Harold Le Roith

Harold "Harry" Hirsch Le Roith (24 March 1905 – 4 July 1995) was a South African architect. He then enrolled in a 1-year art and architecture course at Rhodes University between 1928 and 1929. In the same year he designed the San Remo apartment building in Yeoville, it was distinct for its curved staircase and porthole windows. In 1939 he designed the luxury apartment building, Dunkeld Mansions in Illovo.

His synagogue architecture was also notable. In the 1940s he designed Temple Emeth (later Temple Emet), a Reform synagogue in Springs. He designed two more Reform synagogues in Johannesburg, with Temple Shalom (1950) on Louis Botha Avenue in Highlands North and Temple Emanuel in Parktown in 1954. In 1966 he designed a Jewish wall of remembrance at Westpark Cemetery.

In 1953, two of his buildings were featured in the influential British magazine, The Architectural Review. The magazine featured photographs of Marlene Mansions in Berea and Cranbrook Hotel, a seven-storey residential hotel in Hillbrow.

In 1964, he purchased one hundred acres in what became Benmore Gardens, an area of Sandton. He was to work with the architect Richard Neutra on realising a project to build a self-contained village centre with apartments, shops and offices. The project was inspired by Le Roith's visit to Tapiola, a newly constructed town in Finland. Le Roith pulled out of the project after the completion of two apartment blocks.

He sought to "green" the inner-city neighbourhood of Hillbrow by introducing pavement gardens and planting to Golden Oaks, an apartment building he designed in 1976.

Personal life In 1939 he married Lilian Greenfield. He was very involved in Reform Judaism in Johannesburg and took on leadership positions.

He died at the age of 90 on 4 July 1995.