IN MEMORIAM
1929-2021
followed by a not-so-grand tour of Europe and India. Back in South Africa, these influences led to his interest Clive Chipkin in the Baker-Lutyens visible imprint on the Union build[BArch 1955, DArch honoris causa 2013] ings, Parktown grandeur, the Johannesburg Art Gallery and the Rand Regiments Memorial. He was also interestDr Clive Chipkin died peacefully on 10 January 2021 ed in Le Corbusier’s ideas for a modernist metropolis at in Johannesburg, aged 91. Dr Chipkin was born on Chandigarh. This was all background to how he began to 21 March 1929 in Johannesburg, the city he made his study and observe Johannesburg. own. He was an extraordinary person who lived a rich He established his own practice in 1958; it was a small and full life. office he described as “an overworked and underpaid His books Johannesburg Style: Architecture and Society practice”. Over time he worked in association with firms 1880s to 1960s (David Philip, Cape Town, 1993) and such as Trident Steel and then Cape Gate and with Jeff Johannesburg Transition: Architecture and Society from Stacey designed a series of industrial buildings at the 1950 (STE Publishers, 2009) are seminal monographs Vanderbijl plant of Cape Gate. These buildings were which represent a lifetime of research, extraordinary considered to be progressive, delivering on quality and knowledge and critical analysis. The two Johannesburg optimism. volumes give an understanding of the making and shapDr Chipkin was a man who lived his values and in ing of the city of Johannesburg and its cultural, social 1986 was a founding member of the group “Architects and historical underpinnings. They show a remarkable Against Apartheid”, an informal pressure group that breadth of knowledge and the capacity to pose difficult included architects such as Chipkin, Hans Schirmacher, questions about the roots of design and the shaping of Henry Paine, Ivan Schlapobersky, and Lindsay Bremner. architectural styles and fashions. His lens is architectural They tried to make colleagues aware of how the gross history, but his breadth of scholarship is such that he application of apartheid ideology to architecture was enables the reader to see the city and its buildings with a distorting the moral and ethical basis of the profession fresh understanding about why certain styles were adoptin South Africa. They argued that it was unethical to ed in particular periods and why the city has been rebuilt participate professionally in the design and planning of through successive waves of capitalist expansion. He was apartheid buildings. particularly enthusiastic about Modernist architecture Dr Chipkin’s most enduring contribution to South in Johannesburg because he was African architecture was in the a product of the flowering and of his city in his “He was “a Fifties man” full of interpretation nurturing of those ideas at Wits in writing. He worked closely with the optimistic ideal of a better his wife of more than 50 years, the 1940s. society, fair to all. He wanted Valerie Francis Chipkin, who Dr Chipkin grew up in Yeoville and was educated at King Edward was his editor and who shaped architects to deliver on the VII boys’ school – which he saw as his archives. He was awarded an dream of a better society.” Edwardian in architecture, ethos Honorary D Arch degree by the and education. He was proud Wits in 2013 and in 2015 gave his of his old school and it was a strand in his embarking archive to the School of Architecture and Planning. The on understanding how the imperial culture played out archive was named for his wife. in Johannesburg as the town shifted from a temporary Dr Chipkin was a fun person to be with, embracing camp that drew adventurers from all over the world his city on tours and trips of exploration. He drew maps to being a permanent town with its first steel-framed of the route to give the best view of the Witwatersrand buildings and first lifts, like the third Corner House and Ridges. He gave readily of his knowledge in lectures, Victory House or the Carlton Hotel, or indeed his very interviews and tours, but he was always so self-effacing, Edwardian school. modest. He was a caring person who gave to everyone he He became excited by the modern movement and a encountered. At the time of his death, he had completed completely new approach to office blocks, skyscrapers the third volume, Johannesburg Diversity. It is heading and homes. His son Ivor (BA Hons 1992, MA 1998) towards publication. described him as “a Fifties man” full of the optimistic He is survived by his three children, Peter (BSc ideal of a better society, fair to all. He wanted architects 1984), Lesley and Ivor, four grandchildren and his close to deliver on the dream of a better society. friend Marcia Leveson (MA 1968, PhD 1993). He gained experience working for the old London Sources: Kathy Munro (BA 1967, Honorary Associate Professor), Daily Maverick, The Heritage Portal County Council. It was a fairly short stay in London 84 W I T S R E V I E W
