It is said that German visitors "feel at home" in Namibia. In the desert towns of Swakopmund and Luderitz it is easy to understand why. A visitor to either of these towns might well be confused and think he had been transported thousands of miles and was in a small town in Germany itself. The houses and public buildings, the shops and churches, all support this view. Even the climate conspires to add to the illusion. It is more temperate than tropical as a consequence of the cold Benguela current.

The German colonial period in Namibia was remarkably short-lived, just a little over thirty years, yet the legacy is there for all to see. It is in the monuments, it is in the language of a quarter of today's white population, but especially it is in the architecture.

The dominant fin de siecle architectural movements in Germany were Baroque and Art Nouveau. Namibia's colonial buildings of that period incorporate the same elements but also display their own special character. In Windhoek, the 'veranda style', in common with most European building in the Tropics, added coolingal colonnades to combat the heat.

The arid Namib Desert and cold off-shore current give Swakopmund and Luderitz a climate where verandas are superfluous. With negligible rainfall in both towns, there is also hardly a gutter or drainpipe in sight, yet the sloping roofs of Europe are retained. The architectural style becomes what some have called 'desert-Bavarian'. A remarkable amount of this heritage is preserved and cherished and it is still this architecture which characterises Luderitz and Swakopmund as we come to the end of the century.

Like flowers after a desert downpour, both towns grew rapidly in the German colonial period (1884-1915). Everything that was new and fashionable in Germany was imported and this included architectural style. In Luderitz the accent is on Art Nouveau (Jugendstil), somehow in keeping with the new money and brashness of a town suddenly overflowing with wealth from the newly found diamonds of the Namib Desert. In Swakopmund there is a greater blend of Art Nouveau and neo-Baroque, the decorative nature of the former happily at home with the ornateness of the latter.

Everywhere these architectural riches are in evidence. Luderitz has whole streets of German colonial buildings while Swakopmund is a treasure house of scattered architectural gems.

It is not only the shapes and forms that catch the eye. The colours too are striking: mostly pastel shades with the occasional rich ochre or other darker hues. There's a warmth about the colours that is particularly welcome on a winter's day when the sea mists seem to be penetratingly cold.

Everywhere one notices the ornately curved gables, some Dutch, many compound, and the quaint towers terminating in cupolas and spires of imaginative, sometimes almost comic, design. Sculptures and stucco, elaboration is often the order of the day, producing a fussy elegance. Balconies, more decorative than functional, protruding oriel and dormer windows, even faked half-timbered buildings, it matters not whether these are public buildings, grand or simple houses, the style is the same yet always distinctive. No one building is like another, but each is unmistakably of the period. It is as though one were in a colonial German Ideal Home exhibition, circa 1910!

In Swakopmund there is a feel about the town which is quintessentially German. From the Hansa Brewery producing German lager, to the cafes with their apfelstrudel and mohukuchen, from the neat flower gardens to the summer festivals, there's no doubting the town's antecedents. Some say it is more German than Germany! Nothing illustrates this better than the architectural style.

The most impressive decorative stone work is undoubtedly that found on the Hohenzollenhaus. A statue of Atlas sits high on the edge of the mansard roof and the elaborate and pristine stuccowork in typical Baroque style is beautifully preserved. This is an elaborate piece of architectural confectionery in white, cream and ochre. Even the new extensions are in sympathy with the original style, so that one is hardly aware of its recent growth.

An alternative form of facade decoration is mock half-timbering, wonderfully illustrated on the now restored Woermannhaus on Bismark Street. This large building also has two examples of another characteristic element of the architecture, namely towers. The smaller one is topped by a classic compound curved cupola, whilst the taller has an observation platform originally used by Swakopmund's first settlers. Perhaps the most striking crowning to a tower is the witch's hat spire found at the old railway station. As with many of Swakopmund's buildings, this has changed function (it is now the town's smartest hotel, with a casino), yet the original features of the 1901 building and its touches of neo-classical decoration are undisturbed.

The ornateness and form of many of Swakopmund's finer buildings are good examples of the way the Baroque style took classical elements away from their strict rules and into its own curving and decorative approach. One of my favourite buildings of Baroque flirting with the classical is the pink and green Town Hall. Its compound shaped gables frame an enclosed balcony and there is a feature tower to provide an axis to the symmetry of the structure.

To the south, Luderitz is a somewhat different town but with a similar architectural richness. Here, the Art Nouveau influence is very strong. The Felsenkirche ("church on the rocks") is the pride and joy of the town, and the designs of its famous and beautiful stained glass windows, iridescent in the light of the setting sun, are faithful to the Arts and Craft cum Art Nouveau tradition. The church was completed in just nine months in 1912, on a hilltop site which ensures that its slender spire is visible for miles.

Of special architectural interest, just down the hill, is Geohrke Haus - displaying most of what is fascinating about desert-Bavarian buildings. In a subtle pale blue colour with a rich red roof, the decorative elements of the building include a sundial on the main tower, some fake half timbering and a rash of little ball-topped spires. There are the usual protruding windows, oriel and dormer; open and enclosed balconies; and a splendid projecting bay. Geohrke Haus has it all. What is more, the house, when not being used for VIP guests, is open to the public to view its period furnishings.

Luderitz has building after building from the colonial period. Most show the characteristic gables, colours and decoration but there's also the occasional eccentricity, just for variety's sake. While lacking the opulence of its counterpart in Swakopmund, the 1914 Luderitz railway station is a good example of a blend of neo-Baroque with a touch of the classical and a hint of Art Nouveau, yet supporting a corrugated roof.

Now restored, the original bank building on the corner of Diaz and Bismark streets has an interesting and typically false gable as well as a feature oriel window. Less typical, however, is its stone-faced lower floor!

Although Swakopmund and Luderitz have other attractions, for the visitor from abroad it is the towns' architecture that is of lasting interest. What does it matter that the sea is always too cold for a dip when a walk round the streets will engage the eye and excite the imagination? The towns are living museums of the short but productive German colonial past and their fascinating and unique architectural heritage is there for all to see.

Kelly White is a photo-journalist working with London-based Geo Group & Associates.

Published in Travel Africa Edition Seven: Spring 1999

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