Lonehill - 1984 Star Homes Festival - Johannesburg South Africa
Lone Hill is a suburb north of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region E. Lone Hill is in the Gauteng province and is a suburb in Sandton. Lone hill is an upmarket area mostly composed of residential properties.
Good day
Dear Joe
Thank you for your email (with link of what you looked up of 'The
Star' Homes Festival, Lone Hill, Sandton, c. 1980) and the
newspaper clipping from 1984. Great that you kept the printouts
which were left in your house. Apart from copies of POB's
architectural drawings, I'm not aware that we have any archives
about 'The Star' Homes Festival. I'd need to go through my
father's design article files to check, but I doubt we have any
more than you have. My mother recalls that it was around 1981,
when POB was head of Tekton Studio, an in-house branch of RFB
(Rhodes-Harrison, Fee and Bold). Any background info would have
stayed with the firm. She adds, "I don't know what happened to RFB
which was re-named but doubt that it still exists."
The following account by POB contains some of the history of firm:
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After completing my studies in December
1969, I was employed by Rhodes-Harrison, Hoffe and Partners,
Architects, as assistant to and at the invitation of their chief
designer, Mel Von Broembsen. He had studied under and worked for
German-American architect Mies van der Rohe in Chicago for ten
years. We worked on large milling and airport projects. When Mel
left to start his own practice, I transferred to the interior
and industrial design department. Under ex-British Design
Council director and industrial designer, Peter Whitworth, we
worked on product, furniture and interior design. When the
architectural firm split, I remained in my position, now the
Mallows Louw, Hoffe and Partners practice, working on hotel
interior designs for partner-architects Andre Hoffe and Bill
Birrer. Andre had studied under Wright at Taliesen, and Bill had
studied under Louis Khan in Philadelphia. Their projects
included the Kimberley Transito Hotel and the Chobe Safari Lodge
in Botswana, for which I sourced all the furniture and fittings
in then-Rhodesia. Professor Wilfred Mallows invited me to enter
an internal office competition to design an eleven-unit staff
housing scheme for a mining company. My design was selected and
built. George Rhodes-Harrison then lured me back to his
multi-disciplinary practice, now with partners Robin Fee and
Peter Bold. I worked on large-scale industrial projects for GRH
and Robin Fee, then headed their industrial and interior design
unit from 1978. By 1983 I was responsible for the interior,
furniture and furnishings for the JCI head office, high-rise
building in central Johannesburg
Mel left RHH and Partners in 1971 to start his own practice. I
then worked in the industrial and interior design department
under ex-British Design Council director and product designer
Peter Whitworth. Peter was another inspirational designer in my
life. He had excellent design sense, taste and a practical
working knowledge of industrial manufacturing processes. We
created products for the furniture and radio industries plus
interiors for the MLH and Partners architects, hotels in SA and
Rhodesia. This was in the office of Mallows, Louw, Hoffe and
Partners, who had split from George Rhodes-Harrison in 1972. I
had done a house design for one of the last staff members, which
Professor Mallows saw; he invited me to enter the internal
office competition for a small eleven-house complex for Cullinan
Refractories. In an office of about 40, my design won! I had
worked really hard at nights and on weekends, and perhaps my 3D
drawings helped, but my houses were also easy to build and
cost-effective.
I then took up employment as a designer for Schachat-Cullum,
then the biggest house builders in Africa, a very well-run
company. I learnt a lot about practical design and the methods
of processing drawings from design to building site.
A year later George Rhodes-Harrisons enticed me back to his
practice, RFB. I worked on milling and other food factories,
until RFB set out their own graphic and industrial, interior
design department. I was in this capacity from 1975 to 1983,
working at times with Robin Fee and Peter Bold after George
Rhodes-Harrison had tragically died of a heart attack at age 63
in 1982. After heading the interior design department, doing the
30 storey JCI head office for Robin Fee, I decided to go on my
own.
--------------------------------
I was able to find the following online about the company:
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Rhodes-Harrison, Hoffe and Partners,
Architects
Mallows, Louw, Hoffe.
Some background as to how MLH ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS came into
being:
Originally the firm was called RHODES-HARRISON HOFFE AND
PARTNERS. In the early 1960's Prof. EWN MALLOWS was a consultant
to the firm.
When he joined the firm after retiring as Dean of the Faculty of
Architecture and Town Planning at WITS University he was a
consultant to the Standard Bank Corporation as well as to
Anglo-American and South Corporation as well as to
Anglo-American and South African Breweries who were in a joint
venture for the Carlton Center development in downtown
Johannesburg. Soon thereafter Leslie LOUW a talented architect
from Cape Town joined the partnership and the firm became
RHODES-HARRISON LOUW HOFFE AND PARTNERS. There was an extended
period of time when George RHODES-HARRISON took a leave of
absence from the firm with full benefits which most of the
partners thought to be inequitable and as a consequence decided
to part company with RHODES-HARRISON. Prof. MALLOWS tried to
broker a reconciliation between RHODES-HARRISON and the rest of
the partners (Harry HOFFE and Andre HOFFE, Michael SIMPSON,
William BIRRER in Johannesburg and Leslie LOUW, Brian ORME and
Albert FAURE in Cape Town and David HAMILTON in Durban. He was
unsuccessful and George RHODES-HARRISON left the firm with two
of his senior associates (Robin FEE and Peter BOLD) and started
his own firm (RHODES-HARRISON, FEE AND BOLD). The remaining
partners then asked Prof. MALLOWS to remain with them and the
firm of MALLOWS, LOUW, HOFFE AND PARTNERS came into being (MLH
AND PARTNERS) with offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban
and later with Mel VON BROEMBSEN in Port Elizabeth.
This from memory by Wilfrid MALLOWS' son Anthony (also an
architect and planner) who worked in both the Johannesburg and
Cape Town offices of MLH in the mid 1970's before leaving South
Africa to complete graduate studies in architecture and city
planning at MIT in the USA where he now lives.
Source: https://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/archframes.php?archid=2171
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Sorry not to be of more help. If I come across anything about this
festival, I'll let you know. It would be great to add the scan you
sent to POB's website (and credit you for sending them if that's
OK with you?). I wonder if that is POB's drawing? Some elements
look like his but I'm inclined to think he drew trees more freely.
In addition, POB was a promoter of indigenous trees; I'd be
surprised if he'd drawn that palm-tree, which he regarded as
'exotics' and therefore damaging to the ecology, water table etc.
His architectural drawings invariably included trees and shrubs
indigenous to the area in which the house/ office was being built
- and he loved including a classic car or two!
Are you still in this house? It would be wonderful if you had any
photos to send that I could upload to his design blog.
Kind regards
