TAKE A LOOK | The Reserve Bank’s HQ is getting a facelift, and new museum

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17-10-2022
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Business Insider
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The South African Reserve Bank is being renovated and will include a museum.

The new museum, aimed at educating the public about South Africa’s economic history, will be housed in the Dutch Reformed Church declared a national monument in 1980.

The iconic black tower building has not seen major upgrades in the last 40 years, and construction will be complete by early 2025.

The South African Reserve Bank’s iconic black tower in the Tshwane CBD is undergoing renovations which will include the conversion of the adjacent Dutch Reformed Church into a new museum.   

Renovations will include the upgrade of the SARB’s iconic black tower block and an extension of the building to incorporate surrounding heritage sites. Construction started in October and the SARB anticipates completing the renovations by early 2025.

The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk or Dutch Reformed Church – declared a national monument in 1980 – will become the heart of the new museum.

"The church's adaptive reuse from church to museum requires a sensitive architectural approach that takes into consideration the heritage building’s tangible and intangible heritage and symbolic values while balancing the needs of a new public programme: adding a necessary and new use can be the greatest protection of heritage assets," according to the SARB.

The new museum aimed at educating the public about the country’s economic and financial history will contain the Reserve Bank’s treasured art piece.

Another heritage site to form part of extension includes the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk Gebou, a residential facility for the Du Toit Street NHK Church designed in 1937 and later renamed Ken’s Court.

Access to the building, which hasn't undergone significant renovations in the last 40 years, will remain limited during construction. SARB employees will, in the interim, work in temporary offices in Irene Link in Centurion, Pretoria.