The new hotel was located in Church Street between Hamilton and Leyds streets and construction already started in 1923. As Kirkness was the principal contractor, the project was completed in 1925. Gordon Leith was the architect. In 1930 extensions were done with the addition of more accommodation and a bar. The name was also changed from Union Mansions to the Union Hotel.

On 13 March 1942 the board of directors of Union Hotels Limited sold the hotel to Samuel Gavronsky and Percival Harris. In 1956 Harris left the partnership. When Gavronsky died in 1965, his two daughters Mrs G. Posel and Helen Suzman (then MP for Houghton) became the directors of Union Hotels (Pty) Ltd. On 2 January 1979, the building was purchased by the Government for the South African Navy. The former Union Hotel is now managed as a naval mess for officers.

References:

De Jong, R.C. 1999. Union Hotel. Pretoria Historical Dictionary (February). Pretoria: City Council of Pretoria

Acknowledgement:

Postcards are part of the historical postcard collection of Dr Udo Kusel.

In January of this year, who could have imagined the world we are now living in 6 months later? Who had heard of “social distancing” or “flattening the curve” and “contact tracing? Now we are all familiar with these terms as well as wearing masks, endless sanitizing and staying at home most of the day.

Whilst we acknowledge the privileged position of most Arcadians, the lockdown which started at the end of March was a time of great uncertainty, adjustment and challenges for all. However, we

managed to adapt to this strange way of life and many Arcadians came up with novel ways to stimulate bored pets and children, exercise in their homes and fill their days learning new skills. I think many people took advantage of this time to slow down, appreciate their homes and gardens, count their blessings and reach out to those in need.

This page highlights some of things Arcadians have been doing in the time of Covid 19.

One of the challenges during the first 5 weeks of lockdown was the prohibition of exercise for both humans and dogs. I have a very energetic 2 year old Labrador and an older Ridgeback and the prospect of not taking them for a walk or run for weeks was unimaginable.

However, I very quickly realized that mental stimulation is just as effective as physical exercise to keep a dog happy. I devised a series of mentally challenging exercises for our dogs and every day we spent 20 minutes or so at “school” with them. The internet is filled with clever ideas to challenge your dogs. One particular favourite was the box challenge. I filled various containers with treats (plastic bottle, toilet roll inner, egg box) and put them in a cardboard box. They had to figure out how to open the box, then get the treats out of the various containers. It kept them amused for ages and it was interesting to see the difference in technique between the two breeds. The Labrador was very much the “bash and crash” technique whilst the Ridgeback was more methodical and used her teeth to open the containers. Another favourite was hiding treats under tennis balls placed in a muffin tin. Freddy, the Labrador also enjoyed watching the animal programmes on TV, especially if there was a lot of action.  We gradually made the challenges more difficult and by the time we moved to level 4 of the lockdown, both dogs had graduated from High School!

We also ran around the house with the dogs in tow. It took a little effort to keep them interested but we managed to do 3km, three or four times a week. This kept the humans fit too. I also set up an obstacle course in the garden which challenged them both physically and mentally.

And then 1 May arrived and at 6h00 I calmly got out their leads and said “Let’s go for walkies!” Both looked at me totally puzzled, especially as I had a mask on. However, once we got out the gate, they realized what was happening and those tails did not stop wagging for the next hour or so.

When the British emerged as the victors of the South African War in 1902, they vigorously set about building an infrastructure from which to administer their new enlarged and amalgamated colony. There is no doubt that both their enthusiasm and their determination were driven by a lust and greed for the prospects of wealth that the South African deposits of gold and diamonds promised them.

In an effort to appease the Boers and on account of its proximity to the gold reef, the British selected Pretoria to become the administrative capital of the new Union of South Africa. The date set for the declaration of the Union was 1910 and this gave a mere eight years during which to construct the Union Buildings and to transform Pretoria into a prestigious Colonial capital city. Unlike other colonies to which remittance men and ex-convicts were dispatched to laud it over the locals and to administer the affairs of the empire, South Africa was seen as the jewel in the Imperial crown and people sent here were recruited from the top drawer of British high society. It was necessary to make these bureaucrats feel comfortable and at home once they had settled here in the rugged wilds of Africa.

Meintjieskop had been chosen for the site of the Union buildings and the burgeoning garden city suburb of Arcadia that nestled on the adjacent slopes was clearly somewhere that high ranking civil servants and other well-to-do pillars of Colonial society would wish to reside. Their children would need posh schools and they would need gracious churches to attend and thus it was that the Pretoria High School for Girls, The Pretoria Boys High School, St Mary’s DSG and some very fine Anglican parish churches were built in close proximity.

No expenses were spared.

The ever so competent architect, Herbert Baker, an intimately close friend of Cecil John Rhodes, was appointed either as the architect of these buildings, or, in the case of the schools, to oversee the projects that were otherwise executed by the Department of Public Works. The result of all this is a legacy of buildings that are quite literally among the finest of their kind anywhere in the world.

Recent and current debate in South Africa has rightfully concluded that in no rational way can anything good be seen to have resulted from Colonialism. This I do personally hold to be true and beyond question, exception or further debate.  But, a dilemma is posed. How, then, can it be true that our consequent legacy of buildings be regarded as glorious and unique treasures of which every South African can be justifiably proud?

There are, indeed, a number of reasons why and here I will discuss only some of those that pertain to Christ Church in Pretorius Street, Arcadia.

The Architecture of the building follows the tradition of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Arts and Crafts is a philosophy of design that was coined as such in the latter part of the 19th century and that advocates that a building should be constructed by hand and of organic materials that are sourced from as close a proximity to the site as possible. These materials should be assembled with artistry, craftsmanship and care to create a tapestry that is in every way a product of the environment and its people and that assumes a sense of timelessness so that it may appear to be an integral part of the original creation of the earth. Ethnic architecture all over the world adheres precisely to these principles. A hand-crafted adobe Tswana hut with its decorated stucco walls and thatched roof is an excellent example of the Arts and Crafts ideology. This is all the more so by virtue of the manner in which such a hut becomes an integral part of  the landscape into which it blends with synchronicity and even more profoundly by the way in which such a hut would eventually crumble and recycle itself back into the environment without leaving a trace let alone a scar.

The sandstone detailing, granite walls and slate roof of Christ Church are all locally sourced. The building is of the environment and would be alien in any other country. It was superbly built with extraordinarily high levels of competency by local people who gave of their blood, sweat and tears and were paid slave wages to do so. The fact that they were subsequently forbidden by virtue of the colour of their skin, from worshiping in the building that they had so meticulously created is an absolute travesty.

The financial cost of building Christ Church was enormous. It included the import of (regrettably foreign) Burmese Teak and other timber that is now not only irreplaceable but contributed to the denuding of the rain forests – our earthly lungs. There were many other costs and these were funded by the ill-gotten gains of the minerals extracted from the South African soil. Although the British wrote out the cheques, it was South Africa that paid for the building and it did so very dearly indeed.

During the years of Apartheid  Black people were forbidden from entering the church excepting for the cleaners and the elderly verger who I remember  from the bleak years of the 1970’s and 80s’s dating back to the rectorship of Fr Shapter.  The verger was a most pious Anglican if ever there was one and he was part of a tradition of Black building and ground staff that polished the brass and shone the Kirkness terra cotta floor tiles. This they did without complaint and to the glory of God in a manner that would have made John Ruskin proud! Their efforts were not in vain. They have resulted in a resplendent building cloaked in more than a century of patina, love and care.

The Anglican Church did hold a consistent stance against Apartheid and the Pretoria Diocese included among its ranks rectors like Mark Nye who was imprisoned for his part in the struggle. During all these years, Christ Church was a place where some people did express their grievances both verbally and spiritually at the atrocities against Black people. Buildings do, in a way, acquire a richness of memory. There are many buildings where, upon entering, a person can perceive a sense of the great or dastardly or profound things that have occurred there and Christ Church is one of these.

 And so, I do believe that Christ Church is a most awesome building in spite of its Colonial roots and not because of them. It is a building of which all Pretorians can be justifiably proud.

Two noteworthy contemporary philosophers, Alain de Botton and Roger Scruton (though he died last year) have both expressed the wish that more people would routinely attend religious services and that they do so in fine buildings that are exemplary in the beauty of their sacred architectural design.  The reason that they want this is not to convert people to any religion whatsoever. On the contrary, they are particularly keen that atheists, agnostics and non-believers attend such services because they are of the opinion that it would do not only them but society at large huge benefit for people to routinely withdraw from the hectic bustle of daily life and to relax in a ritual of peace and calm during which the five senses can be stimulated and invigorated. Christ Church is the ideal venue for such a pursuit as I will now explain.

There is a new recycling initiative in Arcadia which residents can sign up for. Collection day is a Thursday and it seems to be working well.

www.jacrecycling.co.za