The building is Grade II* listed and
the entry at the English Heritage website [visit
link] tells us:
"South African High Commission,
formerly the embassy of the Union of South Africa. 1931-1933 by Sir Herbert
Baker FRIBA (1862-1946) and Alexander Thomson Scott (1887-1962). Steel frame,
infilled with reinforced concrete panels and faced with Portland stone, set on a
granite base. Classical style, with arts and crafts-inspired carved details of
indigenous beasts and symbols of South Africa. Trapezoidal plan with three
frontages, rounded corner at south end. Accommodation arranged over 7 storeys:
staff rooms and offices on the upper floors; High Commissioner's suite on first
floor; entrance hall, reading room and reception rooms on the ground floor;
exhibition space and cinema, on lower floors.
EXTERIOR: 7 storeys, including 2
attic storeys above cornice and balustrade. Main elevation: 13 windows wide with
3 in the central bay; 5-window return on north elevation; 4-window return on
south elevation. Apex at southern end, on corner of Trafalgar Square and Strand,
comprises a convex screen of Corinthian columns rising through the first and
second storeys, with a concave, recessed attic storey. The ground floor has
channelled rustication, with ashlar quoins. It becomes two storeys to the south,
owing to sloping site. On the attic storeys, the central bay comprises a
pedimented open loggia with two Ionic columns in antis. Below this, four
Corinthian columns support a projecting balcony and, in turn, rest on a
projecting base, which forms the main entrance. On the north side, there is a
plainer facade which fronts offices unrelated to those of the South African High
Commission. Bronze metal sash windows with small panes, in single and double
sized openings.
EXTERIOR DECORATIVE PROGRAMME:
Symbols of native flora and fauna: keystones carved with mimosa, protea and
crinum; sill brackets carved with the heads of elephants, wildebeest, lion and
antelope; heraldic devices, all carved in Portland stone by Joseph Armitage
(1880-1945) to the designs of Sir Charles Wheeler RA (1892-1974). Gilded
springbok above entrance at south corner also by Wheeler. Carving of the ship
Goede Hoop in the upper pediment; below, the coats of arms of the provinces
comprising the Union of South Africa, and the Southern Cross, by Armitage. In
southern-most bay, a stone niche containing a life-sized statue of the
Portuguese explorer Bartholomeo Diaz, carved in situ by Coert Steynberg
(1905-1982).
INTERIOR: Entrance Hall: Vestibule
and hall with two domes, leading to main staircase. Extensively marbled with
South African marble and stones, white, green and grey from northern Transvaal,
and quartz. Inlaid stones from Witwatersrand; red jasper, granite, verdite,
crocodilite and serpentine. The two domes contain the mottoes, seals and coats
of arms of the constituent parts of South Africa, with lettering and carving by
Lawrence Turner (fl.1925-35). The twin domes represent the old Dutch republic
and the British colonies forming the former Union of South Africa with the motto
'EENRAGT MAAKT MAGT' ('Unity is Strength'). Original pendant light fittings.
Wrought-iron balusters to the staircase feature the protea flower, and were
designed by Charles Wheeler. First floor lobby, room 406: small lobby adjoining
High Commissioner's room. Teak beamed ceiling. Fine mural extends from floor to
ceiling on all wall spaces: fresco paintings (i.e. egg tempera on plaster).
Signed and dated on a painted tablet: 'Eleanor Esmonde-White and LeRoux Smith
LeRoux AD 1938'. Scenes depict the life of the Amazulu, including the Feast of
First Fruits, the largest scene on the wall facing the windows. First floor
library: Panelled in Burma teak with carved wooden screens above the doors
depicting protea and arum lily, and decorative plaster ceiling, all by Lawrence
Turner. Murals by J. H. Amshewitz (1882-1942) depicting the travels of Diaz and
Vasco da Gama. High Commissioner's room: Panelled in stinkwood; chair and desk
made for the room by Armitage. Plaster relief circle of flowers in the ceiling
and four symbolic plaques. Fireplace of green and white South African marbles.
Cast-iron fireback designed by Charles Wheeler. First floor corridor: plaster
relief by John Tweed (1869-1933) depicting the first meeting of Jan Van Riebeeck
with the Khoikhoi. Voorhuis or Voorkamer: Small reception and meeting room on
the ground floor. A recreation of a Cape Dutch farmhouse with beamed ceiling,
terracotta tiled floor, antique Delft tiles, divided door with carved fanlight
above. Ante room: created by a screen of solid teak pillars adjacent to
corridor. Ten panels by Gwelo Goodman (1871-1939) depicting South African
landscapes. Reading room: Panelled in teak, with fitted bookshelves and
newspaper racks, heraldic devices around the cornice frieze. Stone fire-surround
with inlaid green marble. Above, alabaster relief by Charles Wheeler, depicting
allegorical story based on the mythical history and romance of the Table
mountain and its bay. The fireplace is flanked by clocks in which a map of each
hemisphere revolves round their two poles, and a fixed hand points always in the
direction of the sun at noon. Exhibition area: From the entrance hall, stairs
lead down to a galleried mezzanine for the display of pictures by Jan Juta
(b.1897) and J.H. Pierneef (1886-1957). Some have been covered up to show new
work on top. A spiral staircase at south end leads to the basement via a
circular limestone wall fountain with a bronze figure by Anton Van Wouw
(1862-1945). Display cases built under the galleries depict panoramic views of
the towns of South Africa. The dioramas have been moved to the former billiard
room. Cinema: Purpose-built cinema with seating and concert platform. The room
is panelled in yellow wood set in stinkwood frames, with a wall frieze depicting
more native flora and fauna, and Dutch ships, all by Lawrence Turner. Original
pendant light fittings.
HISTORY: This is the most richly
fitted and complete of Sir Herbert Baker's four 'empire houses' built in London,
and is the culmination of his love and knowledge of South Africa. Its interiors
are of exceptional quality, with outstanding murals in the Zulu
room."
The Scottish Architects website [visit
link] tells us about Baker:
"Herbert Baker (later Sir Herbert)
was born in Cobham in Kent on 9 June 1862, one of ten children of Thomas H
Baker, JP. He was educated at Tonbridge School and articled to his uncle Arthur
H Baker in September 1881 and remained for three years whilst attending classes
at the Architectural Association. He remained with Baker after his
apprenticeship as clerk of works at Llanberis Church, North Wales, a project
which lasted a further year and a half. He then transferred to the office of
Ernest George & Peto as improver and subsequently assistant and remained
there until 1890 during which period he attended the Royal Academy Schools.
While at their office he met Edwin Lutyens with whom he went sketching in the
country. Baker won the Ashpitel Prize and passed the qualifying exam in 1889 and
was elected ARIBA on 13 January of the following year, his proposers being his
uncle, Harold Ainsworth Peto and Ernest George. He was elected Fellow ten years
later on 18 January 1900, his proposers being on this occasion H S Greaves,
Ernest George again and W Emerson.
When in 1891 Baker's brother Lionel
went out to South Africa to set up a fruit farm, Baker went out to advise on its
situation. He soon met Cecil Rhodes who asked him to restore his home, Groote
Schuur and to rebuild it again after a fire in 1893. In Baker Rhodes saw a man
who could share his dreams of a great and permanent culture for South Africa.
Baker was appointed Diocesan architect for Cape Town in 1893 and as such was
responsible for a number of churches in the city. He formed a partnership with
his former assistant Francis Edward Masey in 1899; together they designed a
great variety of buildings - not only churches, but offices, banks and villas.
They also supervised the construction of the Union Castle Line building and the
Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town on behalf of Dunn & Watson.
Rhodes died in 1902 and Lord Milner
who had the task of rebuilding in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony after
the Boer War engaged Baker & Masey on a number of projects including
Government buildings, churches, houses and agricultural and mining settlements.
In 1906 they took on a third partner, Franklin Kaye Kendall, who had joined the
practice in 1899 as assistant.
Baker invited his friend Lutyens to
visit South Africa and from this Lutyens secured the commissions for the War
Memorial and Art Gallery in Johannesburg. In his turn Lutyens recommended Baker
to share with him in designing the new government buildings in New Delhi. In
1909 Masey left to set up his own practice in Rhodesia and Baker formed a new
partnership with Frank Leonard Hodgson Fleming who had been assisting since
1903, but this appears to have been dissolved by 1912 when he was associated
with Lutyens for about a year on the project for New Delhi.
Baker returned to London in 1913,
leaving his South African practice to Fleming, and embarked on the New Delhi
project. However disagreement between Lutyens and Baker over the levelling of
the King's Way leading to Lutyens's Viceregal Lodge made a rift between them
which led to a long estrangement.
Baker devoted twelve years to the
New Delhi project but then turned his attention to buildings in England (and one
in Scotland) after the First World War. He was one of the principal architects
of the War Graves Commission. In the mid-1920s he visited Kenya and Uganda and
worked for the government in Kenya. In 1927 he was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal
for Architecture.
At the age of sixty nine Baker
formed a partnership with Alexander Thomson Scott in 1931. He died on 4 February
1946 at Owletts, Cobham, Kent. He was survived by his wife Florence, his sons
and his daughter."