The natural thing to do, once I got
the big heavy book of Bulawayo sketches back to Dubai, was to get into Google
street-view and see how the buildings are holding up.
Bit of a surprise to discover that street view doesn't
cover Bulawayo. There are photos that you can get to pop up but no street view
and no meshed 3d. It reminds me of the feeling I had when I moved to Zimbabwe
in 1981. It was a bit like traveling back in time. Kitchen sinks were still
using lead traps for the waste outlets 😳
That was the standard item available in builders hardware merchants. Plastic
had yet to penetrate the market.
No street view, but I found Bulawayo Club, and the
Rhodes statue, plus a few other reference images to help me resuscitate the
research into Zimbabwe architecture that I began 3 or 4 decades ago.
No promises about how far I will go with this, but it
has my attention for the moment, and will probably continue to pop up from time
to time, long after it has shifted from centre focus.
Zimbabwe was my home for 23 years and my citizenship
for more than 30. Important not to forget that
More pics of Bulawayo Club. These
are freely available on the Internet. The club is now operating a boutique
hotel on the side apparently. Probably necessary to keep the place afloat.
With its Mediterranean classicism and internal
courtyard, this design has something in common with Harare townhouse. They are
symbols of the colonial era, of course. Reminders of past inequalities. Unlike
current inequalities in Zimbabwe the divide was primarily racial and there is
much to regret about that era.
Still, the architecture has a certain dignity. I see no
shame in admiring the proportions, the detailing and workmanship. It's not
great architecture. It doesn't compare to the parthenon, or to Wright and Corb
at their best. But it's in Bulawayo and it has something to add to the cultural
depth and diversity of that fascinating city.
Classicism is a universal style. It belongs to all of
us, partly because of how it reveals our shared human frailty. hat.
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