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Gerard Leendert Pieter Moerdijk (4 March 1890 in Zwaershoek farm nearNylstroom,Transvaal – 29 March 1958 inNylstroom), also known asGerard Moerdyk, was a South Africanarchitect[1] best known for designing theVoortrekker Monument inPretoria.
Both Moerdyk's parents wereDutch immigrants, who moved toSouth Africa in 1888.
During theSecond Boer War (1899–1902) Gerard Moerdyk (then aged 10) was interned in theStandertonconcentration camp with his mother, two brothers and two sisters. After the war, the family lived inPretoria where Gerard went to the forerunner ofPretoria Boys High School. He matriculated with honours in 1909 and qualified as anarchitect at theArchitectural Association inEngland. He also studied inFrance for a while and was exposed to classicalRoman andRenaissance architecture inItaly.
Moerdyk was the firstSouth African to be an Associate of theRoyal Institute of British Architects.
Moerdyk returned toSouth Africa in 1913 and received first prize for the design of a church inBothaville. He started his own practice and received more than eighty commissions to design churches. In his designs Moerdyk broke with the traditionalcrucifix plan, and replaced it with an octagonal formation, and incorporated domes, crescent-shaped windows andCape Dutch gables. Another Church, the Nederduitse Hervormde Kerk, was designed in 1935. He was a member of theAfrikaner Broederbond[2][3]
He also designed several bank buildings, hospitals, houses and city halls. Commissioned works for which he is famous is the Reserve Bank building inBloemfontein, the Libertas building in Pretoria (now known asMahlamba Ndlopfu) and the Merensky Library at theUniversity of Pretoria. This last building, now known as theOld Merensky Library – since a new library has been built – houses theEdoardo Villa Museum with the leading collection of sculptures by the artistEduardo Villa.[4][5]. The foundation stone for this building was laid in 1937 byGeneral Jan Smuts, thenPrime Minister ofSouth Africa. In 1991 it was declared a National Monument. It was later[when?] redesignated aprovincial heritage site and in 2012 became anational heritage site.
TheVoortrekker Monument on Proclamation Hill at the southern outskirts ofPretoria is considered to be Moerdyk's masterpiece. He was aSouth African Freemason.[6][7]
The Central "Volks" (People's) Monuments Committee started a "Structure Committee" which approached the public in 1936 for suggestions about the contents and form of a monument. Several sketches from sculptors, architects and other artists were submitted. Moerdyk's design was eventually chosen. E.C Pienaar and A.d. Bouman designed the sculpturallaager, or ring of ox-wagons, around the monument.
The South African Academy for Arts and Science awarded Moerdyk an honorary membership in 1936 and in 1950 theUniversity of South Africa awarded him anhonorary doctorate.
The Dutch Reformed Church inPiet Retief was designed and built in 1921.
A well-knownColonialAfrican restaurant in thePretoria suburbArcadia is named Gerard Moerdyk Restaurant, after him.
Pretoria also has an arts district on Gerard Moerdyk Street in the suburb ofSunnyside. It is known as The Overzicht Artists' Village and consists of old cottages, which were built around the 19th century. The village has theatres, craft shops, restaurants and an education museum.
Moerdijk's family home inPretoria, Moerdijkhuis, was declared a national monument in 1986 and was turned into a guesthouse by Moerdijk's grandson and his wife, in order to enable access to the monument while ensuring economic sustainability of this national asset.
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