Wilfred Clement Von Berg

{{short description|British architect (1894–1978)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox architect

|name = W C von Berg

|image = Bedford House cemetery entrance stone.jpg

|caption = Bedford House Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium

|nationality = British

|birth_date = 1894

|birth_place = Croydon, England

|death_date = 1978

|significant_buildings= Perry's Stores, South Africa

|significant_projects = Commonwealth War Graves Commission sites

}}

Captain Wilfred Clement von Berg MC (21 October 1894 – July 1978)Archives of the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria quoted in [http://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/archframes.php?archid=1798 Von Berg, Wilfred Clement], The South African Built Environment, accessed 31 August 2009 was a British architect.

Career and education

Croydon-born Von Berg began to study architecture in 1912. During World War I he served with the London Rifle Brigade.[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/31092/supplements/30/page.pdf Supplement to The London Gazette] p. 30, 1 January 1919, accessed 31 August 2009 At the end of the conflict he joined the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission as an assistant architect.[http://www.cwgc.org/admin/files/Hard%20and%20soft%20landscaping.pdf Hard and Soft Landscaping in War Cemeteries] p. 8, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, accessed 31 August 2009 Working under principal architects Sir Reginald Blomfield, Sir Edwin Lutyens and Charles Holden he designed some 39 cemeteries, including the large Bedford House Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery outside of Ypres in Belgium.[http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/55502 Cemetery record for Bedford House], accessed 31 August 2009

On leaving the Commission, he began practising architecture in France, moving to the Transvaal in South Africa in 1931. He set up a practice there, beginning with designing the Perry's department store in Benoni.[http://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes.php?bldgid=7083&archid=1798 Perry's Stores, Benoni, Gauteng] The South African Built Environment, accessed 31 August 2009 His practice was interrupted by World War II, where he served with the South African Engineers in the camouflage unit. He returned to his practice at the end of the war, finally retiring in 1977.

References