Kerkgeboue vir Suidafrika

Abstract

In 1917 Moerdyk received his first private commision, the Dutch Reformed Church in Bothaville, Orange Free State. This was the first of over eighty such commisions, ranging from the Cape to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), from South West Africa to the eastern Transvaal Lowveld. The design opportunity obviously provoked an interest in Moerdyk, for in 1919 he privately published a small booklet on church design, 'Kerkbou vir Suidafrika'. The contents were strongly recommended to the broader public by two prefaces, one by JD Kestell, the other by his sculptor friend and school classmate, Anton van Wouw. The promulgation of the Architects and Quantity Surveyors Act 1927 required that in order to register with the newly legislated Institute of South African Architects Moerdyk was compelled to withdraw from circulation his little book on 'Kerkbou' since it was seen as advertising.