Guarding the past
Cape Town’s heritage management shines under the spotlight, writes Anna-marie Smith
THE city’s award earlier this year of approval of competency in heritage management by the Heritage Western Cape Council speaks for itself through any number of local restoration projects.
Cape Town is also the first local authority in the Western Cape to have been declared competent in its role to administer, identify and map different heritage sites as it relates to the issuing of provisional protection orders for sites under threat.
Possibly the best known function fulfilled by the council as part of the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999 is the application process for permits concerning alterations to structures of 60 years and older. Architect Mike Scurr of Rennie Scurr Adendorff Architects says the act provides a progressive legal framework that is enabling rather than inhibiting. “It also provides clear guidelines for the process to be followed so that any developer or homeowner can, at the outset, understand the process to be followed and the heritage issues at stake,” he says.
Conservation of buildings involves a range of complex issues. In addition to the appreciation of the architectural perspective of a structure, it also shows consideration for cultural, political and technological factors. As a result the process of preservation and restoration would not be possible without the architectural ingenuity and passion of local heritage specialists who provide urban environments with great character and richness. “While buildings require ongoing care and maintenance, they also require constant adaptations to the fastchanging needs of today, and through these processes, the very qualities that we celebrate in our historic fabric are often irretrievably lost,” says Scurr.
One of the latest examples of a successful large-scale restoration project to have earned the status as a provincial heritage site is the Cape Town City Hall. Built in 1905 on the Grand Parade in the centre of Cape Town, this building of enormous proportions features classic artefacts including a clock and carillon in the clock tower. Commercial use of the hall also provides city residents with musical entertainment. A musical event in popular demand is when the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra breathes life into the hall through the sounds of the huge pipe organ. Although Nelson Mandela’s release in 1990 on the balcony of fame has increased the city’s status globally, this heritage venue retains a place in local history.
Another significant city restoration project, also of entertainment value, is the Fugard Theatre completed by Rennie Scurr Adendorff Architects. This theatre forms part of a complex of five interlinked historic warehouses owned by the District Six Museum, and is one example of conservation and adaptation where both the historic fabric and the new use exist in a mutually beneficial environment, says Scurr. The new auditorium is located in the gutted shell of a 1930s nondescript concrete framed building, while the rich and evocative fabric of an old church hall has been transformed into the foyer and studio with the layers of history still evident on the walls.
What is also of significant heritage interest is the restoration of well-known Cape residences such as Rust & Vreugd and Bertram House dating back to 1778 and 1854 respectively. These structures were originally built along the foothills of Table Mountain as residences for members of the Dutch East India Company. Another house built for the same purpose is the stately Leeuwenhof that is the residence of the premier of the Western Cape. It was constructed on a large pocket of farmland at a time around 1693 when the provision of slave accommodation was part and parcel of the property business. Today slave quarters at Leeuwenhof form part of a National Monument where the history of slavery in Cape Town is exhibited.
In addition to the city’s long list of national and provincial sites where the protection of its architectural and cultural roots is foremost, are Cape Town’s natural riches equally deserving of attention. Cape Town is home to two of SA’s eight United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) sites, namely Robben Island and the Cape Floral Kingdom of Table Mountain National Park. This year’s centenary celebration at Kirstenbosch Gardens serves as a reminder of its unique environmental heritage as the first Unesco site in the world with botanical gardens.
Property agents say the residential areas close to the gardens enjoy notable prominence.