James Walton was the doyen of vernacular architecture in South Africa, and was the honorary life president and founder member of the Vernacular Society of South Africa. Though he was not a trained architect, his publications are all illustrated with his own inimitable pen-sketches, which VASSA is privileged to be able to use.
Walton’s eleven books and over two hundred papers are all pioneering efforts in their own field, which is the study of truly ‘folk’ and not just ‘historical’ architecture and structures.
They include Homesteads and Villages of South Africa (1952),Water-mills, Windmills and Horse-mills of South Africa (1974), The Josephine Mill and its Owners (1978), Cape Dovecots and Fowl-runs (1985), Double-storeyed, flat-roofed Buildings of the rural Cape (1993). Most appropriately, Walton concluded his vernacular studies by publishing A Tribute to the Donkey. Click here to see VASSA images
Walton bequeathed his significant collection to the Stellenbosch University Library for use by researchers. The complete collection consists of manuscripts, drawings, photographs, newsletters, lectures, portfolios, albums, plans, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and brochures. Click here to consult the detailed US catalogue