Government House, Cape Province
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De Tuynhuys the Cape Town
office of the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa
, has in various guises been associated with the seat of the highest political authority in the land for almost two and a half centuries. The building seemingly had modest beginnings with the earliest known reference to the site being in 1674 when the Dutch East India Company
first built a "garden house" to store the tools for the Company's large garden first established by Jan van Riebeeck
in 1652. In about 1682, the toolshed was converted into a guesthouse to entertain foreign visitors of the Governor Simon van der Stel
.
The building was renovated and enlarged numerous times until 1751 when it was first recorded that the building was being used as a summer residence by the Governor, a custom which the historical record seems to bear out for all the Dutch Governors that century. By 1790 the building was known as The Governor's House in the Company's Gardens ('Het Governiurs Huys in de Compagnies Tuyn') and by this time - as reflected in the drawings of Josephus Jones circa 1790 - the gardens side of the building already had its rococo balusters with its stucco drapes and Greco-roman sculptures.
From a design perspective, the building, incorporating both Louis XVI-style Neo-classicism and Baroque elements, was influenced by 18th Century Dutch and Dutch East Indies architecture of the time. Similar facades, windows, doors and fanlights can be seen in Colonial buildings built in the same period in places such as Amsterdam and Batavia (modern-day Indonesia).
The plans for the building and the overall design are largely credited to the French architect Louis Michel Thibault
(1750- 1815) who studied under Louis XVI's Architect-in-Chief. However, the artistic detail of the outside facades, including the sculptures of the infant Mercury
and Poseidon
drawn from Greek mythology holding the banner on which the VOC emblem of the Dutch East India Company
was emblazoned, are variously attributed to a sculptor Jacobus Leeuwenberg, a Dutchman and sculptor Anton Anreith
(1754- 1822), a German, both of whom are known to have worked extensively in the Cape in the last quarter of the 18th Century. Yet it is not as well known that much of the infrastructure of the Cape at this time was built by slaves, including the actual construction of buildings.
By the late 18th century slaves drawn from Madagascar, Angola, India, Java, Malaysia, etc., outnumbered settlers in the colony. In more recent years historians have acknowledged the fact that certainly during the period around 1790 skilled slaves were the only artisans in the colony. Their artisan skills were to a great extent relied upon, a fact borne out by the recorded comments of many early travelers to the Cape, one of whom famously wrote that no settler would: "put his hand to any kind of handicraft". Skilled slaves often undertook building and artisanal work for wealthy farmers, businessmen and government. These slaves were so well-established that in the early 19th century visiting British royal commissioners recorded that recently arrived English and Irish settlers were often apprenticed to local slaves from whom they were learning trades.
Saddlery, masonry, cabinet-making, wood-work, carpentry work, and plastering, such as in gables and pediments, have long been skills associated with slave craftsmen - especially those of South East Asian descent - and their descendents in the Cape. The actual manufacture of the Tuynhuys door as well as the construction of the building is shrouded in the mists of time and history. Yet research on slave history in the Cape give insights from which it is possible to make an informed deduction. Historian Robert C.H. Shell has speculated on the provenance of a not dissimilar front door to be found at Genadendal
, the President's Cape Town residence (previously known as Groote Schuur Estate). It is documented that the Genadendal door was bought in the early part of the 20th century from the demolished original farmhouse of the Elsenburg farm in Stellenbosch by Cecil John Rhodes
for his estate.
According to Shell the original door might very well have been the work of a slave called Rangton van Bali, who was captured on the island of Bali and sold into slavery in Jakarta to Jacob de Jong, a well known Cape slave trader. He was brought to the Cape where he was in turn sold to Samuel Elsevier, the Fiscal of Governor Simon van der Stel
, to whom Elsevier was related by marriage.
Rangton was a skilled carpenter who eventually bought his own freedom in 1712 and practiced as a successful artisan until his death in 1720. Shell speculates that it was Rangton who would have made the original majestic door of the farmhouse at Elsenburg farm which Simon van der Stel had granted Elsevier in Stellenbosch. This was the very door which was bought by Rhodes
, a known collector of architectural artefacts, a hundred years later.
From what we now know about the role of skilled slaves in the construction of Cape buildings during the late 18th century, and the historical reconstruction of the life and occupations of slaves such as Rangton, it is reasonable to suggest that the original Tuynhuys building, its doors and windows, may very well have been executed by slaves.
After the second British occupation in 1806, the building, now called Government House, underwent a complete change of character. In accordance with the fashion of architectural simplification which swept the Cape at the time, the decorative façade and other baroque adornments from the Dutch period were plastered over and concealed, to create a Georgian-style building typical of the period. Governor Lord Charles Somerset
extended the building on both sides to accommodate a ballroom, a magnificent staircase and fireplaces. It is said that he wanted the building to be suitable for a representative of the Monarchy. Indeed in 1947 the British Royal family stayed at Government House on their visit to South Africa
.
In 1968, Cape Town architect Gabriel Fagan undertook the complex task of restoring the building to its former 18th century glory. The 1790 drawing by Josephus Jones and another by the French architect Thibault were used by Fagan to recreate the garden façade of the building. The Jones sketch shows a frieze and balustrade of 24m which was built over at the time of Lord Charles Somerset. After careful excavation it was discovered that the stucco garlands and other floral decorations and relief work, conforming to the Jones drawings, had remained reasonably intact.
The two Greco-roman sculptures had however not survived. Mr Fagan commissioned Sydney Hunter to recreate the entire balustrade while the wood carvings were executed by the Greek craftsman, Josef Vazirkianzikis. Fagan was mindful of the incremental additions and changes over the centuries, and these he sought to reflect sensitively in the restoration.
Consequently, De Tuynhuys, as it was named in 1972, was restored as authentically as was possible to its 18th century state, while incorporating the best features of later additions to the building. The result has been a harmonious synthesis.
had ‘closed the book on apartheid’.
This beautiful building, was constructed in 1700 by the Dutch East India Company
as a residence for important visitors to the Cape, lies between the South African National Parliament buildings and the President’s Council in Company's Gardens, Cape Town. It has been used as an official residence by almost all the governors of the Cape - Dutch, Batavian and British - and by State Presidents after the country became a Republic in 1961.
Historians have put together a sketch of Tuynhuys’s history and, it seems, it began as little more than a tool shed. This was converted into a guesthouse in the year Simon van der Stel became Governor in 1679, and by 1710 the guesthouse had already become a double-storey building with a flat roof.
However, there is evidence that Tuynhuys was not always livable. Lord Charles Somerset, who was responsible for adding a beautiful ballroom and for much of the re-decoration, had to move out of the building in 1824 as it was uninhabitable. Towards the end of the 19th century a debate as to its very existence occurred as authorities considered demolishing it, and a further restoration of the residence took place in 1967.
Today, De Tuynhuys is the office of the Presidency of a democratic South Africa that has emerged after centuries of colonization and decades of apartheid.
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
office of the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, has in various guises been associated with the seat of the highest political authority in the land for almost two and a half centuries. The building seemingly had modest beginnings with the earliest known reference to the site being in 1674 when the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
first built a "garden house" to store the tools for the Company's large garden first established by Jan van Riebeeck
Jan van Riebeeck
Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck was a Dutch colonial administrator and founder of Cape Town.-Biography:...
in 1652. In about 1682, the toolshed was converted into a guesthouse to entertain foreign visitors of the Governor Simon van der Stel
Simon van der Stel
Simon van der Stel was the last Commander and first Governor of the Cape Colony, the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.-Background:...
.
The building was renovated and enlarged numerous times until 1751 when it was first recorded that the building was being used as a summer residence by the Governor, a custom which the historical record seems to bear out for all the Dutch Governors that century. By 1790 the building was known as The Governor's House in the Company's Gardens ('Het Governiurs Huys in de Compagnies Tuyn') and by this time - as reflected in the drawings of Josephus Jones circa 1790 - the gardens side of the building already had its rococo balusters with its stucco drapes and Greco-roman sculptures.
From a design perspective, the building, incorporating both Louis XVI-style Neo-classicism and Baroque elements, was influenced by 18th Century Dutch and Dutch East Indies architecture of the time. Similar facades, windows, doors and fanlights can be seen in Colonial buildings built in the same period in places such as Amsterdam and Batavia (modern-day Indonesia).
The plans for the building and the overall design are largely credited to the French architect Louis Michel Thibault
Louis Michel Thibault
Louis Michel Thibault , was a French-born South African architect and engineer who designed numerous buildings in the Cape Colony...
(1750- 1815) who studied under Louis XVI's Architect-in-Chief. However, the artistic detail of the outside facades, including the sculptures of the infant Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
and Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
drawn from Greek mythology holding the banner on which the VOC emblem of the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
was emblazoned, are variously attributed to a sculptor Jacobus Leeuwenberg, a Dutchman and sculptor Anton Anreith
Anton Anreith
Anton Anreith was a sculptor and woodcarver from Riegel near Freiburg in Breisgau, Baden, Germany, who arrived at the Cape of Good Hope as a soldier in the service of the Dutch East-India Company in 1777...
(1754- 1822), a German, both of whom are known to have worked extensively in the Cape in the last quarter of the 18th Century. Yet it is not as well known that much of the infrastructure of the Cape at this time was built by slaves, including the actual construction of buildings.
By the late 18th century slaves drawn from Madagascar, Angola, India, Java, Malaysia, etc., outnumbered settlers in the colony. In more recent years historians have acknowledged the fact that certainly during the period around 1790 skilled slaves were the only artisans in the colony. Their artisan skills were to a great extent relied upon, a fact borne out by the recorded comments of many early travelers to the Cape, one of whom famously wrote that no settler would: "put his hand to any kind of handicraft". Skilled slaves often undertook building and artisanal work for wealthy farmers, businessmen and government. These slaves were so well-established that in the early 19th century visiting British royal commissioners recorded that recently arrived English and Irish settlers were often apprenticed to local slaves from whom they were learning trades.
Saddlery, masonry, cabinet-making, wood-work, carpentry work, and plastering, such as in gables and pediments, have long been skills associated with slave craftsmen - especially those of South East Asian descent - and their descendents in the Cape. The actual manufacture of the Tuynhuys door as well as the construction of the building is shrouded in the mists of time and history. Yet research on slave history in the Cape give insights from which it is possible to make an informed deduction. Historian Robert C.H. Shell has speculated on the provenance of a not dissimilar front door to be found at Genadendal
Genadendal
Genadendal is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, built on the site of the oldest mission station in the country.-Location:Genadendal is approximately 90 minutes drive east of Cape Town in the Riviersonderend Mountains....
, the President's Cape Town residence (previously known as Groote Schuur Estate). It is documented that the Genadendal door was bought in the early part of the 20th century from the demolished original farmhouse of the Elsenburg farm in Stellenbosch by Cecil John Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes PC, DCL was an English-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician. He was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today markets 40% of the world's rough diamonds and at one time marketed 90%...
for his estate.
According to Shell the original door might very well have been the work of a slave called Rangton van Bali, who was captured on the island of Bali and sold into slavery in Jakarta to Jacob de Jong, a well known Cape slave trader. He was brought to the Cape where he was in turn sold to Samuel Elsevier, the Fiscal of Governor Simon van der Stel
Simon van der Stel
Simon van der Stel was the last Commander and first Governor of the Cape Colony, the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.-Background:...
, to whom Elsevier was related by marriage.
Rangton was a skilled carpenter who eventually bought his own freedom in 1712 and practiced as a successful artisan until his death in 1720. Shell speculates that it was Rangton who would have made the original majestic door of the farmhouse at Elsenburg farm which Simon van der Stel had granted Elsevier in Stellenbosch. This was the very door which was bought by Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
, a known collector of architectural artefacts, a hundred years later.
From what we now know about the role of skilled slaves in the construction of Cape buildings during the late 18th century, and the historical reconstruction of the life and occupations of slaves such as Rangton, it is reasonable to suggest that the original Tuynhuys building, its doors and windows, may very well have been executed by slaves.
After the second British occupation in 1806, the building, now called Government House, underwent a complete change of character. In accordance with the fashion of architectural simplification which swept the Cape at the time, the decorative façade and other baroque adornments from the Dutch period were plastered over and concealed, to create a Georgian-style building typical of the period. Governor Lord Charles Somerset
Charles Somerset
Charles Somerset may refer to:*Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester , 1st Earl of Worcester and husband of Henry VIII's mistress, Elizabeth Browne...
extended the building on both sides to accommodate a ballroom, a magnificent staircase and fireplaces. It is said that he wanted the building to be suitable for a representative of the Monarchy. Indeed in 1947 the British Royal family stayed at Government House on their visit to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
In 1968, Cape Town architect Gabriel Fagan undertook the complex task of restoring the building to its former 18th century glory. The 1790 drawing by Josephus Jones and another by the French architect Thibault were used by Fagan to recreate the garden façade of the building. The Jones sketch shows a frieze and balustrade of 24m which was built over at the time of Lord Charles Somerset. After careful excavation it was discovered that the stucco garlands and other floral decorations and relief work, conforming to the Jones drawings, had remained reasonably intact.
The two Greco-roman sculptures had however not survived. Mr Fagan commissioned Sydney Hunter to recreate the entire balustrade while the wood carvings were executed by the Greek craftsman, Josef Vazirkianzikis. Fagan was mindful of the incremental additions and changes over the centuries, and these he sought to reflect sensitively in the restoration.
Consequently, De Tuynhuys, as it was named in 1972, was restored as authentically as was possible to its 18th century state, while incorporating the best features of later additions to the building. The result has been a harmonious synthesis.
History
The last National Party President of RSA, F.W. de Klerk announced from its steps, on 18 March 1992, that South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
had ‘closed the book on apartheid’.
This beautiful building, was constructed in 1700 by the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
as a residence for important visitors to the Cape, lies between the South African National Parliament buildings and the President’s Council in Company's Gardens, Cape Town. It has been used as an official residence by almost all the governors of the Cape - Dutch, Batavian and British - and by State Presidents after the country became a Republic in 1961.
Historians have put together a sketch of Tuynhuys’s history and, it seems, it began as little more than a tool shed. This was converted into a guesthouse in the year Simon van der Stel became Governor in 1679, and by 1710 the guesthouse had already become a double-storey building with a flat roof.
However, there is evidence that Tuynhuys was not always livable. Lord Charles Somerset, who was responsible for adding a beautiful ballroom and for much of the re-decoration, had to move out of the building in 1824 as it was uninhabitable. Towards the end of the 19th century a debate as to its very existence occurred as authorities considered demolishing it, and a further restoration of the residence took place in 1967.
Today, De Tuynhuys is the office of the Presidency of a democratic South Africa that has emerged after centuries of colonization and decades of apartheid.