sTeLLenBOscH Virtual ToWn -- Travel -- Historic Buildings

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CHURCH HOUSE

KWEEKSKOOL (1905)

OLD READING ROOM

KOLONIESHUIS

MORKEL HOUSE

EENDRACHT VILLAGE HOTEL (1797)

CHURCH HOUSE	c/o Drosdy and Dorp Streets
Built between 1753 and 1787 by Philip Hartog. The front gable of the house, which still has a fireproof ceiling of clay, dates from the early Victorian era, when two front doors, flanking a central window, were built in.

KWEEKSKOOL (THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY)(1905)

Dorp Street

This is the most historical site in town, i.e. the former island named "Stellenbosch," in 1679 and which disappeared in the 1770s when the northern watercourses of the Eerste River was filled in. Four "drostdys" stood here since 1687; the last of which was completed in 1768. This imposing gabled house in 1859 became the first institution of higher learning in Stellenbosch, with semi-detached apartments on either side for the Professors of Theology (Statue in the garden). A second storey, added to the building in its centenary year, was designed by architect Hager. This had a flat roof, and portico in front. The present imposing appearance - and the insensitive concrete work detracts from this - dates from 1905 and has the appearance of a Parisian "Second Empire" house of the 1860s.

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OLD READING ROOM

182 Dorp Street

It was in this building, since drastically altered, that 43 Stellenbosch residents gathered on 28 January 1864 to discuss the formation of the Stellenbosch Gymnasium., This was to "provide sound instruction in all subjects pertaining to a civilised education.. ." and also training for the admission examination to the Theological Seminary, and a certificate, the equivalent of today’s BA degree. The Paul Roos Gymnasium, and also the Victoria College that later became the University of Stellenbosch, developed from the Stellenbosch Gymnasium.

KOLONIESHUIS (COLONY HOUSE)

2 Ryneveld Street

This house contains remnants of the oldest dwelling which stood on this site in 1694. Colony houses were built as lodgings for College of Law officials. Stellenbosch’s first resident minister, the Rev. Hercules van Loon, lived here for four years before committing suicide in 1704. Subsequently enlarged into a gabled house with ornamental plaster benches at the end of the stoep, as witness the 1834 drawing by the famous astronomer, Sir John Herschel.

MORKEL HOUSE	2 and 4 Ryneveld Street
Initially a wine cellar, which was depicted in 1710. After the fire of December that year, it was adapted for religious services held here amidst the "heavy traffic" until 1723, when the second church was inaugurated.

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EENDRACHT VILLAGE HOTEL (1797)

161 Dorp Street

The precursor of this guesthouse consisted of two rooms that Sara Couchet erected shortly after the fire of 1710. She was the ancestor of the South African De Klerks and, according to the inventory of her estate, she probably operated a simple guesthouse. Its further history is depicted in an archaeological exhibition that can be viewed in the entrance hall. The present structure is partially a replica of the double storey that stood here during the first half of the twentieth century.

SAXENHOF

159 Dorp Street

Named after free burgher and leather tanner Peter Andreas Sachse, to whom the land was granted in 1704, and whose dwelling is depicted in the 1710 panorama. The present double storey dates from 1890 and has an attractive wooden balcony made by the owner, the district surgeon and artistic craftsman J.H. Neethling, son of the famous Minister. The sturdy teak top-and-bottom door with its eighteenth century gabled design (the brass fittings are modern) is the only authentic examples of its kind in Stellenbosch and, together with the 1768 front door of the Drostdy (presently in a church in Merriman Avenue), are the oldest in town.

LOUBSER HOUSE	157 Dorp Street
Jan Swart built the first dwelling on this property in 1704, and this is probably the gabled house depicted on the panorama of 1710. The present "Cape Georgian" façade dates from 1825 and is, like so many war veterans, heavily laden with "medals". A famous owner of the house was Bob Loubser, Member of Parliament and Springbok in 1903.

HAUPTFLEISCH HOUSE	153 Dorp Street
The 1997 restoration of this early nineteenth century house was based on an old photograph.

149 DORP STREET	149 Dorp Street
This late eighteenth century house contains important murals and a nineteenth century façade, The front door with its "Chinese" transom window was repositioned in its original central opening (as at Maiden's Hope) during the restoration of 1997.

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SWART HOUSE (STELLENBOSCH HOTEL)	160 Dorp Street
This neo-classical gabled house was erected after the late eighteenth century dwelling of the medical doctor, Jan Cats, had burned down in 1803. The recent restoration of the façade was done with the aid of some old photographs. The adjacent redbrick building is a converted outbuilding.