THE NEW UNION BUILDINGS. 149 



broad-fielded panelling and plasters, cartouches bearing the arms 

 of the principal municipalities of the Union of South Africa, will 

 have much that is commendable. 



Reference has already been made to the uniting externally of 

 the central and end blocks, but something more should be added as 

 to the method of union. In addition to the rooms mentioned at 

 these junctures, behind each of the extremities of the concave 

 colonnade is an ante-chamber, and from these, clock-towers^ of 

 stone, 30 feet square, rise some 90 feet above the general roof-line, 

 giving a total height of 160 feet from the level of the public road 

 which immediately skirts the southern frontage. And for the apex 

 of each tower the contract provides a bronze figure, some 10 feet 

 high, and whose head will be exactly on a level with the line of 

 the summit of the Kop. 



Now the visible portions of these towers, with t«heir buttressed 

 colonnading and domes of stone on concrete vaulting are satis- 

 factory enough, but they suffer somewhat in idealism. A tower, 

 to be entirely satisfying should rise visibly from the ground, at 

 least an angle and two return sides ; and, moreover, in a classical 

 building its purpose on plan should be a well-expressed factor in 

 the scheme. Had towers as designed in the upper outline, been 

 so embodied (as I think they could readily have been), I believe 

 further impressiveness would have been added to the architectural 

 whole. 



The end Blocks, 148 feet from the axial line respectively east- 

 ward and westward, are somewhat H-shaped, the lateral por- 

 tions measuring 235 feet by 138 feet, with transverse ends 208 

 feet by 35 feet. 



The secondary axial line slightly converges inwards towards 

 the centre, and this diversion results in a general curvilinear 

 effect to the set-out of the southern frontage and a wedge-like 

 leading to the amphitheatre that will not be without a consider- 

 able measure of piquancy. Ranging in line with the ends 

 on this side, are terraces 35 feet wide which elevate the 

 ground floor 17 feet above a public roadway ; which latter, in its 

 turn, is practically the massive retaining wall of the plateau on 

 which the whole structure appears to stand, though really based 

 on the rock beneath. The dominant elements in each of these 

 blocks consist of the pavilioned end bays, and the central court ; 

 the first relating particularly to elevation, and the second almost 

 exclusively to plan. 



Within these end bays are ensconced the chambers of the 

 Ministers of State, each 31 feet by 24 feet in the clear, with a 

 spacious columned alcove that projects into the pavilion. The 

 shafts of single blocks of dark grey granite support massive 

 baulks of teak that cross the ceilings, with bold brackets resting 

 on freestone corbels. * 



Two similarly purposed chambers (to complete the requisite 

 number) are placed at the angle terminals of the central block, 

 and, while without the accompaniment of pavilions, have com- 

 pensation in being in direct touch with the amphitheatre. 



