Natal Bank Building
The Natal Bank Building is situated on Stand 194 (previously 756) at 90 Market Street (now known as Albertina Sisulu Road) in the city of Johannesburg.Van Der Waal describes it as follows: ‘Attractively proportioned, this building was divided horizontally and vertically into three sections according to the classicist tradition.A strikingly broad arched window, similar to those used by the Richardson School in America, was placed at ground level in the conspicuous middle section with its Ionic columns’.[5] The building is supported by a steel frame, with socle (plinth) of dressed granite, marble columns and plastered brickwork.They demonstrated, even at that early stage, the sense of confidence and permanence that investors of capital had in Johannesburg and its wonderful deposits of gold.’[7] Much like flagships, the bank buildings asserted the presence of the financial empires in the town’s forum.