Walter Macfarlane & Co supplied an ornamental cast iron verandah for the African City Properties Trust Building in Johannesburg, South Africa, as shown in this photograph c 1910.
Macfarlane's found a ready market for their verandahs in semi-tropical and tropical countries. Their sales literature claimed: "A particular type of verandah is necessary for these parts to give shady balconies interposing between the intense heat of the sun and the apartments of the building. We have given much study to the problem of combining an architectural appearance with these requirements, and consequently our verandahs may be seen in all parts, from Africa east to Japan and still further east, to Jamaica and the West Indies."
Macfarlane's was a firm of global importance in the supply of cast iron products. South Africa was a particularly lucrative market for the firm. Structures survive throughout the world, especially in the countries of the former British Empire.
Reference: Mitchell Library, GC f672.2506541443 MCF
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
African City Properties Trust, British Empire, cast iron, foundries, iron founders, ornamental ironwork, Saracen Foundry, verandahs, Walter Macfarlane & Co
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