Union Buildings
Herbert Baker · Pretoria, South Africa · 1913
Herbert Baker’s Union Buildings form a vast symmetrical government complex terraced into Meintjieskop above Pretoria. Two long office wings curve around a central amphitheater-like garden, using sandstone, arcades, towers and formal landscape to create a monumental seat for the newly formed Union government. The building’s scale is closely tied to its topographic setting: terraces and stairs extend the architecture into the hillside and city view. Completed in 1913, the complex remains one of South Africa’s principal governmental landmarks and a major work of early twentieth-century civic architecture.