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Residence: 3101 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Chancery: 3051 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Legation: 1929 – 1949 Raised to Status of Embassy: 1949
After several years of occupying leased properties it was decided that a building should be erected designed specifically as a residence for the South African Minister (Head of Legation) in Washington, with provision for the Chancery (offices) under the same roof.
The tract of land called “Pretty Prospect” adjoining Normanstone Park on Massachusetts Avenue was purchased for this purpose in 1935 and Mr. John J. Whelan was commissioned to design and supervise the erection of the Legation. Mr. Whelan also designed the Norwegian Legation higher up on Massachusetts Avenue. Construction was by the Charles H. Tompkins Company.
The Union Minister in Washington at that time who was the prime mover behind the project, Mr. Ralph W. Close, K.C., gave his architect instructions that “the exterior should without being in any way ornate at least be chaste and dignified and such as South Africans can reasonably be proud of”.
It was found possible to incorporate in the façade certain features characteristic of the eighteenth century architecture of the Cape of Good Hope, known as the “Cape Dutch” style, although the material used was Indiana limestone so familiar in Washington, instead of the whitewashed plaster used in the Cape.
Typical South African features include the portion that is a scale replica of the Kat balcony on the Castle of Good Hope that was built in Cape Town by the Dutch East India Company in the seventeenth century. The gables on the dormer windows are especially reminiscent of the Cape. The central gable was adopted from that on the Lutheran Personage Townhouse in Cape Town (commonly called Martin Melck House). The glazed front door with ornamentally designed frames for the glass panels and the small-paned sash windows and the four fluted pilasters on the façade are also typically early South African. The carved parapet on the portico that incorporates a rendering of the South African Coat of Arms was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Close. South Africa adopted a new Coat of Arms in 1999, which is visible at the entrance of the Chancery.
The building has four stories. The ground floor contains a large entrance hall, the Ambassador’s private study and the rooms that originally housed the Chancery. The second floor consists of five large interleading rooms, namely, a central hall, dining room, lounge, library and a reception room with doors leading to the rear lawn.
The dining room and the Ambassador’s study are paneled in South African stinkwood (Cootea bulsta), so-called because of its pungent odor when freshly cut. This wood is no longer available for commercial exploitation as the authorities have closed the forests for two hundred years. This was necessary in order to protect the national resources of the wood that have already become extremely limited through excessive cutting in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The dining room tables, chairs, and buffet, the desk in the study and various occasional tables, book cases, glass-fronted display cabinets and trousseau chests in the Residence are made of the same wood. Most of the furniture is in the traditional South African style, and the dining room tables and chairs were designed specifically for the Residence by the architect. Twenty-four people can be seated at the tables during formal dinners. Characteristic of older South African furniture are the spiral-legged tables, the straight-backed chairs with leather thong seats and the towering display cabinets or wall cupboards. Their curved heads appear to reflect the outline of the prevailing styles of house gables. The massive linen or trousseaux “kists” or chests have hand-beaten brass fittings.
South Africa has a rich cultural heritage, something we as a nation is very proud off. This cultural diversity is evident in the cultural artifacts and artwork on display in both the Residence and the Chancery.
The Chancery adjoining the Residence, was designed to complement the architecture of the Residence. It was designed by the firm of Chatelain, Gauger and Nolan and erected in 1964 by the William P. Lipacomb Company. It replaced a smaller Chancery in the Cape Dutch farm-house style on the same site, which was erected during World War II to accommodate the much enlarged staff.
The Ambassador’s office is paneled in American black walnut. The furniture in the Ambassador’s office was made in South Africa of a wood called “tamboti” which is a lighter tone and regularly grained rather like the walnut paneling.
The Chancery lobby is finished in South African marble. The floor is covered in grey marble and the walls in pale Namaqualand onyx. Folding walnut doors separate the ground floor auditorium from two smaller reception areas that makes it possible to use the whole area as a single unit when required.
While the entire Embassy staff was accommodated in the 1964 Chancery, the building has long been too small for all the staff. The Consular, Trade and Agriculture offices are now located at the Annex on Connecticut Avenue.
The dignity of the South African Embassy and the place it has come to occupy in the Washington architectural scene has been recognized by its inclusion into the Massachusetts Avenue Historic District as part of Washington's famous "Embassy Row".
