The Waalburg building sits on the corner of Wale and Burg Streets, defined by a polished granite podium from which cast sandstone pylons rise seven stories into the air. Completed in nineteen thirty, it was designed by the Paarl-based…
City Bowl Art Deco
This short walk through the city center highlights Cape Town's impressive collection of 1930s Art Deco architecture hiding in plain sight. You will see beautiful geometric facades, ornate brass grilles, and the elegant lobbies of historic office buildings.
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1. Waalburg building
2. Newspaper House
Newspaper House sits at the Wale Street end of St George's Mall, a prominent commercial building characterized by its Cape Dutch revival architecture. Since nineteen thirty-six, this address served as the headquarters for major South…
3. Namaqua House Apartments
Namaqua House on Greenmarket Square is an eight-story building defined by its cantilevered balcony and a reinforced concrete skeleton faced with brick. Completed in the early nineteen-thirties, the structure was designed to provide modern…
4. 403 Market House
Market House, located at seven Shortmarket Street, is a distinct Art Deco building that stands near the historic Greenmarket Square. Designed by architect F W Grant during the nineteen thirties, the structure is recognized today as a…
5. Mullers Optometrists Longmarket Street
The black-and-chrome Art Deco storefront on the corner of Longmarket Street marks the site of South Africa’s oldest optometry practice. Founded in eighteen ninety by Joseph Muller, a twenty-two-year-old immigrant from Germany’s Black…
6. Mutual Heights
Mutual Heights, on the corner of Darling and Parliament Streets, is identifiable by its stepped, ziggurat-style silhouette and the distinctive prismoid windows that project from its granite-clad facade. Opened in nineteen forty as the…