Commercial architecture

Commercial architecture
Markham was designed in the late Victorian style, and is the only surviving example of commercial architecture of this style in the country. The design was based on parts of the facade of the New Louvre in Paris, built in 1857, as well as the facade of the Halifax Town Hall in England, completed in 1863. It is architecturally significant. It was constructed with load-bearing brick walls and supporting cast-iron stanchions or posts. The roof came from an iron foundry in Glasgow and is the only remaining example of its type in the country. The exterior contained decorative mouldings, removed later when the building was modernised. Shortly after it was completed, it was decorated with flags and streamers for the celebration of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. The building was commissioned by William Henry Markham, but it was begun at a time in Johannesburg's history when the future of the town was uncertain. Alluvial gold had run dry and Joburg experienced a slump between 1890 and 1892, before the European capitalists realised the gold riches were below ground, and pumped their money into sinking shafts to get to it. Uitlanders and the Europeans were campaigning to president Paul Kruger for voting rights so that they could have a say over the running of the town, an issue that precipitated the Jameson Raid of 1895/6 and the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. Markham had the foresight to see through the tension that was building in the town, making war inevitable. The tallest building at the time was the three-storey Palace Building, soaring 28 metres into the sky with its spire and flagstaff. Markham was to tower over the Palace, joining other six-storey structures in the financial district in becoming the tallest building for a while. Conservation architect Herbert Prins says: "It was built 11 years after the establishment of a mining village. It took courage to build a major building like this."

Markham was designed in the late Victorian style, and is the only surviving example of commercial architecture of this style in the country. The design was based on parts of the facade of the New Louvre in Paris, built in 1857, as well as the facade of the Halifax Town Hall in England, completed in 1863.

It is architecturally significant. It was constructed with load-bearing brick walls and supporting cast-iron stanchions or posts. The roof came from an iron foundry in Glasgow and is the only remaining example of its type in the country. The exterior contained decorative mouldings, removed later when the building was modernised.

Shortly after it was completed, it was decorated with flags and streamers for the celebration of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.

The building was commissioned by William Henry Markham, but it was begun at a time in Johannesburg's history when the future of the town was uncertain. Alluvial gold had run dry and Joburg experienced a slump between 1890 and 1892, before the European capitalists realised the gold riches were below ground, and pumped their money into sinking shafts to get to it.

Uitlanders and the Europeans were campaigning to president Paul Kruger for voting rights so that they could have a say over the running of the town, an issue that precipitated the Jameson Raid of 1895/6 and the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.

Markham had the foresight to see through the tension that was building in the town, making war inevitable. The tallest building at the time was the three-storey Palace Building, soaring 28 metres into the sky with its spire and flagstaff. Markham was to tower over the Palace, joining other six-storey structures in the financial district in becoming the tallest building for a while.

Conservation architect Herbert Prins says: "It was built 11 years after the establishment of a mining village. It took courage to build a major building like this."