Common Ground

The richness and diversity of Dutch contributions to the built environment of South Africa remain little-known in the study of twentieth-century architectural history. Between 1902 and 1961 more than seventy Dutch-born émigré architects were active from the Cape to the Highveld, both in major towns and remote areas, and they designed hundreds of buildings and neighborhoods.

A sequel to the acclaimed Eclectic ZA Wilhelmiens: A Shared Dutch Built Heritage in South Africa, Common Ground reveals the great variety of styles and building types from this period, ranging from buildings for communities, religious practice, banking, industry, and civil infrastructure to the evolution of the Pretoria dwelling and low-cost housing. These contributions are also contentious as they relate to the time of the entrenchment of apartheid. Yet these architects' extant work is an undeniable part of South Africa today and often still in daily service.