The Langham Hotel , Johannesburg, signed print by Philip Bawcombe, artist, with mount, 53 cms x 46.2 cms, suitable for framing., condition: very good.
The Langham was expensive, discreet, and a noted rendezvous for new-rich mining magnates and the upper strata of the towns good-time girls.
In 1936, the hotel had a modern six-storey section added on the corner of Von Welligh and its this version that old Johannesburgers remember. Photographic evidence shows that part of the original gabled building remained after the extension (see picture). .The hotel went through various management changes thereafter as well as stiff competition from the new Tollman Towers across the road. In 1967, it was still part of the Langham-Edward Group which also owned the Dawson Hotel, as well as the Edward Hotel in Durban, and Deals Hotel in East London. It was described as a three-star establishment to the end, but ultimately, it was too old-fashioned to keep up with the pace and progress of the city. In 1971 it was put under judicial management and later torn down along with several other buildings (including two other hotels: The Imperial and Paul Kruger) to make way for the massive Sanlam Centre development.
One of the last to leave the Langham when it finally closed was the daughter of the original owners, Miss Ella Luthje, who was born there and served for most of its 67-year existence.
In 1962 it was listed as having 150 rooms with 145 of them with their own bathrooms. In the absence of the Carlton Hotel, it was one of the citys most expensive and exclusive at the time..
The writer, Herman Charles Bosman was well known for propping up the bar at the Langham.
The artist, Philip Bawcombe, was an industrial designer, inter alia for film studios, and official South African war artist during World War II, who also produced acclaimed collections of paintings illustrating the cities of Johannesburg and Kimberley,. Bawcombe went out to Southern Africa, first to Rhodesia and then South Africa just prior to the outbreak of World War II. He enlisted with the South African forces, serving initially in the Middle East where he was commissioned as second in command of a camouflage unit. He was responsible for designing dummy tanks constructed on the backs of military lorries as a decoy. From 1941 to 1945 Bawcombe covered the North African and Italian Campaigns as official South African war artist. A collection of 50 of his war paintings is preserved at the National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg.
THIS PRINT IS KNOWN AS A DOUBLE SIGNATURE, ONE PRINTED AND ONE SIGNED BY HAND BY THE ARTIST.
