Video Interview: New biography of Union Buildings architect Herbert Baker
Engineering News' Darlene Creamer in conversation with John Stewart, author of Sir Herbert Baker: A Biography
Award-winning UK architect and architectural historian John Stewart speaks to Creamer Media’s Engineering News about his newly published book Sir Herbert Baker: A Biography, written with the cooperation of Baker’s family and with access to his archive and private papers.
Published by Jonathan Ball Publishers, the book covers Baker’s full life story, including the indelible mark his architecture left on South Africa and India during the first half of the 20th century.
It covers his Victorian architectural apprenticeship in London and his decision to travel to South Africa to manage a fruit farming operation, rather than to pursue what eventually became a prolific architectural career in South Africa, where he designed numerous public buildings, churches, schools and private houses.
Besides the Union Buildings, which Stewart regards as one of Baker’s best-ever buildings, Baker also designed other iconic South African buildings such as the St George’s Cathedral, in Cape Town, St John’s College, in Johannesburg, and South Africa House, in London, UK.
Stewart does not gloss over Baker’s zealousness for the British Empire, nor his views on race and gender, which he acknowledges would be unacceptable today but were typical of sentiments at the time.
Likewise, the book explores Baker’s relationships with other well-known and controversial historical figures of that colonial period, including Cecil Rhodes, Rudyard Kipling, Lawrence of Arabia, John Buchan and Jan Smuts.
For architectural practitioners, Stewart’s retelling of Baker’s sometimes fractious relationship with fellow architect Edwin Lutyens, particularly while working together in India, will make for compelling reading.
A Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Society of Arts, Stewart has also ensured that the book is lavishly illustrated to provide readers with a visual representation of Baker’s life and his many buildings.
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