Dirk van der Hoffgebou - Pretoria

Built: 1959-1961

Architect: Hendrik Vermooten

Building contractor: Weeshuis-bouers?

Client: NH Kerk

Location: 224 Jacob Maré St (now Jeff Masemola St), Pretoria Central.

Status: Extant

View from south c.1974. S.P. Engelbrecht Museum was on centre level.²

Architect's model. "The two upper floors still need to be completed. This section on the bottom right contains the offices of the N.H.S.V. (Nederduitsch Hervormde Sustersvereniging) and Internal Audit, with the S. P. Engelbrecht Museum (directly above) and the offices of the Weeshuisbouers (to the left of the museum) on the second floor. The third floor houses the staff of the office of the Administrator, while Rev. P. M. Smith performs his important duties in the interest of our church in the office on the far left-hand side of the third floor. Provision for parking has been made under the Dirk van der Hoff Hall. The Conservatory of Music is housed in the rear section of the building." (1961)¹

The Dirk van der Hoff Building, which has been used for various purposes since the beginning of the sixties, owes its origin to some extent to the need felt by Prof. S. P. Engelbrecht for many years for an archival repository and a church museum. The church archive and museum, in turn, are related to the life and work of Stephanus Petrus Engelbrecht.

Description in 1974

The Archival Repository and S.P. Engelbrecht Museum are housed in specially designed rooms on the second floor of the building. On the third floor, we find the office of Mr A. B. van N. Herbst, the Administrator of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, and his extensive staff; the office of Rev. P. M. Smith, Scribe of the Commission of the General Church Assembly and also the incumbent of the post of Compiler for Ecclesiastical Reporting.

On the ground floor, we find the office and meeting hall of the N.H. Sustersvereniging, where Miss Jacobs handles the clerical work and attends to visitors, and further down the hall, the office of the Internal Audit Department, where Miss Anna Venter and her staff see to the auditing of the books of church councils and N.H.S.V. branches. On the second floor, we also find the offices of Messrs. Jimmy Steward and Harm Gerding, who are in charge of the extensive activities of the Weeshuis-bouers, and of Mr Naas Prinsloo, Liaison Officer of the Krugersdorp Orphanage.

The Conservatory of Music, under the directorship of Mr Willem Matlehner, carries out its activities on the second and third floors of the northern or rear section of the Dirk van der Hoff Hall and in the adjacent, historic Bourke residence. The offices below the Conservatory are used by HAUM. The spacious and convenient Dirk van der Hoff Hall, on the first floor of the Dirk van der Hoff Building - in which the General Church Assembly meets triennially and which is rented throughout the year between the triennial meetings by a large number of organisations for music performances, congresses, theatrical productions, church services, and cinema screenings - as well as the smaller so-called "blue room," in which the quarterly meetings of the Commission of the General Church Assembly, a large number of meetings of auxiliary bodies and commissions of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, and also meetings of a variety of other organisations with a limited membership take place, have over the past 14 years repeatedly proven their utility to the church and the broader community.

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Locality map

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Sources

1. Rex, H.M. (1974) Die Argiefbewaarplek en S. P. Engelbrecht-museum van die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk. Die Hervormer, Apr 1974.
2. Rex, H.M. (1974) Museumstukke in die S. P. Engelbrecht-Museum afkomstig uit Bybellande en Tye. Die Hervormer, July 1974.