Mutual Building

14-18 Darling Street, Cape Town, 8001 ,South Africa
Mutual Building Mutual Building is one of the popular Monument located in 14-18 Darling Street ,Cape Town listed under Local business in Cape Town , Financial Planning in Cape Town ,

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The Mutual Building, 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 ; 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 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 and the retail shops that operate outside on the ground level.HistoryThe businessThe 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.

Map of Mutual Building