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Harare - Mike Tucker's travel
of historic buildings – Robert Mugabe Road (formerly
Manica Road) .... in
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Robert Mugabe Road (formerly Manica Road) runs east to west across
Harare south of Unity Square and is intersected by Simon Muzenda Street
(formerly 4th Street) on the east, First Street, then Julius Nyerere Way
(formerly Causeway) and Rotten Row on the west
The Meikle Brothers came to Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) in 1892. Stewart
opened at store at Fort Tuli, John was in Fort Victoria (now Masvingo)
and Tom had a store in Pioneer Street (now Kaguvi Street) Salisbury (now
Harare) In 1894 Tom opened further stores in Bulawayo and Gwelo (now
Gweru) After 1896 John started farming in Umtali (now Mutare) and then
Stewart decided to open hotels, but died in 1912, leaving Tom to
implement the idea.
Meikles Limited established 1892 as general merchants in Orr Street
Looking down Robert Mugabe Road (formerly Manica Road) past Meikles
Department Store and the Standard Bank
Arnold Building (1910)
52 Robert Mugabe Road (formerly Manica Road) Architect: J.A.
Cope-Christie, Client: Arnold & Co, Builder: M.E. Cleveland
The middle gable contains the completion date “Anno Domini MCMX.” Arnold
had the property built for his own use as auctioneers rooms (left below)
and two shop units (right below) on the ground floor and his personal
rooms on the first floor. The main feature is the ornate double-storey
balcony verandah on the front with its ornate ironwork of six columns on
each floor made by Wade and Dorman of Durban.
Arnold buildings in 2015
Arnold’s auctioneer’s rooms were on the western side of the ground floor
(left side of the photo) and had a brass and glazed shop front with
ceiling mirrors over the entrance doors reflecting the marble
tessellated floors. The glazed teak door, with original brass handles
and kickplate is still in place. The interior has pressed metal ceilings
and a timber floor.
The middle of the ground floor has an entrance lobby that divides the
shop and has a teak staircase with elaborate newel post at its foot. The
two eastern shop fronts have teak surrounds and curved doors with their
attractive original hinges and both shops have their original pressed
metal ceilings and timber floors.
Union Buildings (1910)
64 Robert Mugabe Road (formerly Manica Road) Architect: J.A.
Cope-Christie, Client: Cambitsi and Vassilatos, Builder: W.M. Cumming
for £11,000.
The BSA Company granted this stand in 1895, but after a number of
companies were liquidated, Cope-Christie was commissioned by its owners,
Cambitsi and Vassilatos (V&C) to design bank premises and offices for
letting. The original building on the ground floor had a banking hall
with strong room and offices with two shop fronts with offices on the
first floor.
In 1930, D’Arcy Cathcart added bathrooms and toilets to the first floor.
By 1936, the banking hall was occupied by Bardwell Printers In 1939 and
the first floor had been converted into a boarding house with a separate
shop on Manica Road. In 1985, the building was sold to Bhika brothers
and the former banking hall was an outfitting shop.
Union Buildings
Curved granite steps lead into the former banking hall with “ABC Ltd”
set into the black tessellated paving and three large Tuscan columns
dominate the interior that has steel pressed ceilings. A timber
staircase leads to the first floor through an arched portico with arched
glazed timber doors. The first floor rooms all have pressed metal
ceilings and timber floors.
The exterior façade features a semi-balustraded parapet that hides the
corrugated iron roof. The first floor has large sash windows divided in
half with a clear glazed lower sash and six small panes in the upper
sash. The ground floor features rusticated arches and large square
windows. The corner portico entrance has a Cape Dutch pediment on Tuscan
arches. The pediment has C&V with the date AD 1910 and UNION BUILDINGS
on the parapets.
Store Brothers Building (1911)
58 Robert Mugabe Road (formerly Manica Road) Architect: J.A.
Cope-Christie and T. Sladdin, Client: Store Brothers, Builder: J&R
McChlery for £2,700
The four brothers, Robert, John, Albert and Frederick Store and Stephen
Sugden bought the stand in 1910 and set up as drapers and milliners. The
main feature is the cast iron double-storey verandah that was made by
MacFarlane’s of Strathclyde and has floral decorations on the column
heads and first floor balustrading. The building forms a pair with Adams
Building with similarly shaped corrugated iron roofs. The gable with
three vertical windows has a plaque inscribed AD 1911 and STORE
BROTHERS.
The first floor is divided into three feature windows with some
decorative stained glass and is an open area with timber floors.
Originally, two light wells illuminated the shop below, but are now
closed. An attractive staircase leads down to the ground floor that has
cast iron columns down the centre of the shop. The ground floor now has
a concrete floor and sash windows light the rear of both floors.
The shop front is a fine example of its type with glass panels within
timber frames and hardwood doors with bevelled glass and original brass
work.
Store Brothers and WH Adams Buildings
WH Adams Building (1911)
60 Robert Mugabe Road (formerly Manica Road) Architect: T. Sladdin,
Client: W.H. Adams, Builder: J&R McChlery for £2,000
This building, which appears on the right above, was a “Gents Complete
Outfitter” and was owned by Adams until 1937. The double storey building
has a lean-to corrugated iron ground floor verandah standing on granite
pedestals. The shop front is no longer original. It had two entrance
doors, although only one door remains. ADAMS is set into the tessellated
entrance paving. The door handles and kickplate are original. The
building has a very distinctive gable with a large semi-circular window
with horizontal bands of stucco and an unusual “beaked” motif.
The interior has two open floors, the first floor with pine boards
divided in half by cast iron columns made by Wade and Dorman of Durban
(who also did the ironwork in the Arnold Building) The ground floor has
modern vinyl floor tiles. The ceilings are pressed metal and a very
dramatic hardwood staircase rises through a large open stairwell.
Old Yorkshire House (1911)
81 Robert Mugabe Road (formerly Manica Road) Architect: J.A.
Cope-Christie & T. Sladdin, Client: Meikle Brothers, Builder: M.E.
Cleveland for £5,000
The building still has one of the few double-storey balcony veranda’s
and original shop fronts and single recessed entrance doors on either
side of the central lobby and a timber staircase to the first floor. The
shop front on the right of the photo had curved glass windows and
hardwood entrance door and panels with original brass handles and
kickplate and the original shopfitters name “S. Haskins & bros, London,
England.”
The timber dogleg staircase was lit up by a large window in the
stairwell and there are nine first floor offices off a central passage
with their original timber floors, pressed metal ceilings and original
panelled doors.
Old Yorkshire House
The front offices lead onto the first floor verandah over the street;
this verandah has pressed metal ceilings and octagonal iron columns. The
ground floor verandah has larger rectangular iron columns; Macfarlane’s
of Glasgow made them all.
The roof has a balustrade; the central section has a balcony projection
with a central dormer, the ends have unusual pedimented gables giving
them a Cape Dutch flavour. For many years, the Bamboo Inn operated from
the ground floor on the left of the photo until the owner — George
Danville Kee — was brutally murdered there in mysterious circumstances
in 1999. The Kee brothers’ father started the famous old Harare /
Salisbury eatery more than half-a-century ago, having emigrated from
China. Once upon a time, there were two excellent Chinese eateries
within about 150 metres of each other in Manica / Mugabe Road: The
Bamboo Inn and The Mandarin. The Bamboo Inn had a “Chinese roof”
addition that made the building a landmark, but this has now gone. On
the right hand side of the building was Charles E. Harris, another
familiar old name.
Standard Bank Building (1911)
Cnr Robert Mugabe Road (formerly Manica Road) / Orr Street, Architect:
J.A. Cope-Christie & T. Sladdin, then D’Arcy Cathcart in 1939, Client:
Standard Bank, Builder: Holland, Hannen & Cubitts for £17,271
The original building had three storeys including an extensive basement
vault and an Assay office at the rear of the stand. The ground floor had
a banking hall and bank offices with a separate shop where the two
right-hand windows are now. The door on the far right provides access to
the Standard Chambers that were let on the first floor.
In 1939, D’Arcy Cathcart enlarged the banking hall by extending to the
rear of the stand and taking out the separate shop. A large dome with a
coloured glass lantern supported on piers was introduced to light up the
banking hall, the bank took over the first floor offices, and an Otis
lift was installed.
Standard Bank Building
The corners and middle of the building are slightly projected and
rusticated pilasters form architraves to the ground floor door and
window openings that were very similar to those on the now demolished
Queen Victoria Memorial Library also designed by Cope-Christie. The
sash windows with their arches on the ground floor, balustraded
balconies and Ionic columns on the first floor give a pleasing
three-dimensional quality to the façade.
Fereday and Sons (1923)
72 Robert Mugabe Road (formerly Manica Road) Architect: J.A.
Cope-Christie, Client: B. Fereday, Builder: D.P. Mullins for £4,950
In 1986 when Peter Jackson published his book on Historic Buildings of
Harare, the interior of Fereday’s still had its original shop fittings
comprising beautiful hardwood counters with dozens of small drawers for
hunting and fishing accessories, gun racks and four mounted antelope
heads of kudu, sable, bushbuck and waterbuck shot in 1919 on the site of
the present Harare international airport by A. Bagnell, another
gunsmith. The central feature of the roof was a roof lantern supported
by four iron columns and the shop had the original string holders and
cash till.
Above the windows is a mezzanine floor with storage shelving which was
accessed by ladder. The storage areas and gunsmiths rooms at the rear
were also approached beneath a rear mezzanine floor on which were
painted reproductions of early cycling advertisements.
Fereday and Sons
Externally the single-storey iron verandah is supported on six grand
Doric columns and the original doors have outstanding brass handles and
kick plates. Above is a balustraded parapet with the inscription “Guns
and ammunition” on the left and “Cycles and Accessories” on the right.
The gable reads, “Erected 1923 F&S established 1910” with below “FEREDAY
& SONS”
Acknowledgement
P. Jackson. Historic Buildings of Harare. Quest publishing, Harare. 1986