Gerard Moerdijk, SA architect of several church buildings and the Voortrekker monument, dies

Gerard Moerdijk, the architect whose most famous work is the Voortreker Monument in Pretoria, died on 29 March 1958, aged 68 years old. Moerdjk matriculated at the Pretoria Boys High School in 1909. He left for England to study architecture at the Architectural Association. Following his qualification as an architect in England, he went to further his studies in France and Italy. On his return to South Africa, Moerdijk started his own practice and got commissions to design several churches. Throughout his career, he designed churches, city halls, houses, hospitals and bank buildings. His more famous works are the Reserve Bank in Bloemfontein and the Merensky Library at the University of Pretoria, but Moerdijk’s Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria is widely considered to be a masterpiece. His legacy is evident in his hometown of Pretoria, where a street and a restaurant are named after him.