London, GB | Formerly of New York, Buenos Aires, Fife, and the Western Cape. | Saoránach d’Éirinn.

The City of Unexpected Charm

One of the things I like about Cape Town is its continual ability to surprise by throwing up surprisingly handsome buildings in unexpected places. To be honest, there is a great deal of mediocre architecture in the city, though I’d argue Cape Town’s mediocre architecture is better and more humane than, say, New York’s or London’s. But if you keep your eyes open to the world around you as you potter about the Cape, you can stumble across some happy little structures. This little building in Rondebosch is one such example. It sits on Rouwkoop Road, the street which takes its name from the old house that is no more. The N.G. Kerk Rondebosch is just down St Andrews Road one way, and St. Michael’s Catholic Church is just down Rouwkoop Road the other way.

Judging by its condition and the lush bits of greenery, the building is obviously well looked-after. And no wonder: it’s not only a house but also home to an architecture & interior design firm.

That would explain the unique entrance, a thousand times better than the boring security gates one sees on so many front doors in Cape Town and the vicinity.

Published at 4:10 pm on Sunday 9 January 2011. Categories: Architecture Cape Town Featured South Africa Tags: , , .
Comments

Thanks. This is a little beauty sitting proudly on the street.

— Terry 10 Jan 2011 3:49 am

Very charming, remindful of some old buildings in the French countryside.

— valeria kondratiev 12 Jan 2011 8:29 pm

Hi there,

I drive past this beautiful house all the time and often wondered what it was used for. It borders a railway line so wouldn’t be ideal to live in ;-)

Thanks for the info.

— Coral 9 Nov 2011 3:08 pm
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