Table Of ContentColonial arChiteCture and
urbanism in afriCa
For my brother Sahilu Demissie
Colonial architecture and
urbanism in africa
intertwined and Contested histories
Edited by
fassil demissie
DePaul University, USA
First published2012 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Colonial architecture and urbanism in africa : intertwined
and contested histories. -- (design and the built
environment series)
1. architecture, Colonial--africa. 2. Colonial cities--
africa. 3. City planning--africa--history--20th century.
4. symbolism in architecture--africa--history--20th
century.
i. series ii. demissie, fassil.
307.1'216'096-dc22
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Colonial architecture and urbanism in africa : intertwined and contested histories / [edited]
by fassil demissie.
p. cm. -- (design and the built environment)
includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-7546-7512-9 (hardback)
1. architecture, Colonial--africa. 2. architecture and state--africa. i.
demissie, fassil. ii. title: intertwined and contested histories.
na1580.C65 2011
720.96--dc23
2011031228
isbn 9780754675129 (hbk)
Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xvii
Colonial Architecture and Urbanism in Africa:
an introduction 1
Fassil Demissie
Part I: arChaeoLogy of CoLonIaL arChIteCture anD
urBanIsm
1 french territoriality and urbanism:
General lyautey and architect Prost in morocco (1912–1925) 11
Hassan Radoine
2 architectural transfer, italian Colonial architecture in libya:
“libyan rationalism” and the Concept of “mediterraneity”,
1926–1942 33
Vittoria Capresi
3 imperial sanctuaries:
arab urban enclaves on the east african Coast 67
Mohamed El Amrousi
4 the Point of Pointed architecture: its revival in europe and its
appearance in “Colonial” mosques 85
Cleo Cantone
5 Whose Colony, and Whose legacy?:
layers of Power and hybrid identities in
edendale, Pietermaritzburg, south africa 107
Debbie Whelan
vi Colonial Architecture and Urbanism in Africa
6 the turning Point in urban Policy for british Colonial africa,
1939–1945 127
Richard Harris and Susan Parnell
7 “aya mahobo”: migrant labour and the Cultural semiotics of
harare (mbare) african township, 1930–70 153
Maurice Taonezvi Vambe
Part II: CoLonIaL DIsCIPLInary InstItutIons
8 Penal architecture:
an essay on Prison designs in Colonial senegal 175
Dior Konaté
9 imagining a Christian territory:
Changing spatial strategies in the missionary outposts of
scheut (Kasai, Congo, 1891–1940) 201
Bram Cleys and Bruno De Meulder
10 Pro Fide et Patria:
anglicanism and ecclesiastical architecture in
southern and Central africa, 1848–1903 239
G.A. Bremner
11 “montcassin, montserrat or … an alcazar?”
architecture, Propaganda and everyday school Practices in the
Collège du saint-esprit in bujumbura (burundi) 277
Johan Lagae
12 the Grid of saint-louis du sénégal 295
Mark Hinchman
13 buildings as symbols and metaphors of Colonial hegemony:
interrogating Colonial buildings and architecture in
Kenya’s urban spaces 325
Maurice Amutabi
Contents vii
Part III: CoLonIaL moDernItIes
14 building dominion and the Colonial overseas:
the Culture of british fabrics of financial intervention in
(south) africa at the end of empire 347
Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe
15 Das Neue Afrika: ernst may’s 1947 Kampala Plan as
Cultural Programme 373
Kai K. Gutschow
16 Colonial architecture in angola:
Past functions and recent appropriations 407
Cristina Salvador and Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues
Index 427
list of figures
2.1 Project for tripoli, arch: alberto alpago novello, ottavio Cabiati,
Guido ferrazza, 1931–33 43
2.2 the beginning of the omar al muktar street (once Corso sicilia),
tripoli. on the left side the banca di roma building,
and on the right the Offices building, circa 1970 51
2.3 the banca di roma, today umma bank, tripoli, 2005 52
2.4 Villa salvi, tripoli, arch. Giovanni Pellegrini with
ing. Vittorio agujari, 1934 53
2.5 Cyrenaica and tripolitania,
plan of the newly-founded agrarian villages 54
2.6 the village baracca, Cyrenaica, arch. Giovanni Pellegrini, 1938.
The buildings define the square and face the street 55
3.1 french colonial-styled buildings in the city centre of Port said 70
3.2 Zanzibar irregular street pattern creating shaded corridors 72
3.3 Colonial buildings on the cornice of historic muscat similar to
bait al-aja’ib in Zanzibar 75
3.4 malindi mosque in Zanzibar –
modest form and local sociocultural traditions 79
4.1 mosquée du nord, saint louis, 1848 93
4.2 Cathedral of saint louis, 1828 94
4.3 mosquée blanchot, dakar, c. 1900 95
4.4 the Great mosque of dakar, 1964 97
4.5 masjid Jamek, Kuala lumpur, 1909 98
7.1 mai musodzi hall, Where the Jerusarema dance,
Gule wa Mkule, butwa, mbira and ngororombe were
performed by african migrants in the african-only township,
mbare musika, in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s 161
7.2 school of art. Where african male migrants in the
mbare urban african township were taught carpentry and
other handcrafts such as basket weaving in the
1930s, 1940s and 1950s 162
