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Sir Herbert Baker | |
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| Born | (1862-06-09)9 June 1862 Cobham, Kent, England |
| Died | 4 February 1946(1946-02-04) (aged 83) Cobham, England |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Bank of England;India House;Glyn, Mills & Co.;South Africa House;Monteviot House;[1][2]Union Buildings, Pretoria;St John's College, Johannesburg; State House, Nairobi |
Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an Englisharchitect remembered as the dominant force inSouth African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some ofNew Delhi's most notable government structures. He was born and died atOwletts inCobham, Kent.
Among the many churches, schools and houses he designed in South Africa are theUnion Buildings in Pretoria,St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown,St. John's College, Johannesburg, theWynberg Boys' High School,Groote Schuur in Cape Town, and the Champagne Homestead and Rhodes Cottage onBoschendal, betweenFranschhoek andStellenbosch.[3] WithSir Edwin Lutyens he was instrumental in designing, among other buildings,Parliament House, and the North and South Blocks of the Secretariat, all inNew Delhi, which in 1931 became the capital of theBritish Raj, as well as its successor states theDominion of India and theRepublic of India. In 1928 he also designed the European School, Nairobi, the original co-education primary school of bothNairobi School andThe Kenya High School. His other prominent works include the East African Railways Headquarters,Government House and the administration building at the thenPrince of Wales School inNairobi. His tomb is inWestminster Abbey.
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The fourth son of nine children of Thomas Henry Baker (1824–1904),J.P., ofOwletts, a gentleman farmer and director of the Kent Fire and Life Insurance Company, by his wife Frances Georgina (née Davis),[4][5] Herbert was from the outset exposed to a tradition of good craftsmanship, preserved through isolation in the neighbourhood of his home in Kent. As a boy, walking and exploring the historical ruins found in the area were his favourite pastimes. Here he observed and learned to appreciate the time-honoured materials of brick and plaster, and the various aspects of timber use, especially in roof construction—tie-beam and arch-bracedcollar-beam trusses. He was profoundly influenced by the stone construction used inNorman cathedrals andAnglo-Saxon churches, as well as the ornamentation and symbolism of theRenaissance buildings in Kent. This early influence is apparent in the churches, schools and houses he later designed in South Africa.
He was educated atTonbridge School. In 1879 he wasarticled to his cousin Arthur Baker, embarking on the accepted pattern of architectural education comprising three years of apprenticeship and the attending of classes at theArchitectural Association School and theRoyal Academy Schools. Study tours of Europe were regarded as an essential part of the course. In 1891 Baker passed his examination for Associateship of theRoyal Institute of British Architects and was awarded the Ashpitel Prize for being top of his class.
He worked initially forErnest George andHarold Peto in London from 1882 to 1887, then opened his own office inGravesend, Kent, in 1890. From 1902 to 1913 he developed his career in South Africa. In 1913 he returned to England and began practice in London in partnership withAlexander Scott. Near the end of this most productive phase of his career, Baker received aknighthood (in the1926 King's Birthday Honours List), was elected to theRoyal Academy, received theRoyal Institute of British Architects'Royal Gold Medal in 1927, and received honorary degrees fromWitwatersrand andOxford Universities. Baker's autobiographyArchitecture & Personalities was published in 1944. The first full biography of his life was published in 2021: Sir Herbert Baker: Architect to the British Empire, by John Stewart.
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He embarked for South Africa in 1892 ostensibly to visit his brother, and was commissioned in 1893 byCecil Rhodes to remodelGroote Schuur, Rhodes' house on the slopes ofTable Mountain inCape Town, and the residence of South African Prime Ministers. Rhodes sponsored Baker's further education in Greece, Italy and Egypt, after which he returned to South Africa and stayed the next twenty years.
In South Africa, Baker first partnered with Masey and Sloper, from 1903 to 1907. In 1904, he appointed Francis Leonard Fleming as his assistant, eventually becoming partners with Fleming in 1910 and working together until 1918, when Baker cut ties with the South Africa office.
He had the patronage ofLord Milner, and was invited to theTransvaal to design and build residences for the British living there. Much taken with the country, and notably with theCape Dutch homes in the Cape Province, Baker resolved to remain in South Africa and to establish an architectural practice, which went under the name ofHerbert Baker, Kendall & Morris. Baker undertook work in widespread parts of the country includingDurban,Grahamstown,King William's Town,Bloemfontein,George andOudtshoorn, and even further afield inSalisbury,Rhodesia, where he designed theAnglican Cathedral and a house for Julius Weil, the general merchant.
In 1902, Baker left his practice at the Cape in the hands of his partner and went to live inJohannesburg, where he builtStonehouse. On a visit to the United Kingdom in 1904, he married his cousin, Florence Edmeades, daughter of Gen. Henry Edmund Edmeades, bringing her back to Johannesburg, where two sons, the first of four children, were born. Baker quickly became noted for his work, and was commissioned by a number of the "Randlords" (the wealthy mining magnates of Johannesburg) to design houses, particularly in the suburbs ofParktown and Westcliff. He also designed commercial premises and public buildings.
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In 1909 Baker was commissioned to design the Government Building of theUnion of South Africa (which was formed on 31 May 1910) in Pretoria. Pretoria was to become the administrative centre for the new government. In November 1910, the cornerstone of theUnion Buildings was laid.
Lord Selborne andHenry Charles Hull, a member of the first Union Cabinet, choseMeintjieskop as the site for Baker's design.[13] The site was that of a disused quarry and the existing excavations were used to create the amphitheatre, which was set about with ornamental pools, fountains, sculptures, balustrades, and trees.
The design consisted of two identical wings, joined by a semi-circular colonnade forming the backdrop of the amphitheatre. The colonnade was terminated on either side by a tower. Each wing had a basement and three floors above ground. The interiors were created in theCape Dutch Style with carved teakfanlights, heavy doors, and dark ceiling beams contrasting with white plaster walls and heavy wood furniture. Baker used indigenous materials as far as possible. The granite was quarried on site while Buiskop sandstone was used for the courtyards.
Stinkwood andRhodesian teak were used for timber and wood panelling. The roof tiles and quarry tiles for the floors were made inVereeniging. The Union Buildings were completed in 1913, after which Baker left for New Delhi from where he returned home to England.
In 1897,Cecil John Rhodes started large scale fruit farming in the Drakenstein Valley and commissioned Baker to design his country retreat on the farm Nieuwedorp atBoschendal. In contrast to the spectacular mountain views, the brief was to design a simple country cottage combining Cape cottage features and incorporating indigenous yellowwood and stinkwood in the interior. It was intended to accommodate only Rhodes, his secretary and a butler.[3]
The first name recorded in the guestbook was that ofSir Alfred Milner, erstwhileGovernor of the Cape Colony and British High Commissioner at the outbreak of the South African War (Boer War). The cottage was later to host the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, the Earl of Athlone, former Governor-General of South Africa, and his wife Princess Alice, granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
In the 1990s the cottage was revamped and refitted while preserving its character. It stands on Estate 20, one of the Founders' Estates which form Phase 1 of the residential development ofBoschendal.[3]
In 1912 Baker went to India to work withLutyens, and went on to design theSecretariat Building inNew Delhi andParliament House, also in New Delhi. He also designed the bungalows of Members ofParliament in New Delhi. Baker designed the two Secretariat buildings flanking thegreat axis leading to what was thenViceroy's House, the palace of theViceroy of India, now known asRashtrapati Bhavan (President's House).[14]
Works from 1913 include:
Following the First World War, Baker was appointed one of four principal architects by theImperial War Graves Commission to design war cemeteries and monuments for British Commonwealth soldiers killed in the conflict. Out of this came the design forTyne Cot Cemetery, the largest British war cemetery in the world sited inPasschendaele nearYpres in Belgium, opened in July 1927. Baker had earlier designed the war memorial atWinchester College, influences for which he carried over to his work on Tyne Cot.
Sir Edward Grigg,Governor of Kenya from 1925 to 1931, invited Baker to visitKenya in 1925.
Baker wrote: "The Governor and Director of Education were much concerned to provide a healthy education for the European youth under the conditions of the climate. So with their encouragement I designed a school at Nairobi with a crypt as a playground – like the undercroft of Wren's library atTrinity College, Cambridge, – where the boys could stay at mid-day instead of going home under the vertical rays of the sun. At the larger 'public school' at Kabete all the detached classrooms and houses were designed and built with connecting colonnades, in which respect I followed the excellent example set by [United States]President Jefferson in his beautifulUniversity of Virginia." The use of colonnades accords with advice given to Baker byT. E. Lawrence, who regarded the tropical sun as "an enemy" and told him "All pavements should be covered over with light vaulting." The foundation stone was laid by Sir Edward Grigg on 24 September 1929, and thePrince of Wales School was opened in 1931 (The original idea for the name of the school was Kabete Boys Secondary School, but the first headmaster, Captain Bertram W. L. Nicholson,[24] thought this to be too clumsy and therefore the name of The Prince of Wales School was suggested and eventually adopted).
Other impressive buildings in Nairobi designed by Baker and completed with his assistant, Jan Hoogterp, include the East African Railways Headquarters, Law Courts and Government House (nowState House), described as a Palladian mansion. However, the building with the closest resemblance to the Prince of Wales School may well be Baker's Government House (now State House) near the lighthouse at Ras Serani,Mombasa. Not only has it "large columned loggias", but it also has an archway, through which can be glimpsed the Indian Ocean, leading Baker to wax poetic: "One can live out between these columns both by day and night in the warm and soft sea air."
Post theFirst World War, Baker worked on cemeteries in France including:[26]
Fairbridge Chapel was built atPinjarra,Western Australia, in 1924 according to Herbert Baker's design, which he provided free of charge. The farm was started byKingsley Fairbridge as part of a scheme to help destitute English children improve their lot by emigration to Australia and Canada.
TheCathedral of Saint Mary and All Saints was built in what was then Salisbury inSouthern Rhodesia (nowHarare,Zimbabwe); the first Anglican church in Fort Salisbury, now Harare, was a pole and dagga hut built in 1891 by Canon Balfour on the west side of Harare Street, between Albion and Speke Avenues. A pro cathedral[clarification needed] was begun the following year to the north of the present cathedral. It was built of brick and corrugated iron, under the direction of Archdeacon Upcher. The building seemed quite unusable as a cathedral despite having an iron nave by 1898 and extended in 1911.[28]
The parishioners decided that they needed a better cathedral but they were extremely ambitious, and employed the services of architect Francis Masey. When he died in 1912, Sir Hebert Baker, his former partner, took over the project. Baker is credited for designing the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, and worked with architect Lutyens on the master plan of New Delhi in India. Baker designed the cathedral in the Romanesque architectural style with round arches and round windows. A tall circular bell tower was intended to be a reference to the conical tower fromGreat Zimbabwe, but the idea was not pursued because it made the bell tower look like a lighthouse.[28]
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