Herbert Baker House – Paardevlei

Description

Herbert Baker House – Paardevlei

Herbert Baker designed the Union Buildings, the South African government buildings in Pretoria, now Tshwane.  He also designed a number of residential buildings in Johannesburg.  And he designed a group of very picturesque houses in Paardevlei, Somerset West.  I think these were for the management of the munitions factory in the area.  These houses, arranged in a semi circle are very clearly in the same set, each one different but all the same.  The house in this watercolour is the most accessible, in terms of a space to take a photo.

I presented this painting at my exhibition in the white wine cellar at Lanerac Estate in Stellenbosch.  When I showed the watercolour to a visitor from Kenya he told me that he went to a school in Nairobi, Prince of Wales School that had been designed by Herbert Baker.  It is such a privilege to be here to meet the visitors to this exhibition.

Watercolour on 300gm Arches Hot Pressed
380 x 510 mm