i8— DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 



With Special Relation to the Requirements of Natal. 



By C. W. Methven. 



A consideration of the natural growth of the noblest forms, 

 from the most simple and primitive, leads me to touch upon the 

 problem, which faces us all here as pioneers in the development of 

 Architecture in a new country, without an ancient history or civilisa- 

 tion of its own, so far as we are aware, and in a moment, so to speak, 

 lifted out of the position of an unknown and savage continent, into 

 a land peopled by the most civilised nations in the world, and 

 undergoing a process of development by the latest resources of 

 modern science and invention. 



There is, therefore, in this country no gradual evolution of later 

 and more civilised forms of architecture, from older and more primi- 

 tive forms as in other countries. The primitive forms are still with 

 us to-day, and we have simply come upon them suddenly and with- 

 out warning, and have begun to erect side by side with them, in the 

 case of public, commercial, and domestic buildings, the selfsame 

 structures, that adorn, or disfigure, the cities of London and Birm- 

 ingham, and their suburban districts. To use the expression of the 

 poet, Wyville Home, "Cancerous cities, which eat the greenness up 

 of wood and sward," are growing apace in South Africa, with all 

 their attendant districts allotted for residential as well as commercial 

 purposes, and the question is, are we doing what we can, to make 

 our homes such as they should be, in the midst of their natural sur- 

 roundings, and under the geographical, geological, and climatic 

 conditions of the country. 



We appear in this Colony of Natal to have nothing to per- 

 petuate in our Domestic Architecture akin to the picturesque old 

 Dutch house, such as we see in the Cape Colony. Whether, owing 

 to the curly outlines of its gables, its steep pitched roofs, often 

 thatched, the prominent ornamental chimney stacks, the broad 

 stoeps with their heavy columns, bold panelling, and grotesque 

 carving, with white the prevailing tone, making a most picturesque 

 whole; or whether it be partly also due to association; these old 

 Dutch houses certainly have a peculiar charm all their own, and 

 appear to exactly suit both the climate in the southern parts of Cape 

 Colonv, and the romantic scenery which in many cases surrounds 

 them. 



With their thick walls, and thatched roofs, cool in summer, and 

 warm in winter, these Dutch homes seem exactly to suit the variable 

 climate of the Cape, and to accord with their botancial surroundings, 

 which are of a less tropical character than ours. 



We have no such precedent to follow in this Colony, I am sorry 

 to say, and I do not think this style could be so appropriately intro- 

 duced as in the Cape Colony. The Dutch settler was not here early 

 enough, or long enough, to leave us any picturesque legacies of this 

 kind. We have had rather a clear field, but what have we done ? 



