Earlier this year the Architectural Archives at the University of Pretoria (AAUP) became the proud recipient of an important collection of photographs of Coromandel Estate Manor House, designed by the Italian architect Marco Zanusso (1916-2001) and built in 1975. The weekend house was commissioned by Sydney Press (1919-1997), the then owner of Edgars Consolidated Stores Limited that originated from one small clothing shop opened in Johannesburg in 1929.

Press’ daughter Suzanne delivered two cardboard boxes containing 20 smaller black boxes compactly packed with foam and tissue paper. The photographic collection includes black and white photos of the Press farm and Coromandel house taken by the famous South African photographer David Goldblatt. In addition there are family photos and documentation of the house under construction. These are supplemented by depictions of the working farm and a visit by Press to Argentina and Brazil where he met the famous landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) who was initially involved in the design of the gardens surrounding the manor house.

The photographic collection is now safely lodged in the air-conditioned archive storeroom and will soon be indexed and later be made digitally available to interested parties. The Department is very grateful to Suzanne Press for entrusting this important South African collection to the AAUP.