The Mutual Building (Mutual Gebou), Cape Town

Mutual Building
Mutual Gebou
The front of the building, in Darling Street, Cape Town
Location in central Cape Town
Alternative names	Mutual Heights, Old Mutual Building
General information
Type	Commercial converted to residential
Architectural style	Art Deco
Address	14 Darling Street
Town or city	Cape Town
Country	South Africa
Coordinates	33°55′27″S 18°25′20″E / 33.92417°S 18.42222°E / -33.92417; 18.42222Coordinates: 33°55′27″S 18°25′20″E / 33.92417°S 18.42222°E / -33.92417; 18.42222
Completed	1939
Inaugurated	1940
Renovated	2005
Owner	Mutual Heights Body Corporate
Height	84 metres (276 ft)
Technical details
Structural system	Reinforced concrete, granite cladding
Floor count	12 plus 3 levels basement parking
Lifts/elevators	7
Design and construction
Architect	Fred Glennie
Architecture firm	Louw & Louw
Renovating team
Architect	Robert Silke
Renovating firm	Louis Karol
Structural engineer	Murray & Roberts
Awards and prizes	South African Institute of Architects, Presidents Award 2008
Website
www.mutualheights.net

The Mutual Building (Afrikaans: Mutual Gebou), in Cape Town, South Africa, was built as the headquarters of the South African Mutual Life Assurance Society, now the "Old Mutual" insurance and financial services company. It was opened in 1940, but before the end of the 1950s—less than 20 years later—business operations were already moving to another new office at Mutual Park in Pinelands (north east of the city centre); since then Old Mutual has become an international business and their present head office is in London.

The building is a fine example of art deco architecture and design, and it has many interesting internal features such as the banking hall, assembly room, directors' board room; external features include a dramatic ziggurat structure, prismoid (triangular) windows, and one of the longest carved stone friezes in the world. It has been said that it provides evidence of the colonial attitudes of the time, and the "ideals of colonial government promulgated by Rhodes in the late nineteenth century".

The Mutual Building is now converted to residential use, although some parts of the building are used commercially. For example, the Banking Hall (which is now an events venue) and the retail shops that operate outside on the ground level.

The Old Mutual business has a long history. In 1845 John Fairbairn (a Scot) founded "The Mutual Life Assurance Society of the Cape of Good Hope" in Cape Town. Over the next 100 years the business was to evolve significantly, changing its name in 1885 to the "South Africa Mutual Life Assurance Society", but becoming familiarly known simply as "The Old Mutual", so as to distinguish it from newer businesses of the same kind.

The company employed women as early as 1901, expanded into Namibia in 1920 and into Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) in 1927. Old Mutual is now an international business with offices all over the world, and its portfolio of financial services continues to evolve to meet market needs.

It is now some years since the business "de-mutualised" in order to issue shares and fund its operations using conventional investment markets.