engineering

Old Netherlands Bank building

Old Netherlands Bank building is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Old Netherlands Bank building rather than just read about it. In short: The Old Netherlands Bank building (Afrikaans: Ou Nederlandse Bankgebou, Dutch: Oude Nederlandsche Bankgebouw) is a building on Church Square in the South African administrative capital of Pretoria. The building carries the name of the former Nederlandsche Bank voor Suid-Afrika (now Nedbank) and is one of the protected buildings on the western side of the Square.

Key takeaways

Old Netherlands Bank building belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Old Netherlands Bank building to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Old Netherlands Bank building from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Old Netherlands Bank building (Afrikaans: Ou Nederlandse Bankgebou, Dutch: Oude Nederlandsche Bankgebouw) is a building on Church Square in the South African administrative capital of Pretoria. The building carries the name of the former Nederlandsche Bank voor Suid-Afrika (now Nedbank) and is one of the protected buildings on the western side of the Square.

History

Bank building On March 23, 1888, the Nederlandsche Bank en Credietvereniging voor Zuid-Afrika ("Dutch Bank and Credit Union for South Africa") was founded in Amsterdam. The same year, a primary branch office was established in Pretoria, the capital of the then South African Republic (ZAR). By 1898, the bank had already opened four branches in the Republic. Dutch architect Willem de Zwaan was commissioned thus in 1896 to designed a building for the Netherlands Bank. He designed it in the Dutch Renaissance style. All the wrought iron work was done by the F.W. Braat company out of Delft, Netherlands. On December 2, 1997, the bank opened its doors in the new building. When completed, it was the Netherlands Bank's third branch, and was one of seven bank branches located around Church Square. In 1914, a fire destroyed the second (top) floor of the building. When the Old Netherlands Bank registered its South African branch under the name Nederlandse Bank in Suid-Afrika ("Dutch Bank in South Africa") as an independent subsidiary in 1951, the South African government bought the property, which has remained in its hands ever since. Nedbank kept its headquarters on the ground floor until 1953, when it moved to Johannesburg. The first floor was rented out to the Zuid-Afrikaansche Fabrieken Voor Ontplofbare Stoffen ("South African Factory for Explosive Substances").

University From 1975 to 1977, the building was used as a headquarters for the Department of Architecture at the University of Pretoria. The university has also used the building as a temporary exhibition space, making it a key destination for connoisseurs of architecture. Therefore, State President of South Africa Marais Viljoen declared the western edge of Church Square a national monument.

In 1993, a commemorative plate was revealed bearing the names of 64 schools in Pretoria that advocated for the national monument designation.

Current use The Tshwane Tourist Information Centre began offering the building as a local office in 2000 for the Vereniging voor Vreemdelingenverkeer. The Centre rents the building from the provincial government of Gauteng. The offices on the first floor served as the new Local Economic Development en Business Library.

Architecture The facade of the building is sandstone, while the sides are red brick. The joints are rounded with occasional cut joints for accent, common in the Dutch Renaissance style. The fencing and interiors are rendered in Art Nouveau. Including a cast-iron railing with tulip accents, such fencing was made by Braat.

Sources Beeld. 1979. "Alles draai altyd om Kerkplein." 17 August 1979. Archives. Department of Architecture. University of Pretoria. Beeld. 1980. "Nederlandsche Bank." 11 August 1980. Archives. Department of Architecture. University of Pretoria. De Beer, D. 1975. "Banking will never be the same." Pretoria News of 1 May 1975. City Council Public Library. Pretoria. De Beer, D. 1977. "The beautiful gates which will take some undoing." Pretoria News of 31 March 1977. City Council Public Library. Pretoria. Meiring, H. 1977. "Die Nederlandse Bankgebou, Pretoria." Boukunste van Suid Afrika. Pretoria: Human & Rousseau. Munitoria. 1953. "Kerkplein 10 Oktober 1953." Munitoria Photo Archives. Department of Architecture. University of Pretoria. Museum-memo. 1988. "Sandsteen rekonstruksie aan die ou Nederlandse Bankgebou." Vol 16 no 1. 03/1988. City Council Public Library. Pretoria. Oggendblad. 1981. "Hoofposkantoor gerestoureer." 28 January 1981. City Council Public Library. Pretoria. Oggendblad. 1929. "Staircase of Nederlandsche Bank." 29 May 1929 p 10. Archives. Department of Architecture. University of Pretoria. Rekord-Moot. 1993. "Wesfassade nou vir altyd gered." 11 June 1993. City Council Public Library. Pretoria. Sithole, J. 2010. Tshwane Tourism Information Centre. Interview on 26 August 2010.

External links University of Pretoria, Department of Architecture

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Old Netherlands Bank building

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Old Netherlands Bank building claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Old Netherlands Bank building before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Old Netherlands Bank building ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Old Netherlands Bank building

In research: Old Netherlands Bank building appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Old Netherlands Bank building in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Old Netherlands Bank building is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1888 establishments in the South African Republic, 19th-century architecture in South Africa, Buildings and structures completed in 1888, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Old Netherlands Bank building outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Old Netherlands Bank building in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Old Netherlands Bank building means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Old Netherlands Bank building out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Old Netherlands Bank building in simple terms?

Why does Old Netherlands Bank building matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Old Netherlands Bank building?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Old Netherlands Bank building.