Wikipedia
Ansteys Building
- Location
- Johannesburg,South Africa
- Design firm
- Emley & Williamson
- Typology
- Department store / offices
- Years
- 1935–1937
- Status
- Complete
Facade facts
- Facade summary
- A striking 20-story Art Deco envelope featuring deep stepped setbacks, curved corners with continuous horizontal band windows, and a dominant central vertical tower finished in light-toned plaster.
- Documented intention
- The architects aimed to project modernity,commerce, and progress. The stepped-back form was functionally driven by Johannesburg's local municipal regulations to prevent street-level overshadowing, which the architects integrated into a cohesive Art Deco sculptural expression.
- Street relationship
- At street level, the building addresses the corner of Jeppe and Joubert Streets with a curved, inviting ground-floor retail frontage. The original design integrated grand show-windows protected by a canopy to engage pedestrian traffic.
- Climate relationship
- The deep setbacks provide self-shading to the lower floors, while the extensive horizontal bands of windows are designed to maximize natural daylighting in the deep-plan offices before artificial fluorescent lighting became standard.
- Window pattern
- Continuous horizontal bands wrapping around the curved street corner with repetitive grid panes.
- Glazing
- Single glazing
- Rhythm
- Strong horizontal rhythm along the wings, contrasted with a soaring vertical rhythm in the central tower.
- Plaster
- Plaster — Primary exterior finish on all elevations — Smooth painted finish
- Steel
- Steel — Window frames throughout all floors — Painted dark metallic
- Glass
- Glass — Window bands and ground-floor display fronts — Clear monolithic
- Reinforced concrete frame with brick infill
- A structural skeleton of concrete pillars and beams supporting a masonry envelope finished with external plaster.
- Steel ribbon window assembly
- Continuous horizontal steel window frames inset within defined concrete lintel bands.
Tags
- 1931–1940
- Africa
- Art Deco
- At street level
- Cast-in-place concrete
- Cwb
- Deep dimensional play created by progressive
- Department store
- Emley & Williamson
- Glass
- Horizontal band windows
- Inner city commercial district
- Interwar Period
- Johannesburg
- Masonry Infill
- Plaster
- Retail
- Ribbon Window System
- Single glazing
- South Africa
- Steel Frame
- Strong horizontal rhythm along the wings
- The architects aimed to project modernity
- apartments on upper floors
- commerce
- concrete
- crowned with a structural mast.
- metal windows
- offices
- offices on intermediate floors
- render
- steel
- stone
- stucco
- tiered setbacks.
Description
The building's envelope is characterised by a strong podium base originally glazed for department store displays, transitioning into a stepped-back tower. The primary facades use a dramatic combination of vertical and horizontal motifs. Curved, wrapping corners are articulated with continuous horizontal bands of steel-framed windows. As the building rises, it steps back in accordance with daylight regulations of the era, creating terraces that accentuate its volumetric massing. The central tower acts as a vertical spine, capped by a prominent steel radio mast.
Visual analysis
Visually, the facade creates a dynamic sense of movement through its contrasting horizontal window ribbons and vertical pier accents. The cream-coloured plaster finish emphasizes the solid mass of the building against the dark lines of the glazed bands.
Gallery
Sources
- Johannesburg Style: Architecture & Society 1880s-1960s · Chipkin, C. M.
- The Heritage Portal: Ansteys Building · The Heritage Portal