Dorp Street, the oldest street in Stellenbosch is on the Old Wagon Road to and from Cape Town, is lined with oak trees and beautiful, historic buildings. I walked from Libertas Parva up the street to the Theological Seminary in several posts!
Vredelus at no.63 was built by Christoffel Henske c.1780 on land which was originally part of the Libertas farm. In 1814 the front gable was added by the then-owner, Daniel Joubert. This elegant building is set far back from the road with its privacy protected by the white boundary wall and luxuriant gardens.
The Rev Meent Borcherds built La Gratitude at 95 Dorp Street in 1798. ‘…It was in gratitude for the bountiful crops of wine grapes yielded by his lands which swept down to the Eerste River, that Borcherds named his house La Gratitude. High above the intricate fanlight of the front door, the pilastered gable is imprinted with the all-seeing eye of the Lord, which watched over the Borcherds family for over a century…’. Today it is a very good restaurant, The Big Easy.
Voorgelegen at 116 Dorp Street houses a Toy & Miniature Collection – how did I miss that? – and so I didn’t see inside the building! Originally this was a farm which belonged to Aletta Beck and who named it ‘Voorgelegen’. Today’s house was built c.1798. Between 1851-59 the owner was Ds Gysbert Reitz, but that is all I have found about the building’s history. (Beautiful black & white photographs by Andre Pretorius.)
The Stellenbosch Gymnasium (1866) at 120 Dorp Street was the precursor to the Paul Roos Gymnasium and Stellenbosch University.
The Old Evangelical Lutheran Church was designed by Carl Otto Hager and consecrated in 1854. Hager trained as an architect in Dresden, Germany and emigrated to the Cape in 1838 where he set up in practice with a colleague, Carl Sparmann, although the business did not survive long. He moved around, even returning to Europe for a while. Eventually he he joined the Lutheran Community in Stellenbosch and this building is probably his earliest commission in the Cape. His architecture career took time to establish and he earned his living as a portrait painter and photographer in the meantimes.
The building at 149 Dorp Street.
At 156 Dorp Street is Diaconies Remise, built between 1800-10 and with the original door to the back yard on the side of the building. What does the name mean?
I am gradually making my way up the street!
You may be interested in
Historic sites in Stellenbosch & here
Carl Otto Hager
Anne Guy
They do like their fan lights!