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Dr Xuma's house was one of two houses to escape the destruction of Sophiatown by the government in the late 1950s, it is also a landmark which belonged to Dr Alfred Bitini Xuma who was a medical doctor and the President of the African National Congress () and Chairperson of the Western Areas Anti-Expropriation and Proper Housing Committee.〔http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/dr-alfred-bathini-xuma〕 Construction of the house was completed in 1935 and named Empilweni which roughly translates to "the place of life". Xuma and his second wife Madie Hall Xuma lived there until his own property was expropriated when Sophiatown was declared a White area in terms of the Native Resettlement Act of 1954, and he had vacated it by 1957.〔Report to Transvaal Regional Committee, Flo Bird. 1991. 2〕 ==Design== The house is a single-storey dwelling with an entrance hall, lounge, dining room, kitchen, scullery and pantry, guest toilet, three bedrooms, a play room, two bathrooms (one en suite), and a stoep. Outbuildings consist of a double garage, two rooms with a kitchenette, laundry, toilet and basin room.〔http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&id=1655:city-buys-xumas-sophiatown-house&Itemid=203〕 The house is built of red brick with a corrugated tin roof. The front elevation has curved bay windows and an arch to the entrance way, flanked by plain columns. The house was built of face brick in stretcher bond to the window level, with a plastered section above. An unusual feature is the bracketed lean-to canopy which extends the full front of the house providing a separate covering for the bays.〔Report to Transvaal Regional Committee, Flo Bird. 1991. 3〕 The house was a mansion in the Sophiatown of its day. The house occupied two stands whereas most of his neighbours were in terrace or semi-detached housing.〔Report to Transvaal Regional Committee, Flo Bird. 1991. 2〕 The writer, actor and journalist Bloke Modisane, reminisces that among all those modest rundown buildings, could stand the palatial home of Dr A.B. Xuma with its two garages. Modisane remembers how he and his widowed mother, who ran a shebeen, had looked to Xuma and his house for a model of the good life, i.e. separate bedrooms, a room for sitting, another for eating, and a room to be alone, for reading or thinking, to shut out South Africa and not be black.〔http://www.heritageportal.co.za/article/life-alfred-bitini-xuma-political-beginnings〕 Dr Xuma arranged his consulting rooms within the house to face Edward Road, the L-shaped plan allowing one wing for his residence and the other for his medical practice. Inside, the house has pressed steel ceilings, klompie brick fireplaces and the lounge has a plaster ceiling with exposed timbers. The house has polished timber floors, doors, skirtings and picture rails giving it a traditional and high quality interior. Currently the house is the location of the Sophiatown Heritage and Cultural Centre. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dr Xuma house」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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