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In the garden stands a stone sculpture by Guedes; the building’s
central courtyard regularly played host to political debates during
the 1980s and 1990s; a monumental tapestry woven by Line
Williams hangs over the entrance passage and entertainment
space, where numerous African sculptures take pride of place.
their family ended up getting the earthen house that the Colemans
wanted. ‘He was very difficult to work with,’ Audrey says of Guedes,
‘but it’s been over 30 years since we finished this white house, and
today we think it looks even more modern than the brand-new
houses being built down the road. So it was probably worth it.’
The Coleman House, the Cohen House, a pair of semi-detached
units in Melville and a small estate in Parktown North remain
today as the best preserved South African examples of what
Guedes described as his ‘Euclidean Palaces’ – elaborately planned
residential spaces that unfold as spatial tributes to the style and
principles of Euclid, the ancient Greek philosopher considered the
father of geometry. Inside, Guedes’ Euclidian Palaces are like giant
puzzles. For example, a visitor moves through the Colemans’ front
door into ovoid terraces, circular portals, impluviate roofs and
almost-Cubist chimney turrets that, from the outside, are difficult
to connect to one another, but once inside, join together seamlessly.
The painstakingly preserved house remains replete with
furniture and fittings designed by Guedes himself. He built the
homeowners a circular twin study table made of pale Japanese
maple wood that fills the round niche of the upstairs office; stepped
corner bed units; a fantastically graphic drinks cabinet; floating
box lights mounted into the home’s corners and above pillars;
and a circular Carrara marble and steel dining table that