Main Building (F5)

Main building after completion in 1930

• The former Potchefstroom University of Christian Higher Education (PU for CHE) was initially housed in a number of zinc buildings. The main building was the first permanent academic building on the campus of the PU for CHE. It initially housed the rector and administration, library, laboratories and all other activities.
• The building was officially opened on 4 April 1931 and declared as a National Monument on 11 May 1984.
• The architect was Henri Louw from Bloemfontein who designed the building in the style of the Italian Renaissance, hence the balconies.
• The seven arches corresponded with the seven candelabra in the emblem of the Potchefstroom University College, as the NWU-PUK was then known.
• It was built as a cost of £18 948 (R372 652) and was mainly funded by donations.
• The cornerstone of the building was laid on 4 August 1930 by Dr DF Malan, Minister of Education. The cornerstone was preceded by a congress of PUK Committees, during which a decision was made on the so-called "room system". According to this system, one or more persons or a committee undertook to provide an amount of money that would finance the construction of one of the university buildings. The system was well received, as evidenced by the copper plates, which gives recognition to the donors, in almost all the rooms of the main building today.
• During the commissioning of the building, in addition to the administrative offices, a number of academic departments and the library were housed in the main building.
• Currently, the main building houses the Faculty of Law, most likely the only faculty on campus that is housed in one building.
• Professors F Postma, JC van Rooy, J Chris Coetzee, HG Stoker, G Dekker and JD du Toit (Totius) and many other academics, worked in this building.   

  Building on fire!

It was a fire that destroyed the library of the University of the Witwatersrand in 1931, which forced the PUK to move its library from the old zinc barracks to the main building where it was located in the north-east wing.

On February 23, 1949, with the opening of the academic year, the students and staff had to watch helplessly as their library was destroyed by flames. A short circuit in the electrical wiring of the main building caused a fire to break out in the library.

The fire could have been confined to the first floor's northeast wing, but the library was laid in rubble. it is estimated that 30 000 books and 4 000 magazines were destroyed. Among the irreplaceable items were original manuscripts of the works of the author Jan F Cilliers.

Donations in the form of books and money were received from all over the country. Plans were immediately made  for a new modern library and its cornerstone was laid in March 1951.

Main building today