Why go
Architecture offers a visible way to compare colonial styles with later state buildings and other local forms. Look at Cape Dutch gables in the Cape, Herbert Baker’s Union Buildings in Pretoria, and the very different settings of St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town and St John’s College in Johannesburg.
The full story
The Cape Dutch style developed during the early Cape Colony and is especially recognisable for its ornate, rounded gables. Its name points to Dutch settlement, while the style also drew on wider European and Indonesian influences. That history sits within the larger story of colonial land use and labour, rather than standing apart from it. Later public buildings carried different ambitions. Architect Herbert Baker designed Pretoria’s Union Buildings, a prominent expression of the state formed after the British colonies and former Boer republics were brought together. Other buildings worth noticing include Baker’s Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town, St George’s Cathedral there, and St John’s College in Johannesburg. They are not interchangeable examples: a government seat, memorial, cathedral and school each express a different purpose. Across rural South Africa, traditional African building forms add further variety. Compare the form of a building with who commissioned and used it; that question makes the country’s architectural contrasts more meaningful than a list of styles.