Above: Dar es Salaam circa. 1950s
Charles Alfred "Peter" Bransgrove (7 April 1914 – 26 January 1966) was an architect who mostly worked in Dar es Salaam but also in other parts of Tanganyika, Kenya and Uganda.
Born in Kingston, Surrey, England on 7 April 1914, he was the fourth child to Sidney and Julie Bransgrove. He studied at the School of Architecture at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London and at the Royal Academy of Architecture, also in London. In 1947 he was employed as an architect for the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme. When Peter's role in the scheme came to an end in 1948, he moved from Kongwa to Dar es Salaam and opened the first independent architectural practice in Dar es Salaam, C. A. Bransgrove & Partners. His design style was a climate-driven version of the Modernist movement.
Modernism in Architecture was a result of both advancement in technology and fabrication, as well as social enlightenment, that swept through the Western World soon after the First World War. Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier published his 'ideas' about architecture and by the end of the 1920s, Mies van der Rohe had built the Barcelona Pavilion.
Above: Dar es Salaam circa. 1950s
Peter finished primary school in 1926 and in 1927, at the age of thirteen, was enrolled into the School of Architecture at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London. From an early age he was exposed to the new architectural style of the day. It was an exciting period to be part of, with old traditional ways of designing a building opposed to the new movement of thinking sweeping Europe and North America. There would have been much discussion between those 'for' and those 'against'.
Having completed five years at the Polytechnic, Peter was employed by the architect Herbert William Matthews in 1934, located at 1 Manchester Square, London. Later (1943), in Peter's nominations papers to be accepted into the RIBA, Mr Matthews writes:
"For some years he (Peter) was Principal Assistant in my office. I regard him as a very competent architect and a person of integrity and suitable for election to the RIBA." Herbert W Matthews
1 British Legion Offices and Hostel
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Client: British Legion
Completion Date: 1952
Address: Main Ave (Sokoine Drive) and Said Bargash St (Algeria St)
Building type: commercial
Building usage: office building
In 1935, Peter was accepted into the Royal Academy of Architecture. It is quite likely that he continued to work in the office of Mr Matthews during this time. Whilst at the Royal Academy, Peter won many prizes for his student work, including:
Having completed his time at the Academy in 1939, Peter may have left his place of employment to work for various Government Departments. The war in Europe had begun and it would have been difficult to find work.
2 First Permanent Building Society
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Variant names: Hifadhi House (current), First Permanent Building Society of Tanganyika
Completion Date: 1961, refurbishment 1999
Address: Ingles St (Azikiwe St) and Acacia Ave (Samora Ave)
Building type: commercial
Building usage: office building/complex
In 1942, during the Second World War, Peter was stationed in Bangalore, India as a "Sapper" (Royal Engineers) Captain, where he was involved in defusing bombs. On his return to England in 1944, Peter resumed his employment with Herbert William Matthews. During this time he also carried out commissions under his own name, mostly around reconstructive work of bomb affected housing.
He passed his Registration Final in London in 1944 and was accepted into the RIBA as an Associate in 1945. By 1946 he had taken up work for the Ministry of Works and Planning.
3 Luther House
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Variant names: Luther House Hostel (Variant)
Completion Date: 1963
Client: Christian Council of Tanganyika
Address: Main Ave (Sokoine Drive) opposite Byatt Rd (Pamba Rd)
Building type: commercial
Building usage: office building/hotel
After the war, Britain was stretched financially. All round the world they had assets that had been shipped to various theatres of war and were left idle and unused. In Tanganyika, there was a large amount of civil works machinery that was going to have to be abandoned. At the same time the Overseas Food Corporation saw the need to supply the world with more vegetable oils from nuts, but required civil engineering equipment to make it work. Hence the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme was formed and in 1947 Peter took up the opportunity to be involved.
From the RIBA Journal Volume 54 – page 576, year 1947:
APPOINTMENTS
Mr. C. A. Bransgrove [A] has been appointed Chief Architect to Messrs. Pauling and Co., Ltd., Civil Engineering Contractors for the groundnut project in Tanganyika. He will be pleased to receive trade catalogues, etc., from firms interested in exporting to East Africa. His address is P.O. Kongwa, Tanganyika, East Africa.
Pauling and Co., Ltd. were employed by the United Africa Company to undertake ground clearance.
4 Government European School
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Variant names: Burton Street School, Junior European School, Bunge Primary School (Current)
Completion Date: 1957
Client: The European Education Authority and the P.W.D.
Address: Burton St (Shaarban Robert Rd)
Building type: government
Building usage: education
By 1948, either the demise of the Scheme was becoming apparent or the work for architects was complete. Whatever the reason, Peter's involvement in the Groundnut Scheme came to an end. In lieu of payment for himself and his new family to return to England, he accepted a plot of land, owned by the Overseas Food Corporation, in the suburb of Kurasini in Dar es Salaam. Here he designed and built the family house that they would live in until the completion of Luther House in 1963. The family then moved into the penthouse of Luther House, which adjoined the practice offices on the 5th floor.
5 Barclays Bank DCO
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Variant names: NMB Bank House (Current)
Completion Date: 1957
Address: Acacia Ave (Samora Ave) and Byatt Rd (Pamba Rd)
Building type: commercial
Building usage: bank offices
In the same year (1948) Peter opened the first independent architectural practice in Dar es Salaam. C. A. Bransgrove & Partners was based in TanCott House and one of his first employees was Alf "Tigger" Hastings. A few years after, Hastings left the practice to set up his own office and co-founded the practice of French & Hastings. Both French and Hastings were possibly with the Royal Engineers during the war.
Another notable name to be employed by Peter was H. L. "Sukhi" Shah. His father Luvji Kara Shah was the bookkeeper for C. A. Bransgrove. Sukhi joined the practice with an eye to becoming an architect. He was shipped off to England in 1952 by his father to attend the Regent Street Polytechnic and studied architecture between 1952–1958. He started his own practice on his return to Dar es Salaam in 1960.
Joe Herbert Betts joined Peter as a Partner in the early days of the practice and became sole owner of C. A. Bransgrove and Partners for a further four years after Peter's death. A month after the passing of Peter, an architect by the name of Raymond Howes was met off the plane from Australia by Joe Betts to join the practice and stayed until 1971. During that time Joe and Raymond designed many buildings in Dar and other locations in Tanzania. In 1970 the practice was taken over by Jackson Hill Architects. The practice of Jackson Hill was incorporated into the firm of Covell Matthews Partnership Ltd, Tanzania in 1972.
6 Pamba House
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Client: Lint & Seed Marketing Board
Completion Date: 1958
Address: Garden Ave and Byatt Rd (Pamba Rd)
Building type: commercial
Building usage: office building/complex
Peter was involved in many projects and building types throughout Tanganyika, Kenya and Uganda. Mostly however they were in Dar es Salaam and included high rise office blocks, low rise offices, schools, hospitals, hostels, churches, post offices, embassies and private residences.
Most notably, the countries for which Peter designed houses for their Consuls were:
America: Robert A. McKinnon (Consul) and William B. Edmondson (Vice-Consul). Both houses were on Queens Drive (now Toure Drive), Oyster Bay.
Holland: Ernst Henry van Eeghen. Queens Drive (now Toure Drive), Oyster Bay.
Belgium: 3 houses on Upanga Rd (now Ali Hassan Mwinyi Rd), Oyster Bay
British High Commission: originally designed for Antoniou at #1 Kingsway (now Kenyatta Drive), Oyster Bay.
Italy (now): originally designed for Amir Karimjee on Kingsway Drive (now 104 Kenyatta Drive), Oyster Bay.
During the early 1960s, Peter made a number of trips to Rome to the architectural firm of Whiting Associates International, to co-design the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Moshi, Tanzania for the Protestant Churches in the country, known collectively as The Good Samaritan Foundation.
7 Branch Post Office
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Client: East African Posts and Telecommunications Corp.
Completion Date: 1969
Address: Ingles St (Azikiwe St)
Building type: government
Building usage: post office
There is no denying that Peter's design style was a climate-driven version of the Modernist movement. Generally described as "tropical modernism", the architectural genre drew heavily from the "international style" popular in Europe and North America, but with particular attention to accommodating tropical sunlight and heat. Usually based on a grid system, there was a notable lack of fanciful adornment and a strong sense of simplicity. The climate to a certain extent dictated the type of materials used and the methods employed to combat the heat and humidity.
8 YWCA Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Variant names: Young Women's Christian Association (Variant), YWCA Hostel (Variant)
Design: Joe Betts
Completion Date: 1969
Address: Ingles St (Azikiwe St) and Gymkhana Ave (Ghana St)
Client: YWCA of Tanzania
Building type: commercial
Building usage: hotel
From 1951 to 1955 he was a member of the Dar es Salaam City Council and he also served on the Tanganyika Advisory Council for Education and the National Housing Corporation. In 1961, Peter had helped to set up the International School of Tanganyika. At the time of his death in 1966 he was chairman of the International School Board of Directors.
9 Tanganyika Standard Offices
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Variant names: Tanganyika Standard Newspaper Offices (Variant)
Completion Date: 1952, later additions
Address: Ingles St (Maktaba St)
Building type: commercial
Building usage: demolished
On the 10th April 1956 Peter put forward a Patent for "louvre blocks" for use in building in the tropics:
"The concrete building block comprises two parallel end panels united by one or more inclined webs extending upwardly from the front edges of the panels to the rear thereof. The blocks are laid in superposed courses, to form louvres, the web having an upward extension which fits between the end panels of the block above it. Keying grooves are provided at the ends of the block."
Many of his buildings used this concrete block for ventilation as well as preventing both direct sunlight and rain to enter.
10 Libya St Post Office
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Variant names: Sultan St Post Office (Original name)
Completion Date: 1958
Address: Sultan St (Libya St) and South St
Building type: government
Building usage: post office
Peter has been described by current architects and researchers as a leading exponent of the Modernist style in Tanzania during that period and an architect to be admired and extolled for what he contributed during his time. "He shaped a considerable part of the old city centre of Dar es Salaam in the fifties and sixties." (Bert Lemmens)
Peter died in Nairobi Hospital on 26th January 1966, aged 51.
This page was written and compiled by Graham Hutton B.Arch., who is a grandson of C.A. 'Peter' Bransgrove.