Doyen of architecture shaped port cities and urban spaces
December 15, 2004
By Karen Breytenbach
Revel Fox, acclaimed architect and doyen of Cape Town architecture, has died of cancer at the age of 80.
Fox, who, among many accolades, was awarded a gold medal by the South African Institute of Architects for his outstanding achievements, arguably produced the most impressive work of his career close to the end of his life.
His magnum opus, the Cape Town International Convention Centre, was completed last year.
Fox, who passed away yesterday at his Cape Town home, was born in Durban on September 20 1924, the son of Albert Fox, a decorated World War 1 veteran and customs and excise officer, and an English mother, Ivy.
Although he began his schooling at Grey College in Bloemfontein, he spent his childhood in Löderitz in the then South West Africa, befriending mostly German expatriate youth. When Revel had almost completed high school, the family returned to Durban, where he matriculated.
The young Revel Fox was an avid sportsman, playing first-team rugby, competing in athletics and swimming and acting as a volunteer lifesaver.
After matric, he was eager to join the army and fight in North Africa, but his parents insisted he go to university. He picked architecture,
he later admitted, as it looked like a "soft option".
At the University of Cape Town, before unenthusiastically finishing an 18-month architecture course and joining the army, he fell in love with Suzanne Krige, sister of famous Afrikaans poet Uys Krige.
He married her three years later, after returning from fighting in Egypt and Italy in World War 2. It was in Assisi in Italy that he was architecturally inspired for the first time.
On his return he accepted a job in Gwelo in the then Rhodesia. After a few years there, the couple packed up for Europe, living for short periods in England, Sweden and Italy, but soon returned to open an architectural practice at Worcester in the Cape. The town soon became too small for the intellectually hungry Fox, and he moved back to Cape Town.
It was in Cape Town, in the late 1960s, that Fox began to receive his biggest commissions and greatest acclaim.
After a brief stint as a part-time studio master at the University of Cape Town (because of financial difficulties), he received a Carnegie grant to travel and research extensively in the United States.
On his return in 1962, Revel Fox and Partners was founded by Fox, Peter Puttick and Lorna Hansen (now the manager of the firm's office). Today the practice is still where it was founded, in an old warehouse in Waterkant Street, where the ANC once had its headquarters.
Fox's first great commissions included the Montebello Apartments (1967), the Joseph Stone Auditorium (1969), the UCT faculty of education (1969) and the St George's Mall development.
In 1968, 1969 and 1973 he received the Cape Province Institute of Architects' medals for the best examples of architecture in the Cape.
These accolades were for his work on the Montebello Apartments, the Workshop Theatre for the Eoan Group in Athlone, and the BP Centre in Cape Town.
In 1981 he won the Institute of South African Architects' Award of Merit for the best examples of architecture in Natal, after designing the Federal Theological Seminary in Imbali.
He received awards, as well as two honorary doctorates, from the university of Natal (1993) and UCT (2001).
Fox also acted as a consultant for the cities of Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, and was also consultant for Cape Town's Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.
Port cities were his passion from the start of his career.
Last year, he received the Institute of South African Architects' Award of Commendation for the impressive Morgenster Winery outside Stellenbosch.
His firm was recently nominated as one of South Africa's top 300 emerging empowerment companies.
At the climax of a long career, Fox was the head architect, while Revel Fox and Partners were the project leaders, of a consortium of architects commissioned to create the convention centre.
The structure has received numerous awards, including the SA Institute of Civil Engineering Regional Award for 2004 and the 2004 SA Property Owners' Association Award for Innovative Excellence in Property Development.
Hanson, who worked with Fox for 41 years, said yesterday: "Revel gave people the opportunity to extend themselves, because he demanded very high standards."
Fox remained an enthusiastic athlete, swimmer and cyclist throughout his life, and also later took up yoga.
He is survived by Suzanne, his wife of 55 years, and three children - actress Grethe Fox, film director Revel junior, and travel writer and journalist Justin.
He has one granddaughter.
