Van Belkum Hall - Heidelberg (Gauteng)

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Built: 1889

Status: Extant

Building type: Church hall

Photo from north-east. Unidentified photographer.

Van Belkum Hall is a historic church hall belonging to the Nederduitse Gereformeerde (NG) Klipkerk congregation in Heidelberg. It was officially named “The Van Belkum Hall” in 1933 in honour of Ds. Jac (Jacobus) van Belkum, who served as minister of the congregation from 1903 to 1927.

Ds. Jacobus van Belkum (1851 Netherlands - 1933 Johannesburg) was a NH Kerk minister and editor of religious publications.¹

The hall has played an important role in the town’s early education history. When the Christian National (C.N.O.) Volkskool opened in August 1903, the Van Belkum church hall - together with the basement, vestry, and some rooms of the Klipkerk - was used as one of the first classrooms. This was during the period when the school was still housed in temporary church premises before its own building was completed around 1907. Even after the 1915 split into Laer and Hoër Volkskool, the hall continued to be used temporarily by the high school section until the new Hoër Volkskool building opened on Opvoedingsbult in May 1922.

Today it remains part of the Klipkerk complex and is recognised with a blue plaque by the Heidelberg Heritage Association (BP #8).

Locality map

Sources
  1. Die Hervormer. Nov 30, 1933.

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