SIR HERBERT BAKER, a biography

264pp., illus., paperback, First SA Edition, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg, 2025

ISBN: 9781776194162

First published in the USA in 2021 as Sir Herbert Baker, architect to the British Empire.

Architect Sir Herbert Baker (1862-1946) was born in Kent, England. He arrived in Cape Town in 1892 and began his career in South Africa by designing an extension to the Tokai Reformatory for James Rose-Innes, Minister of Justice. During his time in the country he designed numerous public buildings, churches, schools and private houses, including St Georges Cathedral, Groote Schuur, Groot Constantia, Rust en Vrede and Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town; Northwards, Roedean School, St John's College, Villa Arcadia and Marienhof (now Brenthurst) in Johannesburg; the Union Buildings in Pretoria, and Rhodes University in Grahamstown. Baker left South Africa in 1912 and worked in India, Kenya and England, where he designed South Africa House. He was knighted in 1926, presented with the Royal Institute of British Architects' Gold Medal in 1927 and buried in Westminster Abbey.

Architect, architectural historian and author John Stewart, now retired, was the leader of one of a multi-disciplinary architectural practice in the UK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Society of Arts. He has been writing and lecturing full-time since 2015 and is the author of six books. He lives in Buckinghamshire outside London.