ANC in Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1994</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The people of Pretoria took part in South Africa’s first democratic elections on 27 April 1994.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z4zqJ897ktw/VOEBx91DNxI/AAAAAAAAAyo/IF6jCfX1VHQ/s1600/South-Africa-election-day-016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z4zqJ897ktw/VOEBx91DNxI/AAAAAAAAAyo/IF6jCfX1VHQ/s1600/South-Africa-election-day-016.jpg" height="248" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.7999992370605px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Iconic image of the 1994 elections</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nelson Mandela was inaugurated on 10 May 1994 at the Union Buildings as South Africa’s first democratic president.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mKjP5oOeyac/VNOe4d1NMlI/AAAAAAAAAvA/--QIiZVtYwY/s1600/Mandela%2Bpres.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mKjP5oOeyac/VNOe4d1NMlI/AAAAAAAAAvA/--QIiZVtYwY/s1600/Mandela%2Bpres.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1995</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Loftus Versfeld Rugby Stadium was one of the host stadiums in the 1995 Rugby World Cup.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Motor Industry Development Programme was implemented by government. Pretoria hosts half of the light vehicle manufacturers located in the country (Volvo, Nissan, BMW, and Ford). Daimler, Tata, Mahindra and Volkswagen also have representation in the City of Tshwane.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1998</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The military area, known as Voortrekkerhoogte, was renamed Thaba Tshwane. It was founded around 1905 by the British Army, and was first known as Roberts Heights after Lord Roberts.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1999</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thabo Mbeki becomes the second democratically elected President of South Africa.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">2000</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Gordon Institute of Business Science is established by the University of Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The City of Tshwane Municipality is established.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2001</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Innovation Hub, a community of successful, innovative companies is established.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2002</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The University of Pretoria establishes a High Performance Centre at its LC de Villiers Sports Grounds. It’s South Africa’s first tertiary sporting academy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2003</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deputy President Jacob Zuma facilitates meetings between Pierre Buyoya, the President of Burundi and rebels Alain Mugabarabona, Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye and Pierre Nkurunziza in Pretoria.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Supersport Park in Centurion, was one of the host stadiums of the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2004</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The people of Pretoria took part in South Africa’s third democratic elections on 14 April 2004</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) was launched as a nationwide programme covering all spheres of government and state-owned enterprises. Apart from being South Africa’s administrative capital, Pretoria hosts most government departments.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2005</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria’s council votes and The South African Geographical Names Council approves to change the city’s name to Tshwane.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, and Laurent Gbagbo, President of Côte d’Ivoire, hold talks in Pretoria to advance peace in Côte d’Ivoire.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Xolilizwe Mzikayise Sigcawu, the 11th paramount chief of the Gcaleka sub-group of the Xhosa nation and an active member of the House of Traditional Leaders, dies at No 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2006</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5 000 Telkom workers stage a protest march against Telkoms’s profit-sharing scheme in March.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Herman van Rooyen and Rudi Gouws, two Boeremag treason trial accused, escape from the Pretoria High Court.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2007</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marais Viljoen, former State President of South Africa, dies in Pretoria from heart failure at the age of 91.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Freedom Park opened in December 2007.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z-HkJn9Tesg/VNOfFLWMyhI/AAAAAAAAAvI/-K1yAaSKgqI/s1600/freedom%2Bpark.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z-HkJn9Tesg/VNOfFLWMyhI/AAAAAAAAAvI/-K1yAaSKgqI/s1600/freedom%2Bpark.png" height="299" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Freedom Park</span></td></tr>
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<b style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2008</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The University of Pretoria’s business school, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, replaces the Graduate School of Management.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nelson Mandela receives the Freedom of the City award from the City of Tshwane.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2009</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Loftus Versfeld Stadium is one of the venues used for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, hosting the Group B matches USA vs. Italy, USA vs. Brazil and Brazil vs. Italy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The people of Pretoria took part in South Africa’s fourth democratic elections on 22 April 2009.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2010</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On 9 December 2010, the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) was launched. Their corporate office is located at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8khHzFLsNdw/TdOkjZ40oaI/AAAAAAAAACM/EtBFUBcTUnI/s1600/2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8khHzFLsNdw/TdOkjZ40oaI/AAAAAAAAACM/EtBFUBcTUnI/s1600/2010.jpg" height="320" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">World cup - The Telkom tower in Groenkloof had a soccer ball fitted</span></td></tr>
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Loftus Versfeld Rugby Stadium was one of the host stadiums for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2011</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Gautrain route from Rosebank to Pretoria and Hatfield commenced operations on 2 August 2011.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reconciliation road, a road linking Freedom Park and the Voortrekker Monument was opened in 2011.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The City of Tshwane Municipality becomes one of the largest municipalities in the world by land size after the incorporation of the Metsweding District Municipality.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having over 300 000 students, UNISA becomes one of the world’s mega universities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Centurion Aerospace Village is established in Centurion.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2012</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Members of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Organisation announced that the SKA telescope would be split between Africa and Australia. Tricom Structures, a Pretoria-based company is manufacturing a 25-ton backup structure for MeerKAT.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7-GvfgNhZio/VNsh8HmFnSI/AAAAAAAAAxM/HwndnCI6lcI/s1600/Bank%2Bnotes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7-GvfgNhZio/VNsh8HmFnSI/AAAAAAAAAxM/HwndnCI6lcI/s1600/Bank%2Bnotes.JPG" height="212" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New bank notes</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The South African Reserve Bank, located in Pretoria, issued new banknotes bearing the face of former President Nelson Mandela.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">South African won six medals at the London Olympics. Medals went to Cameron van der Burgh (gold) and Roeland Schoeman (bronze) whom are both born in Pretoria while Caster Semenya (silver) and Bridgitte Hartley (bronze) are both University of Pretoria alumni.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2013</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oscar Pistorius shot girlfriend on Valentines day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">USA President Obama in State Visit to Pretoria.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nelson Mandela hospitalised for about 2 months in Arcadia, Pretoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tshwane Mayor launch the ambitious Tshwane 2055 vision for the city.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretoria grieved and honoured Nelson Mandela, who passed away on 5 December 2013. More than hundred heads of state came to Pretoria to pay their respects. His body lay in state for three days in Pretoria and was visited by more than 100 000 people at the Union Buildings. The Mandela Statue was unveiled on 16 December 2013.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PT_QO7c3bdU/VNOgIWzeP-I/AAAAAAAAAvU/NhENopeW3qY/s1600/statue.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PT_QO7c3bdU/VNOgIWzeP-I/AAAAAAAAAvU/NhENopeW3qY/s1600/statue.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">The Mandela Statue at the Union Buildings</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2014</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The people of Pretoria took part in South Africa’s fifth democratic elections on 7 May 2014.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius takes place at the Pretoria High Court from 3 March to 8 August. On 12 September he was foun not guilty of murder but guilty of culpable homicide.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On 4 August Pretoria felt a tremor of a 5.5-Magnitude earthquake that hit central South Africa.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red Bull X-fighters had their World Tour 2014 Final in Pretoria, at the Union Buildings on 23 August. It’s one of the biggest and most respected freestyle motocross tours on the planet.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bMf9ImfjjwQ/VNOgSABUytI/AAAAAAAAAvc/CFUiD_mHUrw/s1600/X%2BFighters.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bMf9ImfjjwQ/VNOgSABUytI/AAAAAAAAAvc/CFUiD_mHUrw/s1600/X%2BFighters.png" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red Bull X-fighters at the Union Buildings</span></td></tr>
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-38778173776163949612015-02-05T07:41:00.000-08:002015-02-05T07:42:29.108-08:00The Man behind The Pretoria News<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eh0mG9urpSI/VNONfrqToHI/AAAAAAAAAtI/9TBCJB4kOr0/s1600/The%20Press%20Pretoria_0.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eh0mG9urpSI/VNONfrqToHI/AAAAAAAAAtI/9TBCJB4kOr0/s1600/The%20Press%20Pretoria_0.png" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Pretoria News offices</span></td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ub8Rw9w5N0A/VNONfzl_sDI/AAAAAAAAAtM/eZYTKoPhoXk/s1600/Leo%20Weinthal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ub8Rw9w5N0A/VNONfzl_sDI/AAAAAAAAAtM/eZYTKoPhoXk/s1600/Leo%20Weinthal.png" height="200" width="148" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Leo Weinthal</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every month we look forward to receiving the Pretoria Brief compiled by Rosa Swanepoel (translated and disseminated by Adrian de Villiers). It contains fascinating historical snippets of the characters, buildings and events of Pretoria. The August edition contains a piece which gives us a small glimpse of Leo Weinthal...journalist, writer, entrepreneur and founder of the Pretoria News.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"In 1889, A.H. Nellmapius established a printing press in Pretoria and two newspapers, ‘De Pers’ (a weekly paper in Dutch) and ‘The Press’, (an English paper, initially bi-weekly, which later became a daily paper) were produced. ‘De Pers’ and ‘The Press’ started in a small building on the north-western corner of Koch (Bosman) and Vermeulen Street (Madiba) and later moved to a double storey building in Church Street. Leo Weinthal (1865-1930) became editor in 1891. [The press closed in 1899]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leo was of German origin and grew up in the Jewish faith. He studied in Hamburg, Germany as well as the Grey Institute in Port Elizabeth as a photographer. In 1887, he moved to the ZAR and joined the Department of the Land Surveyor–General, in Pretoria as a state lithographer. He was more interested in journalism and in 1888, he became the principal agent of Reuter in the Transvaal, a position he held up to 1897. He also represented The Times and the Daily Telegraph (London).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Upon the resignation of the editor of The Press/De Pers in 1891, Leo took up the position. As a result, the newspaper supported the Kruger Government. Following the death of Nellmapius in August 1893, Leo approached the Rand mining magnate, J.B. Robinson to buy the press... Robinson was also a supporter of the Kruger Government.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the Jameson Raid, there was a clash between Leo and the Government as a result of a report he had published concerning the Transvaal Press Act in 1896. Leo, strongly opposed by Dr. W.J. Leyds [State Secretary] and in disagreement with Robinson, felt it was necessary to resign. For a while, he spent some time in Natal, but in 1898, he returned to start the midday paper, The Pretoria News, which still exists today. With the outbreak of war in 1899, he served as a special war correspondent for various American newspapers. After the British occupation of Pretoria in June 1900, he was medically advised to move to London.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1905, assisted by the mining magnate Alfred Beit, he established an illustrated weekly called 'The African World and Cape to Cairo Express' and another title ‘The Anglo-German Courier’. He travelled a lot in Africa and later, using his personal observations, he compiled travel and guide books.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Initially he had been a fiery supporter of the Z.A.R., but later became a zealous protagonist in support of the ideas of Rhodes, Beit and others, who were dreaming of an Africa flying under the British flag.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His most distinctive work is an encyclopaedic publication in five volumes, The Story of the Cape to Cairo Railway and the River Route from 1887 to 1922 (1922-1924), of which he was the chief editor and compiler. He also wrote a biography of J.B. Robinson: Memories, Mines and Millions (1929).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He died in London in 1930."</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This write-up was reproduced from the the Heritage Portal newsletter - Feb 2015</span><br />
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-66691612753042931242014-10-23T02:05:00.001-07:002014-10-23T02:05:36.507-07:00The Long Journey to create The Kruger House Museum<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qqEEoNhAEhs/VEi77EwT19I/AAAAAAAAAr8/297Zj-v3YV0/s1600/4_Paul_Kruger's_House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qqEEoNhAEhs/VEi77EwT19I/AAAAAAAAAr8/297Zj-v3YV0/s1600/4_Paul_Kruger's_House.jpg" height="313" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Paul Kruger House museum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kruger House is the historical Pretoria residence of the
Boer leader and President of the South African Republic, Paul Kruger. It was
built in 1884 by architect Tom Claridge and builder Charles Clark. Milk was
used, instead of water, for mixing the cement from which the house was
constructed, as the cement available was of poor quality.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LnfWpbECxVc/VEi77Nvc9LI/AAAAAAAAAsE/tUn3bc6zka8/s1600/Kruger%2BHouse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LnfWpbECxVc/VEi77Nvc9LI/AAAAAAAAAsE/tUn3bc6zka8/s1600/Kruger%2BHouse.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Paul Kruger's house</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The house was also one of the first in Pretoria to be lit by
electricity. The house contains either the original furnishings or items from
the same historical period, some of the many gifts that were presented to
Kruger as well as other memorabilia.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ZY5ZVscf28/VEi77iecuvI/AAAAAAAAAsM/C6zGsDd5R10/s1600/p136.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ZY5ZVscf28/VEi77iecuvI/AAAAAAAAAsM/C6zGsDd5R10/s1600/p136.jpg" height="196" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Verandah (stoep) of Paul Kruger's house</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dTd9xy_G4Cs/VEi22qaGDcI/AAAAAAAAArg/aS_5k8fzNAc/s1600/Barnato%2Blion.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dTd9xy_G4Cs/VEi22qaGDcI/AAAAAAAAArg/aS_5k8fzNAc/s1600/Barnato%2Blion.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Stone lion gift by Barney Barnato</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another interesting feature of the house is two stone lions
on the verandah that were presented to President Kruger as a birthday gift on
10 October 1896 by the mining magnate Barney Barnato.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fkla2IrgJ6Q/VEie_8QqPII/AAAAAAAAArE/804LNAwIt_s/s1600/Sitting%2Broom%2Binterior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fkla2IrgJ6Q/VEie_8QqPII/AAAAAAAAArE/804LNAwIt_s/s1600/Sitting%2Broom%2Binterior.jpg" height="246" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Inside Kruger House</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Kruger House is now a house museum that tries to
recreate the ambience of the period that Kruger lived in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What follows is an extract from a posting by the Heritage Portal:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Let us return to the dismal afternoon of 29 May 1900 when the devoted old couple said goodbye after a married life of nearly 54 years. Tant Sina was too old and too weak to accompany the President into so uncertain a future. Mr and Mrs F.C. Eloff (who lived next door) undertook to look after her, even in the event of the British entering Pretoria. The fact that she could lean upon her daughter, Elsie, and her husband in her closing days was her one consolation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before the President left Lourenco Marques on 20 October 1900 he sent her a farewell message: 'May God bless you. Trust in Him, Who governs all.' Letters reached her from him while he was in Europe. On 20 July 1901 she died in her 71st year.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pQlGq5OpqW0/VEi_ZvaGLjI/AAAAAAAAAsc/ze3CS4RCFlE/s1600/Series%20of%20Kruger%20Houses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pQlGq5OpqW0/VEi_ZvaGLjI/AAAAAAAAAsc/ze3CS4RCFlE/s1600/Series%20of%20Kruger%20Houses.jpg" height="189" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Paul Kruger's funeral</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Mrs Kruger's death the house was claimed by the South African Constabulary, a curator bonis being appointed. Part of the furniture still stood in the house and many pieces were packed and removed in boxes, some objects being placed in the safekeeping of the National Bank. In 1901 the contents of the house were valued at £2 774; an inventory was made that covered 12 typed pages, without giving details. This indicates how many Kruger relics may still be in private possession, either heirlooms or items removed from the house after 1901.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Constabulary remained in possession of the house even after 1902. Mr Eloff and his family were compelled through pressure from the military authorities in Pretoria to leave the town after the death of Mrs Kruger. They joined the President in Europe, living with him in Holland, the south of France and finally at Clarens, where they were present at his death.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PTyAi6GAMYI/VEjA6wpsCYI/AAAAAAAAAso/0Ya21-FQpxM/s1600/The%2BPresident%2Bat%2Bhome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PTyAi6GAMYI/VEjA6wpsCYI/AAAAAAAAAso/0Ya21-FQpxM/s1600/The%2BPresident%2Bat%2Bhome.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In April 1904, shortly before the President's death, Mr Eloff bought the Kruger House for his little son out of the joint estate. In the mean time the house had, without his knowledge, been used as a boarding-house. A disgraceful episode in Pretoria's past is therefore the fact that Paul Kruger's old home was a boarding-house, named The Presidency, at the time of his funeral. The residents were supplied with writing paper bearing a portrait of the President seated on his stoep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The owner and members of the public intervened and the house once more became private. Up to 1916 the widowed Mrs Van Broekehuizen, mother of the President's son-in-law, lived there, and for a short while afterwards it was occupied by her daughters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the President's funeral in 1904 a great number of wreaths (nearly 300) were stored in one of the rooms. On the table in the main bedroom were two visitor's books - one, the 'Book of Mourning', with the names of many of the 30 000 people who attended the funeral, and the other giving the names of those who came to look at the wreaths. In 1918 Mr Eloff granted the use of the house to the Association of Afrikaans Mothers for use as a maternity home until they could build a maternity hospital on their own premises in Beatrix Street, Pretoria.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Museum of Kruger Mementos</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The suggestion that the Kruger House should be turned into a museum was made by the Transvaal Museum Board to the Minister of the Interior on 26 February 1923. The Board pointed out that although it had many Kruger relics in safekeeping, a large number had already been lost. A lack of funds, however, prevented the Government from buying the house; it was also felt that the matter should be taken up by the newly constituted Historical Monuments Commission.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Transvaal Museum then already had many Kruger relics, chiefly through the intervention of Dr W.J. Leyds and others. After 1904, too, when the contents of the House were largely divided among the children, many objects were restored to the Kruger House.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of the relics of the President's last days were to be found in Europe. During his lifetime he had given many objects to the South African Museum at Dordrecht, Holland. Personal belongings and garments, which had been stored in eight chests at Menton, were later also sent to Dordrecht. At the time of his death he had in his possession one large and six smaller Bibles. There were also the orders and ribbons presented to him by various states after 1884.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Leyds and General Louis Botha were chiefly responsible for the return of many Kruger relics from Dordrecht to the Transvaal Museum, 21 boxes and a crate arriving at the Museum in 1921.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On 3 October 1924 Mr F.C. Eloff wrote to Mr P.G.W. Grobler, then Minister of Lands, saying that his end was near; that he had bought the house not for the purpose of making any profit on the transaction; and that he was prepared to sell it at a reasonable price to the Government. Before Mr Grobler, Dr H.D. Van Broekhuizen and the Minister concerned (Mr Tommy Boydell) could act, both Mr Eloff and Mrs Eloff died within a few weeks of each other, in October and November 1924, respectively.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On 25 August 1925 the House was bought for £3 600 from the Eloff estate by the Union Government, but the maternity home could find no other accommodation. Their lease ran for another seven years and on 4 June 1932 the Government at last began making the house a Kruger museum and restoring, as far as possible, its original appearance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For this purpose a committee was formed in Pretoria by the Government and recommended that the house be gradually restored to its original appearance and that the historical atmosphere be preserved as far as possible.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A National Monument</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This recommendation was accepted by the Government on 20 September 1932 and the Department of Public Works undertook to renovate the house. The building was handed over to the Board of Trustees of the Transvaal Museum on 23 October 1933. The cost of renovation was more than £900.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On 10 October 1934 the Kruger House was officially opened to the public. Additions were made to the collection already in possession of the Museum through purchases and presentations and in 1933 Anton van Wouw's "Kruger in Exile" and the Kruger head by the French sculptor, Achard, were bought.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Kruger House national monument plaque</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Kruger House was declared a national monument on 6 April 1936 and a bronze plaque bearing an inscription was inserted in the wall on the verandah. This is the translated inscription:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Historical Monuments Commission</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the period 1884-1900 this building was the residence of His Honour S.J.P. Kruger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.53em;">State President of the South African Republic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look in the past for all that is good and beautiful, take that for all that is good and beautiful, take that for your ideal and build on it your future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From President Kruger's "Last Message".</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qsequTIKjXs/VEi760bsiPI/AAAAAAAAAr4/w5vPtAsZ05o/s1600/Kruger%2BHouse%2Bmodel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qsequTIKjXs/VEi760bsiPI/AAAAAAAAAr4/w5vPtAsZ05o/s1600/Kruger%2BHouse%2Bmodel.JPG" height="171" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A scale model of the Kruger House at Santarama Mini Land</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source: The Heritage Portal </span><a href="http://www.heritageportal.co.za/article/long-journey-create-kruger-house-museum"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://www.heritageportal.co.za/article/long-journey-create-kruger-house-museum</span></a></div>
Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0Pretoria Central, Pretoria, South Africa-25.746213965077285 28.181764920593196-25.749789465077285 28.176722420593197 -25.742638465077285 28.186807420593194tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-16918984440444691082014-07-28T12:30:00.000-07:002018-02-12T22:20:55.200-08:00A piece of history unearthed in Church Square<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B_dqdrrzQG8/WHVaUwmpPjI/AAAAAAAABCI/t09TM8b8Hm8HVy7Su0Waw4njTNJn9bw0gCEw/s1600/tram%2Btracks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B_dqdrrzQG8/WHVaUwmpPjI/AAAAAAAABCI/t09TM8b8Hm8HVy7Su0Waw4njTNJn9bw0gCEw/s400/tram%2Btracks.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The old tram tracks uncovered in Church Square</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Recently, workers uncovered some old tram tracks in Church Square whilst working on the <a href="http://www.tshwane.gov.za/Residents/Tshwane%20Update%202013/Tshwane%20Update%20Edition%203.pdf" target="_blank">A Re Yeng</a> project.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--bx8m3OziYc/WHiQYn8vDoI/AAAAAAAABCY/uAYdqcJqQCs-GQtUbb3qDlrOa1lPfZrLwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0830_328885209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--bx8m3OziYc/WHiQYn8vDoI/AAAAAAAABCY/uAYdqcJqQCs-GQtUbb3qDlrOa1lPfZrLwCLcB/s200/DSC_0830_328885209.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tracks are in a surprisingly good condition and will be preserved. This discovery highlighted some aspects of Pretoria’s early days of transport with a direct link to the suburb of Arcadia.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mOoQJ1WxW-o/WoKCg9rcGyI/AAAAAAAABJA/ynp2oznqL5IapHbtDgzYwmbNbSP8MR-ygCEwYBhgL/s1600/Tram%2Blines.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="976" height="222" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mOoQJ1WxW-o/WoKCg9rcGyI/AAAAAAAABJA/ynp2oznqL5IapHbtDgzYwmbNbSP8MR-ygCEwYBhgL/s400/Tram%2Blines.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">A view from Google Maps clearly showing the exposed tracks</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Public transport in Pretoria began in 1897 with the establishment of the Pretoria Tramway company which had 8 trams and 50 horses.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tE1U8KlD5Bw/U9aiKaHTDKI/AAAAAAAAAps/953uTeSMip8/s1600/Perdetrem+op+Kerkplein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tE1U8KlD5Bw/U9aiKaHTDKI/AAAAAAAAAps/953uTeSMip8/s1600/Perdetrem+op+Kerkplein.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Horse drawn tram in Church Square</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nedfozpf5TY/U9ajVUBj8QI/AAAAAAAAAp8/gEHGP8T3_cg/s1600/Tram+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nedfozpf5TY/U9ajVUBj8QI/AAAAAAAAAp8/gEHGP8T3_cg/s1600/Tram+map.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Map of Church Square showing the tram line</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, the service was disrupted during the Boer War when the horses were needed. Services resumed in 1903 and in 1910, 14 electric trams replace the horse trams. The Tram Shed was completed in 1912 and routes were laid out from Church Square to the Pretoria Station, the Zoo, Sunnyside, Pretoria West and the “Ou Volks Hospitaal”. A total of approximately 21 kilometers of tracks were laid.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HTF6_LQy4EM/U9aip_uf2lI/AAAAAAAAAp0/Kop5uadLtyc/s1600/tram+church+square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HTF6_LQy4EM/U9aip_uf2lI/AAAAAAAAAp0/Kop5uadLtyc/s1600/tram+church+square.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Electric tram in Church Square</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Later a track was laid to the Union Buildings. Mr Courtenay Smithers, who lived with his parents at 555 Vermeulen Street in 1913, vividly recalls the trams and in particular, the little tram that made its way up to the Union Buildings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“For most of the day (and only on working days, if I remember correctly) there was only one tram which made the short run from Church Street to the Union Buildings and back, a small one which would carry only half the number of passengers which the usual “big” trams would carry. This small tram ran along Leyds Street to Vermeulen Street and wound its way up the hill to join the road which ran along in front of the Union Buildings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now there is a road that follows the curving route up the hill where the little tram took its slow climb up the hill, making a whining noise in its low gear. Keeping up with the struggling tram was easy. In those days the tram line passed between the pine trees of the plantation that grew on the hillside. One of the boys who lived in Hamilton Avenue was a good shot with a “catty” and he enjoyed showing off his skill by bringing down a dove or two from the pines. The driver of the tram didn’t like the boy; I suspect he was worried in case the boy let fly at him or the tram, but he never did.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Small boys usually know where to “draw the line”. Inevitably, small boys being small boys, we sometime put a little stone on the line for the tram to crush (with a loud bang of course) as it went over it.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xIQgWkPQFn4/WHiQxipjB_I/AAAAAAAABCc/DyAmvLWeZYswCmJpq47PcRSrz8gS5w5qgCLcB/s1600/kruger_heyday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xIQgWkPQFn4/WHiQxipjB_I/AAAAAAAABCc/DyAmvLWeZYswCmJpq47PcRSrz8gS5w5qgCLcB/s320/kruger_heyday.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tram in Paul Kruger Street</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We had our special hiding places amongst the trees where we couldn't be seen but from where we could have a good view of the tram. The surly driver never caught us at our mischief but he must have suspected we were the culprits. We occasionally sacrificed a penny from our meagre pocket money and put it on the line so that it was squashed and flattened.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Occasionally we lost our penny because it stuck to the tram wheel and was taken away instead of sticking to the rails.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“At peak passenger times, when the office workers arrived and left the Union Buildings, the small tram was supplemented by a couple of big trams to provide enough space to cope with the extra passengers to and from Church Street where they could catch trams which took them into town and elsewhere.”</span><br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eEcY9OiJKho/WHiQ1Qu9zzI/AAAAAAAABCg/tJhAzj6lGJ8vOn_V0-t4fh_I5mcpFn88QCEw/s1600/City_of_Pretoria_Tram_2pg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eEcY9OiJKho/WHiQ1Qu9zzI/AAAAAAAABCg/tJhAzj6lGJ8vOn_V0-t4fh_I5mcpFn88QCEw/s200/City_of_Pretoria_Tram_2pg.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1935 trams were supplemented by double-decker buses. The last tram trip was in August 1939.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the original trams is parked at Klapperkop</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fRQ2qi0eY-c/WHiQ-P6_BAI/AAAAAAAABCk/Mh59Oc1gLAY59tiiptmKKDRsDT2PgcJigCEw/s1600/IMG_1669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fRQ2qi0eY-c/WHiQ-P6_BAI/AAAAAAAABCk/Mh59Oc1gLAY59tiiptmKKDRsDT2PgcJigCEw/s200/IMG_1669.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Coach at Fort Klapperkop</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Source: www.sa-transport.co.za)</span><br />
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0Pretoria, South Africa-25.746111 28.18805599999996-26.2037345 27.54260899999996 -25.2884875 28.833502999999961tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-49530346564329093322014-02-03T09:35:00.000-08:002014-02-03T11:41:46.905-08:00Gone but not forgotten - the Grand Hotel on Church Square<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9D748MMZJog/Uu-_0-9SmRI/AAAAAAAAAj0/-bwU5MQWn44/s1600/Capture.JPG" height="488" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Grand Hotel as it looked in 1902.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Grand Hotel was located on the south-eastern corner of Church Square. It was built in 1890 (then known as the President Hotel) and designed by Wilhelm Johannes De Zwaan. The building was built by Mrs. Lys in 1890 and called the President Hotel. H. W. F. Burger was the proprietor in 1892. It became the Grand Hotel in 1894 with Mr. S. Schlomer as proprietor. This was one of the finest hotels in South Africa, comparing favourably with its European counterparts. It had accommodation for 70 visitors and had 30 white servants and 23 coloured attendants. The building was leased by Mr. Schlomer from Pretoria Estates Ltd., who had bought it from Mrs Lys.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i3Skb03ZOpg/Uu_M_QFknOI/AAAAAAAAAkc/ouR9wIgWvUU/s1600/Capture3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i3Skb03ZOpg/Uu_M_QFknOI/AAAAAAAAAkc/ouR9wIgWvUU/s1600/Capture3.JPG" height="286" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photograph of Paul Kruger Street looking south from Church Square. <br />The "Raadsaal" is on the right and the Grand Hotel on the left.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Old Raadsaal was being built next to the Grand Hotel, and a lot of progress had been made. The foundations were poured and some of the walls had already reached the first floor level. Some of the sandstone ornamentation was manufactured and ready, and the roofing material was on its way from Europe to Durban. From there it was transported by rail to Charlestown and onwards by oxwagon to Pretoria.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When President Paul Kruger was made aware of the new hotel that was about to be erected right next to the Raadsaal, the new government building, he was very upset when he heard that it will have 3 floors. One more that the Raadsaal! His advisors told him not to be concerned as all the finer finishings and towers of the Raadsaal will make the Raadsaal taller than the hotel. Paul Kruger then motivated why the Raadsaal had to get an additional floor. It is now has 3 floors!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NBFVobm3MpY/Uu_L9WOf4RI/AAAAAAAAAkM/XWSJSdXwBZE/s1600/Capture2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NBFVobm3MpY/Uu_L9WOf4RI/AAAAAAAAAkM/XWSJSdXwBZE/s1600/Capture2.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The inauguration of President Kruger</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The balconies of the Grand Hotel were a famous vantage point for grand events of the period</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UlNda3A9oOM/Uu_MjFQAUoI/AAAAAAAAAkU/4oMbUdjGJ-0/s1600/scan0012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UlNda3A9oOM/Uu_MjFQAUoI/AAAAAAAAAkU/4oMbUdjGJ-0/s1600/scan0012.jpg" height="253" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Raadsaal decorated for the ceremony of Trooping the Colour </span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">before the Governor-General Lord Selborne in 1905. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Grand Hotel is on the left.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1890, the first building on the site of the current Standard Bank Building in Church Square belonged to Mrs Lys, the President Hotel. The President Hotel was renamed when the establishment changed hands in 1895, and became the Grand Hotel. The third and final plan/development of Church Square took place in 1905 (see bottom of page), and in 1929 the architecture firm of Stuckey and Harrison were commissioned to build the New Standard Bank Building. During the period 1930 – 1934, the Standard Bank Building was built by W. Pattison and during the construction of the building Mr Stuckey died. In the 1950's electricity was installed in the building and the building was renovated in 1952. During 1967, the building was again renovated to its current appearance (polyvinyl floor included.)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-88YRQJ_Ze5k/Uu_Paa22iiI/AAAAAAAAAkw/msActFqFBU0/s1600/Std+bank+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-88YRQJ_Ze5k/Uu_Paa22iiI/AAAAAAAAAkw/msActFqFBU0/s1600/Std+bank+2.jpg" height="207" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Standard Bank building on the left and Grand Hotel on the right</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aHXRO2atzHY/Uu_PWhfpQZI/AAAAAAAAAko/LGzNSN4iRc0/s1600/Capture4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aHXRO2atzHY/Uu_PWhfpQZI/AAAAAAAAAko/LGzNSN4iRc0/s1600/Capture4.JPG" height="198" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Standard Bank building on the left and completed <br />Grand Hotel on the right</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The Old Standard Bank Building in Church Square (1894/1895), was designed by the firm Emley and Scott, and is situated on the northern side of Church Square. Anton van Wouw constructed sculptural elements for the façade design of the Old Standard Bank Building in the Parisian manner. The building contained many Anton van Wouw sculptures (bass-relief panels and high-relief of putti winged the surrounds of the upper windows and pediments). The building was unfortunately demolished in the 1950’s. Seven of the reliefs were retained and are currently in the National Cultural History Museum in Pretoria.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ePT3vRM7s3M/Uu_QX2-_oRI/AAAAAAAAAk4/4L9OBN2FN9w/s1600/Std+bank.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ePT3vRM7s3M/Uu_QX2-_oRI/AAAAAAAAAk4/4L9OBN2FN9w/s1600/Std+bank.JPG" height="370" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today the "neoclassical" Standard Bank building stands on the site of the old Grand Hotel.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Map of Church Square - 1904</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-de-QtChxCNY/Uu_AFJOeo2I/AAAAAAAAAj8/tIbfsHIotX8/s1600/Church+square+1904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-de-QtChxCNY/Uu_AFJOeo2I/AAAAAAAAAj8/tIbfsHIotX8/s1600/Church+square+1904.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">Donaldson & Hill’s New Map of the City of Pretoria and Suburbs. </span><span style="color: blue;">Compiled by D. Seccadanari, Engineer and Carthographer. Revised to Oct. 1904. </span><span style="color: blue;">(Scale 600 Cape feet = 1 inch)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On this map all buildings in green are still being built. The Raadsaal has been enlarged and fills the whole street block. The Palace of justice is also completed. The original church is still in the centre of church square. The church was demolished the following year. A novelty at the time are the tramlines on church square.</span></span></span></div>
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Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-88233835469703719632014-01-02T06:58:00.001-08:002014-01-02T07:16:52.899-08:00The Porsche 917 – a true legend<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ht--9T2hWA/UsVZp3_GNeI/AAAAAAAAAcI/76mUpp9jyX8/s1600/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ht--9T2hWA/UsVZp3_GNeI/AAAAAAAAAcI/76mUpp9jyX8/s640/image.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45,"tn":"*G"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Porsche 917 is the race car that gave Porsche its first overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this post I hope to provide some background about what made the iconic Porsche 917 so special, and take a look at its lasting impact on racing and popular culture.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kI77LMF5wNE/UsVZp_z8l3I/AAAAAAAAAcU/K4AypRjGCX8/s1600/image+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kI77LMF5wNE/UsVZp_z8l3I/AAAAAAAAAcU/K4AypRjGCX8/s200/image+%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 917 display at the Porsche Museum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was fortunate enough to visit the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart that has a number of 917’s on display. I also attended the Classic Le Mans race in 2012 with my son. There were a number of 917’s racing at the event.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If someone were to make a list of the greatest race cars ever made, the Porsche 917 would almost certainly have to be on it. In fact, the 917 makes a pretty good case for itself to be the greatest race car of all time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Want some proof? How about how with some iterations of the car rated between 1,110 and 1,500 horsepower, it remains one of the most powerful race cars ever made -- not bad for a car that competed in the early 1970's. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Click <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkP5Svl16Qg" target="_blank">here</a> to see and hear the 917 in action. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-la1r6D-OjUM/UsVEB78UAgI/AAAAAAAAAac/8osM5yMbsrw/s1600/le-mans-movie-poster-1971-1020292930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-la1r6D-OjUM/UsVEB78UAgI/AAAAAAAAAac/8osM5yMbsrw/s200/le-mans-movie-poster-1971-1020292930.jpg" width="137" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Le Mans movie poster starring <br />Steve McQueen</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then there's how the car dominated at the track, securing multiple victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Daytona, Watkins Glen and a host of other events and tracks. The car was also immortalized in the Steve McQueen film "Le Mans," which included footage of its victory in that race in 1970.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many more reasons why the 917 is considered among the all-time greats. If you don't immediately recognize those three numbers, don't worry -- you've probably seen the car in photographs somewhere.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fe9xBDqt5fg/UsVFMKSDk3I/AAAAAAAAAbY/XxnuI_LZjDI/s1600/18%252520Porsche%252520917K.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fe9xBDqt5fg/UsVFMKSDk3I/AAAAAAAAAbY/XxnuI_LZjDI/s320/18%252520Porsche%252520917K.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Porsche 917 in Gulf Oil livery</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the car's low, wide shape that included a tapering tail at the back, swooping front fenders and massive tires, it looked especially striking in its iconic blue-and-orange Gulf Oil livery. Yes, it's that car!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to Porsche, when 50 international motor sports experts from the British magazine Motor Sport were asked to name the greatest racing car in history, they cited the Porsche 917.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But while its reputation is considerable today, the 917 got off to a rocky start in the late 1960's when Porsche struggled to build enough examples of the car to qualify for competition. Then they had trouble finding drivers brave enough to drive the beast, whose power far outpaced its handling. It was also initially plagued with development problems. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Porsche persevered with the 917, and after some tweaks, the German automaker had a more than just a winner on their hands -- they had the makings of a legend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Porsche 917 Development</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Development of the Porsche 917 race car came about due to a rule change in motor sports. In 1968, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, the international racing governing body commonly known as the FIA, announced a new class of racing for sports cars with engines no greater than 5 litres and that weighed at least 1,760 pounds (798.3 kilograms). The decision was made to allow cars with smaller engines to race in the World Sports Car Championship and to attract new companies to the grid.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following the frightening speeds attained in the 1967 race, the capacity of engines was limited to 3 liters. The old 5 liter cars were allowed so long as they had a production of 25 vehicles. The regulators thought that no manufacturer would be able to make, let alone sell, 25 prototypes... and yet on the 20th of April 1969 at the Porsche factory there stood the designated number of cars neatly parked. On the 14th of June, three 917 with 4.5 liter flat 12 power were at the start line. Although it was Ford with an 'old' GT 40 that took victory, the Germans took revenge in 1970 and '71.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this new class of racing, only 25 examples of the car had to be built instead of 50, which lowered the cost of entry and production for other manufacturers. Development was headed by an engineer named Ferdinand Piëch, a member of the Porsche family and the chairman of the Volkswagen Group today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stuttgart, 20th of April 1969 : Lined-up at the factory,</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> the 25 Porsche 917 awaiting inspection by scrutineers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But when FIA officials visited Porsche's factory to inspect the cars for the 1969 racing season, they found only six examples of the 917, although engineers said they had the parts to build the rest. The FIA said "no way," and mandated Porsche have all 25 cars completed in order to race.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So in just three weeks, Porsche rushed the remaining cars into construction, using secretaries and office workers to quickly assemble the cars in time. They succeeded in building all 25 of the cars, and they passed FIA inspection -- although some of them barely ran and later had to be reassembled and rebuilt by Porsche mechanics!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once it started racing, success was not immediate. The car only won one race its first season and was plagued with handling issues. It exhibited wheel spin at 200 miles per hour (321.9 kilometers per hour), and its instability on the track resulted in the death of a driver. Fortunately, John Wyer's Gulf Oil team discovered that adding aluminum sheets to the 917's rear end added some much-needed stability and downforce. Suddenly, the car -- now called the 917K -- became a monster on the racetrack.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I once watched an interview with David Piper where he said that the car's handling was so bad that you needed a compass to find your way out of a corner! The main problem was basically due to a lack of down-force</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> at speed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Porsche 917 Specifications</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yd2ggDrUMgw/UsVFKC_aceI/AAAAAAAAAbI/B4rQvR_m_os/s1600/917+engine.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yd2ggDrUMgw/UsVFKC_aceI/AAAAAAAAAbI/B4rQvR_m_os/s320/917+engine.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">917 flat 12 cylinder air cooled engine</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before we look at the Porsche 917's racing record, let's learn a little more about the car itself, its engine, chassis and how it used novel techniques to keep its weight down. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he 917 was designed to race in a class of cars with smaller engines than the Ford GT40, which dominated the World Sports Car Championship for years with its massive V-8 engine. But don't let the word "smaller" fool you -- the 917's engine had a little less displacement, but it was nothing to fool around with.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fvNncfVTlDQ/UsV6SAlXHbI/AAAAAAAAAdI/Aisio572Nq8/s1600/IMG_0194.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fvNncfVTlDQ/UsV6SAlXHbI/AAAAAAAAAdI/Aisio572Nq8/s1600/IMG_0194.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An exploded view of the 917 engine</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V_6Kng0LZkw/UsV6gWeBuNI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/Bd4bLab42kQ/s1600/IMG_0193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V_6Kng0LZkw/UsV6gWeBuNI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/Bd4bLab42kQ/s1600/IMG_0193.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An exploded view of the 917 engine</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The car packed a 4.5-liter, air-cooled flat-12-cylinder engine, similar in design to the flat-six or boxer engines used in the Porsche 911 sports car. The 917 engine initially had 520 horsepower, could do the zero to 60 miles per hour (96.6 kilometers per hour) dash in 2.5 seconds and had a top speed of close to 250 miles per hour (402.3 kilometers per hour!)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mgwxwmd4Rcw/UsVFPrkJ92I/AAAAAAAAAbo/4n6TYrDoO70/s1600/Porsche_917-30_CanAm_Spyder_turbocharger_and_gearbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mgwxwmd4Rcw/UsVFPrkJ92I/AAAAAAAAAbo/4n6TYrDoO70/s320/Porsche_917-30_CanAm_Spyder_turbocharger_and_gearbox.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can-Am race car engine showing the gearbox and turbos</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The engine was capable of far more than that. When Porsche began using the 917 to compete in Can-Am racing, which carried far fewer regulations than other events, the engine was tuned and turbocharged to produce anywhere between 1,000 and 1,500 horsepower. Even today it ranks among the most powerful race cars ever to compete.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kHORs8NIvmA/UsVFMGAlD5I/AAAAAAAAAbU/UNQqBZ6B6F0/s1600/Porsche-917-30-CanAm-Spyder-1973.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kHORs8NIvmA/UsVFMGAlD5I/AAAAAAAAAbU/UNQqBZ6B6F0/s200/Porsche-917-30-CanAm-Spyder-1973.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can-Am race car</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But an engine is nothing without a body to put it in, and fortunately, the 917 had an impressive one. It featured a lightweight aluminum frame that weighed just over 100 pounds (45.4 kilograms), and included a variety of weight saving measures like a gearshift knob made from balsa wood. The body itself was made of fiberglass.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition, the car featured interchangeable rear ends. Teams could choose between the "long tail" with low drag for races with lots of straight sections, or the "short tail" for races with curves when downforce is called for. Other iterations of the car included a combination long/short tail, and open-cockpit "Spyder" versions.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-95F_fTDV3P0/UsVhspMuXoI/AAAAAAAAAck/v5w91nhvGCQ/s1600/IMG_0266.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-95F_fTDV3P0/UsVhspMuXoI/AAAAAAAAAck/v5w91nhvGCQ/s200/IMG_0266.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The "Hippie Car" at Classic Le Mans</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-md_V2zh_Wpg/UsVFjTtdoKI/AAAAAAAAAbw/o1jwkk4LKEA/s1600/IMG_0202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="163" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-md_V2zh_Wpg/UsVFjTtdoKI/AAAAAAAAAbw/o1jwkk4LKEA/s320/IMG_0202.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The "Pink Pig" second from left <br />at the Porsche museum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 917 is also famous for coming in a variety of paint schemes, including the famous Gulf Oil colors, as well as a "Pink Pig" version and a psychedelic green-and-purple "Hippie Car" model raced by Martini Racing. Hey, it was the 1970s, after all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Porsche 917 at the Racetrack</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AF8nttP_N9Q/UsVEDLSgmJI/AAAAAAAAAa4/w3Obmbbv0DI/s1600/porsche-917-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AF8nttP_N9Q/UsVEDLSgmJI/AAAAAAAAAa4/w3Obmbbv0DI/s1600/porsche-917-4.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Porsche 917K of Jo Siffert and <br />Brian Redman being inspected during <br />scrutineering at the Le Mans 24 Hours race, <br />Le Mans, June 1970</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ferdinand Piëch's goal for the Porsche 917 left nothing to the imagination: he wanted it "to be the best. Everywhere". However, while the car was unveiled in 1969, it would be a while before it would achieve greatness.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_IexJ6tstIA/UsVECy1ymjI/AAAAAAAAAa8/JNW75B31Xpo/s1600/porsche-917-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_IexJ6tstIA/UsVECy1ymjI/AAAAAAAAAa8/JNW75B31Xpo/s320/porsche-917-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep pull into the lead in <br />their Porsche 917, at Tertre Rouge during the <br />24 hour race at Le Mans on June 13, 1971.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The car's handling was so sloppy in early races that many drivers refused to pilot it. Porsche asked two BMW drivers for a 1969 race on the Nürburgring, but they refused, saying the car was too dangerous. Later on, a driver named John Woolfe was killed in a 917 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car ended up only winning a single race in 1969.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 1970 racing season proved to be a better year once the Wyer team ironed out the kinks in the 917's handling. The car went on to claim victories at Daytona, Brands Hatch, Monza, Spa, the Nürburgring, the Targa Florio, Watkins Glen and at the Österreichring in Austria. The season's high point came in June when the 917 won the long-desired overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car won nine of 10 races that year to secure the World Championship of Makes trophy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Footage from the 1970 Le Mans race was used to create the Steve McQueen film "Le Mans," where the 917 featured prominently in the story. The Gulf Oil 917K was driven by McQueen's character Michael Delaney as he battles Ferrari's 512 race cars. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAGIHHy21Tk" target="_blank">here</a> to see some background on the making </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of the movie</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following year was equally successful. The car defended its world trophy in 1971 by winning eight of 10 races and once again won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This time, it set a record of 240 miles per hour (386.2 kilometers per hour) on the track's Mulsanne straight, a feat that has yet to be broken today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 917 became so dominant that the FIA once again changed their regulations, and the car was no longer eligible to compete. So Porsche brought it North America, where they entered it in the Sports Car Club of America's Canadian American Challenge Cup, better known as CanAm. This form of racing had far fewer regulations than the FIA races, so the car was able to compete with well over 1,000 horsepower. As could be expected, it dominated there as well.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uKYSMVTYr0s/UsVlYmM7z-I/AAAAAAAAAc4/x1cnu3L7u1U/s1600/559291_10151325409617813_285153083_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uKYSMVTYr0s/UsVlYmM7z-I/AAAAAAAAAc4/x1cnu3L7u1U/s200/559291_10151325409617813_285153083_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not all the 917's were on display </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">at the Porsche museum. </span><span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45,"tn":"*G"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" tabindex="0">This one </span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45,"tn":"*G"}" style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" tabindex="0">was at the </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Classic </span><span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45,"tn":"*G"}" style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" tabindex="0">Le Mans</span><span class="fbPhotoTagList" id="fbPhotoSnowliftTagList" style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 2012 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only 65 examples of the Porsche 917 were ever built. Seven exist in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, while many others are in the hands of collectors all over the world. They tend to command high premiums at auctions due to their prestigious histories -- and still inspire awe over their power today.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c4QIKCsRrKI/UsVknJZ60_I/AAAAAAAAAc0/m5xkJFNk8nU/s1600/558180_10151095089592813_1274183386_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c4QIKCsRrKI/UsVknJZ60_I/AAAAAAAAAc0/m5xkJFNk8nU/s200/558180_10151095089592813_1274183386_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Porsche Museum in Stuttgart</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope this short write-up has done this magnificent car justice . . . .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sources</span></h3>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lieberman, Johnny. "Jalopnik Fantasy Garage - Porsche 917." Jalopnik. Aug 21, 2007. (March 25, 2011) Click <a href="http://jalopnik.com/#!291593/porsche-917" target="_blank">here</a> to follow the link </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Porsche. "40 Years of The Porsche 917." March 9, 2009. (March 25, 2011) Click <a href="http://press.porsche.com/motorsport/rennsport/release.php?id=662" target="_blank">here</a> to follow the link </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Porschebahn Weblog. "1970 Porsche 917LH at the 2010 Amelia Island Concours." April 17, 2010. (March 25, 2011) Click <a href="http://porschebahn.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/1970-porsche-917lh-at-the-2010-amelia-island-concours" target="_blank">here</a> to follow the link </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read, Dan. "Four decades of cool." TopGear.com. March 19, 2009. (March 25, 2011) Click <a href="http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/porsche-917-2009-03-19" target="_blank">here</a> to follow the link </span></li>
</ul>
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<br />Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com1Musée des 24 Heures du Mans, 9 place Luigi Chinetti, 72100 Le Mans, France47.9562418 0.2077424999999948322.4342073 -41.100851500000005 73.4782763 41.516336499999994tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-71679908082345836992014-01-01T12:23:00.003-08:002014-01-01T12:43:31.123-08:00The history of the Howmet TX turbine car of 1968, still the world's only turbine powered race winner<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qSRfiZQd89w/UsRuu5Q0djI/AAAAAAAAAZE/08TOOXy7jn0/s1600/800px-Howmet_TX_Daytona.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qSRfiZQd89w/UsRuu5Q0djI/AAAAAAAAAZE/08TOOXy7jn0/s1600/800px-Howmet_TX_Daytona.jpg" height="348" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Howmet TX
Gas Turbine Prototype - Le Mans 1968</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: bold;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bBHxmMvuMXw/UsRw3GHWPfI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/KcEYyrIw7lk/s1600/IMG_0248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bBHxmMvuMXw/UsRw3GHWPfI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/KcEYyrIw7lk/s1600/IMG_0248.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Johann and Piet van Biljon</span></td></tr>
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I<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was fortunate enough to attend the 2012 Classic Le Mans event with my son, Johann. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We heard a car driving past the main grandstand that made a very strange sound. Not realising what it was I remarked that it sounded that that car must have a blown turbo! It was making a very loud hissing type noise, but it was still extremely fast. Someone then told us that it is a Howmet TX and that it uses a turbine engine!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have done some research on the car. This is what I found.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Background</span></span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 1960's was a time when there were fewer restrictions placed on race car designers than today, and that period saw the appearance of gas turbine powered cars, such as Andy Granatelli's STP-Paxton and Lotus 56 cars and the American Howmet Corporation's TX sports-racing machine of 1968.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i3M9buXGSv0/UsRuvoi9IAI/AAAAAAAAAZk/4Jy9sNyhYwI/s1600/Capture1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i3M9buXGSv0/UsRuvoi9IAI/AAAAAAAAAZk/4Jy9sNyhYwI/s1600/Capture1.JPG" height="640" width="212" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The </span><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Howmet TX</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> (</span><b style="font-size: 12pt;">T</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">urbine e</span><b style="font-size: 12pt;">X</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">perimental) was an American sports prototype racing car designed
in 1968 to test the competitive use of a gas turbine engine in sports car
racing. Planned by racing driver Ray Heppenstall, the TX combined a chassis
built by McKee Engineering, turbine engines leased from Continental Aviation
& Engineering, and financial backing and materials from the Howmet
Corporation.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The Howmet project was conceived early in 1967</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">by Ray
Heppenstall, a sports car racer from Philadelphia. Heppenstall reckoned that a
suitable lightweight turbine mounted in the back of a conventional
sports-racing chassis would be a competitive proposit ion. He also convinced
one of his racing friends, Tom Fleming, then the sales vice-president of
Howmet, one of the United States leading metal companies and a major supplier
of precision castings to the aircraft gas-turbine industry. Fleming and
Heppenstall convinced the Howmet board that running a race-car program would be
an ideal promotional tool. </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yHuv2ONePEE/UsRuwLMRLSI/AAAAAAAAAZs/-ULaitwky50/s1600/engine-pics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yHuv2ONePEE/UsRuwLMRLSI/AAAAAAAAAZs/-ULaitwky50/s1600/engine-pics.jpg" height="206" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The turbine engine</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">A suitable power unit was found at Continental Aviation &
Engineering, who had recently lost out in a bid for a <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> government
contract for a light observation helicopter engine and had ten TS325-1
turboshaft engines left on the shelf from its development work. This unit
developed a nominal 325 bhp at the output shaft, 650 lbs. ft. of torque at
stall, and weighed 170 lbs. Applying the FIA's engine equivalency formula it
was rated at 2960 cc, slotting it neatly into the Group 6 sports-prototype
three litre class. Continental contributed two of these engines for
installation in a relatively conventional tubular space-frame chassis built by
Bob McKee. </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The turbine was mounted at the rear, above a single speed transmission
driving the rear wheels through a specially designed quick-change differential
which allowed ratio changes. The necessary reverse was provided by a separate
electric motor drive. A 32 gallon fuel tank was mounted centrally between the
cockpit and the engine. Suspension was by conventional wishbone and coil
spring/shock absorber units, with outboard disc brakes.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The TS325 engine comprised a two-stage gas generating turbine driving
the two-stage compressor while also providing gas to the power turbine whose
output shaft, via reduction gearing, drove the rear wheels. Heppenstall's
solution to the turbine lag was to insert a wastegate bet ween the
gas-generating and the power turbines. The first third of throttle pedal
movement controlled fuel supply to the combustion chambers, and thus the speed
of the engine. But once spinning at its maximum 57,500 rpm and delivering full
power, the final two-thirds throttle movement activated the wastegate, thus
controlling the amount of gas directed to the power turbine, and hence the rear
wheels. </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 1968 Racing Season</span></span></b></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The TX's first race was the Daytona 24 hours in February and two cars
were brought, a newer car with 2.25 inch longer chassis and the original as
spare; drivers were Dick Thompson, Ed Lowther, and Heppenstall. After 34 laps,
and running as high as third, the waste-gate valve stayed shut as Lowther
arrived at a tight corner leading from the infield to the banking, the
resultant contact with the wall putting the car out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">At the Sebring 12 hours the car was qualified third, just 1.2 seconds
adrift of the pole. In the race, the TX was running seventh when one of the
engine mountings broke, and retired just before the seventh hour. </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q3UTU5exwy0/UsRuvXqOJ1I/AAAAAAAAAZY/ozKUfeBQD-k/s1600/800px-Howmet_TX_Marlboro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q3UTU5exwy0/UsRuvXqOJ1I/AAAAAAAAAZY/ozKUfeBQD-k/s1600/800px-Howmet_TX_Marlboro.jpg" height="268" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">At the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch in April British pilot Hugh Dibley
joined Thompson and the TX qualified seventh. In the race the wastegate
problems struck again, sending Thompson into the bank at Druids after seven
laps. Dibley then drove in the Guards Spring Cup at <st1:place w:st="on">Oulton
Park</st1:place> the following weekend. Here he qualified second, and was
running in fourth place until he pitted for fuel, but the starter failed and
there was no way he could rejoin. </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heppenstall then campaigned the cars in a number of SCCA regional
events. The first race finish came in May in the <st1:place w:st="on">Cumberland</st1:place>
200. Then on June 8th Heppenstall won the qualifier for the Heart of Dixie race
at <st1:place w:st="on">Huntsville</st1:place>, and then the main race the
following day, the first race win for a turbine powered car. The following
weekend at Marlboro, Dick Thompson joined him for the 4.5 hour 300 mile race.
Thompson won the qualifier, then the following day with Heppenstall the feature
race also, leading from start to finish. </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The Watkins Glen 6 hours in July was the next FIA Championship outing,
and for the first time both TX's were raced, with Thompson/Heppenstall being
joined by Hugh Dibley/Bob Tullius in the older car. The cars qualified 8th and
9th, and were running well in third and fourth places, until the final hour.
Heppenstall and Thompson maintained third spot until the end, but the
transmission of the Dibley/Tullius car broke, although they managed to cross
the finish line and be classified 12th.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DTK-_Fq7BTY/UsR4UZOw6KI/AAAAAAAAAaM/UMOmtRf2H3w/s1600/le+Mans+Hownet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DTK-_Fq7BTY/UsR4UZOw6KI/AAAAAAAAAaM/UMOmtRf2H3w/s1600/le+Mans+Hownet.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Howmet TX at Classic Le Mans 2012</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The <st1:place w:st="on">Le Mans</st1:place> 24 hours on 28/29th September
turned out to be something of a disaster. After only three laps Thompson came
back in to hand over to Heppenstall, feeling that his car wasn't quite right. A
fuel system problem limited the engine to 70% power and strangled the speed on
the straight. They kept going however, and had worked up to 29th place when, at
9.45pm, Thompson crashed at <st1:place w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:place>
corner and rolled, severely damaging the car although being unhurt himself. A
rear wheel bearing broke on the Tullius/Dibley car after less than two hours.
Although repaired in a lengthy 3 hour rebuild, it was finally disqualified in
the seventh hour having covered insufficient distance. </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US">Le Mans</span></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> marked
the final race appearance of the unique TX's, Howmet choosing not continue with
a race program in 1969. </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-indent: 20px;">Gas turbine operating principle explained</span></h4>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6j1Q2ZrDUcI/UsR0mgu0s2I/AAAAAAAAAaE/EHA8s4zWkmM/s1600/engine+diag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6j1Q2ZrDUcI/UsR0mgu0s2I/AAAAAAAAAaE/EHA8s4zWkmM/s1600/engine+diag.jpg" height="271" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">A</span><span style="text-indent: 15pt;"> gas turbine operating
principle is simpler than a reciprocating piston engine. There are only three
rotating parts not in rubbing contact with their surrounding cases as shown in
the above simplified diagram. There are two shafts. The first shaft supports
the air compressor and the primary turbine while the second shaft supports the
power turbine and transfers the power by gear reduction to the wheels. An
electric starter provides assistance by rotating the air compressor for the
starting procedure. Compressed air is fed to a combustion chamber where it is
mixed with kerosene fuel and ignited. Hot and high pressure gases are generated
and sent to the primary turbine before reaching the power turbine. The primary
turbine rotates with the air compressor. Hot gases are then sent to the exhaust
system. In the case of the Howmet TX, there are two ways to adjust the power
transferred to the wheels. The first method is the conventional approach with a
gas turbine and operates with the variation of the fuel quantity injected in
the combustion chamber. This conventional method, however, is known for a
response time unwanted with racing cars. A second method utilizes a variable
vane system on the hot gases admitted to the power turbine. This system also
called waste-gate, allows to adjust the quantity of hot gases sent to the power
turbine while sending the remaining portion directly to an exhaust pipe. This
second method allows to keep the combustion chamber at full power and adjust
the power sent to the wheels. The third exhaust pipe at the rear is dedicated
to this waste-gate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<span style="line-height: 107%; position: relative; top: -7.5pt;">The Howmet TX gas turbine rated at an equivalent
3000cc produced nearly 400 hp at 55,000 rpm. The power transfer system
contains a gear reduction that set the proper rotation to the wheels. </span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Reproduced from Wikipedia and various other sources</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113035930792107144.post-15155590394255112442013-12-26T05:22:00.001-08:002013-12-26T05:25:28.721-08:00The Old Jewish Synagogue in Pretoria<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GSlt7-KUN70/Urwl3Iu0phI/AAAAAAAAAW8/Eo9Idx6SufY/s1600/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="418" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GSlt7-KUN70/Urwl3Iu0phI/AAAAAAAAAW8/Eo9Idx6SufY/s640/0.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Old Jewish Synagogue after its completion</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Significance</span></h4>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Old Jewish Synagogue is situated in the CBD of Pretoria.
The synagogue plays a part in the history of Pretoria. It is the first
Synagogue that was erected in Pretoria but its function as a synagogue changed
with the country’s political changes. It was converted to the High Court where
numerous high profile hearings and court cases, involving amongst others Nelson
Mandela and Steve Biko, took place.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">History</span></h4>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2cuav0hW5ZQ/Urwmxq47KlI/AAAAAAAAAXM/oN28jY2Xe3Q/s1600/SynagogPc01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2cuav0hW5ZQ/Urwmxq47KlI/AAAAAAAAAXM/oN28jY2Xe3Q/s320/SynagogPc01.jpg" width="248" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the late 1840’s, Adolf Coqui was the first Jewish settler
in Pretoria. From here on, the Jewish community started to grow in Pretoria. As
time went on, the need for a space to be available to perform services was
needed. Prior to this, private homes, hotels, and halls were used to hold
services which were performed by a layman. The Caledonian hall opened its doors
to the Jewish community to hold their services in 1891-1892. But the hall was
also used for private banquets ad other balls and functions. The Jewish
community felt that it was not appropriate to hold religious services at this
venue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Jewish community formed a congregation and it was
decided that there was a need for their own synagogue in Pretoria. On the 11th
December 1895, Simon Eeinbergand and Herman Manneschwitz bought Erf 103 from
Thomas Patterson for the local Jewish community for £1500.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cUBLmYu3TGA/UrwnGbb4N8I/AAAAAAAAAXc/XafQg9cPJtg/s1600/Image0970.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cUBLmYu3TGA/UrwnGbb4N8I/AAAAAAAAAXc/XafQg9cPJtg/s200/Image0970.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Architect's drawing</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iY6dEs_L4Ws/Urwqpi8jWEI/AAAAAAAAAYM/NRWZJj_7Tf8/s1600/Image0971.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="142" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iY6dEs_L4Ws/Urwqpi8jWEI/AAAAAAAAAYM/NRWZJj_7Tf8/s200/Image0971.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Floor plan</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the 1st October 1897, architects, Ilber and Beardwood
were commissioned to design the synagogue in a Byzantine manner. The building’s
budget was not to exceed £5000. But as any project, the budget escalated and
was slightly less than £6000 even though Samuel Marks donated electrical
lighting fixtures for £300 as well as the bricks for the project. We can also
note that the Jewish congregation ran into more financial difficulties because
the street facade is the only facade that has the Byzantine theme. The other
elevations do not carry on the same theme. Face brick and sandstone detailing
was omitted due to the cost and a cheaper alternative was to use cheap bricks
and plaster on the facades of the building, but even through the financial
difficulties the Synagogue opened its doors to the public on the 20th August
1898.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was not the end to the congregation’s financial
difficulties. They had to raise a further £850 by the end of 1898 to pay the
contractor and builder. But thankfully to the generous help of Sammy Marks, he
donated the amount to the Jewish congregation. But this did not help in future
months to come. The congregation could only renew the minister’s contract on a
monthly basis because funds were scarce. Sammy Marks <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--7xz5qVO7XQ/UrwnkTTt-9I/AAAAAAAAAXk/VN3VR8mT6c0/s1600/Sammy-Marks01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--7xz5qVO7XQ/UrwnkTTt-9I/AAAAAAAAAXk/VN3VR8mT6c0/s200/Sammy-Marks01.jpg" width="120" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Sammy Marks</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
again came to the Jewish
community’s aid in 1901 when money was needed to repair and maintain the
building, but it was not the end. In 1906 on the 9th September the congregation
had to apply for an overdraft of £1500 and could only do so if the synagogue
was mortgaged. Sammy Marks attorneys advised him to buy the property from the
congregation and donate it back to them, subject to registration of certain
conditions. 21st October 1906 must have been the most important day in the
Jewish community’s history. A general meeting was held where trustees of the
Jewish congregation authorised the sale to the astute Mr Sammy Marks (Samuel
Marks) for the mortgage bond amount of £4000. The transfer would be given
immediately over to the Jewish congregation with the certain binding
limitations. These limitations were:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The property may not be sold, ceded or assigned to anyone,
but is to be used exclusively for Synagogue purposes in perpetuity;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That no mortgages, charges or other encumbrances be put on ,
applied to or laid upon the property under any circumstances;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That the house on the property be used solely as the
residence of the Minister of the Congregation or alternatively by some official
of the Synagogue.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AHaqlj3JPqI/UrwoCKgvRCI/AAAAAAAAAX0/fpyfOkEk2nc/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AHaqlj3JPqI/UrwoCKgvRCI/AAAAAAAAAX0/fpyfOkEk2nc/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inside the synagogue</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Sunday 7th August 1907, Sammy Marks formally handed over
the title deeds of the synagogue together with three fire insurance policies to
the Pretoria Jewish congregation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1922 the congregation decided that the synagogue was to
small and that additions and alterations. They sent in a request to overturn
the conditions that were set by Sammy Marks to register the property to apply
for a mortgage. The Supreme Court declined this request because the donation
was only made a few years previously.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The old synagogue becomes the new Pretoria Supreme Court</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the Apartheid era, the black resistance against the
government was building. The black resistance was mostly verbal and
non-violent. Black leadership became more visible and outspoken and there was
an increase in strikes and passive resistance. In view of the deteriorating
situation, the government decided that there was a need for a special supreme
court. The government needed a building that allowed for relatively large
numbers for people to observe, interested parties and defendants. Also they
needed a building that would have to be located in an area which was manageable
in terms of security and effective crowd dispersal. The old synagogue was
identified to be the new Pretoria Supreme Court.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The changes that were made to the building to make it an
effective court were:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--zmrs5pCmAA/Urwompxx8hI/AAAAAAAAAX4/ctPOuw7oAkQ/s1600/800px-9_2_258_0020-Old_Synagogue-Pretoria-s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--zmrs5pCmAA/Urwompxx8hI/AAAAAAAAAX4/ctPOuw7oAkQ/s320/800px-9_2_258_0020-Old_Synagogue-Pretoria-s.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The synagogue with its cream paint finish and <br />window above the front door removed</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Painting the facades and brick work in cream colour.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The removal and bricking up of the stained glass.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The removal and replacement of all the timber top hung
window on both the northern and southern facades.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The alteration of the altar stage into judge benches.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The addition of judge chambers, toilet and ante rooms on the
eastern side of the synagogue.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The keying and plastering of the original sandstone plinth
which was deteriorated.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Application of acoustic board to a large percentage of the
internal walls.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The addition of separate structures outside the main
synagogue.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R5kXnqfMnqs/Urwop6EVodI/AAAAAAAAAYA/U6v1bjJfO7Y/s1600/BAHA-Mandela-Treason-2_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R5kXnqfMnqs/Urwop6EVodI/AAAAAAAAAYA/U6v1bjJfO7Y/s320/BAHA-Mandela-Treason-2_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nelson Mandela, Aziz Pahadand Winnie Mandela <br />outside the Old Synagogue</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main trials that were seen at the Supreme Court. The
treason trial was one of the longest trials in South African history. All the
accused were either members of the ANC or Black Consciousness movements. Nelson
Mandela was one of the accused members. The Steve Biko inquest was heard at the
Supreme Court. The Sharpville and Langa Incidents were both heard in the court.
Nelson Mandela was tried in 1962 and was initially sentenced to 5 years hard
labour. During the Rivoina Trial he was sentenced to life in prison with hard
labour.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reproduced from The Universiy of Ptretoria's 'Ablewiki'</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and various various other sources</span></span></div>
</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Rustic Wood Carpentryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08058205073115167016noreply@blogger.com0