Archistori

Built: 1859-1866 Architect: Unidentified Locality: Walter Sisulu Lane, Potchefstroom Timeline View from south-west. ¹ The congregation was founded by the Voortrekkers in 1842. It was the first congregation to be established in the then Transvaal and is therefore the oldest congregation in the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika, as well as the oldest congregation of the three sister churches in the then Transvaal. On 26 March 1842, Rev. Daniel Lindley, who had been appointed by the Voortrekker Volksraad in Natal as the minister of the independent Voortrekker church, held his first religious service in Potchefstroom. During the religious services, Holy Communion was administered for the first time in the Transvaal, while 189 children were baptized and 103 members made their confession of faith. The Potchefstroom congregation initially encompassed the entire Voortrekker territory north of the Vaal River. Early photo from from north-east.³ In 1853, Ds. van der Hoff became t...

Aka: V.O.C. Kruithuis / Powder Magazine Built: 1777 Locality:  Blom Rd, Die Braak, Stellenbosch. View from east. Image source: Archistori The Kruithuis is one of the most unique buildings of Die Braak and Stellenbosch, and it stands on a small, triangular piece of land located as an extension of Mark Road between the Rhenish Complex and Het Burgerhuis. Very soon after the establishment of Stellenbosch, a form of civic guard or infantry was formed using local citizens. Every year they had to travel down to Cape Town to be trained. As early as 1686, the request arose to hold the training sessions on their own grounds, namely on Die Braak, and to establish an accompanying arsenal there. By the late 18th century, the Stellenbosch burgher militia ( bijeenwoners ) needed a secure, centralized location to store ammunition, gunpowder, and weapons for defense against potential conflicts. It was not until the second half of the eighteenth century that permission was obtained. The Governor o...

Built: 1958 Architect: Unidentified Style: Cape Dutch Revival Locality: Alexander St, Stellenbosch. East facade (main entrance). Image source: Archistori North facade. Image source: Archistori Locality map Sources

Aka: Het Burgerhuis Built: 1797 Locality: Cnr Alexander St and Blom Rd, Stellenbosch. East facade. Image source: Archistori Het Burgerhuis  is one of the oldest houses in Stellenbosch. Fick came into possession of the land in 1796 and built Het Burgerhuis there as early as the following year. Fick passed away in 1808, as a result of which Van der Riet, the landdrost (magistrate) of Stellenbosch, became the new owner. Under Van der Riet, a major expansion took place to the south, which was also called the Van der Riet House. In 1839, the property was transferred to the Rhenish missionary Lückhoff. Consequently, the building served for a time as a Rhenish parsonage. When the Rhenish parsonage moved away, the building was divided around 1879 and occupied by multiple families. "Round the Braak are old buildings that have escaped all the fires... This gabled Burgerhuis bears the date 1797, and it was occupied by coloured families until it was declared an historic monument fairly rec...

Built: 1954 Architect: Unidentified View from north. Image source: Archistori View from north-east. Image source: Archistori Side entrance. Image source: Archistori Corner stone. Image source: Archistori Locality map Sources

Built: Unknown Architect: Unidentified Location: Mark St, Stellenbosch. View from north-west. Image source: Property24 Locality map Sources  

Built: 1941 Architect: Walgate and Elsworth Location: Cnr Andringa & Plein St, Stellenbosch. Style: Cape Dutch Revival, Neo-Classical View from south-west. Image source: Archistori Timeline Bernardus Fick (1725-?) acquired the land from his father in 1758 and constructed a residence in 1762, which he sold in 1770. Over time, successive expansions transformed the house into a T-shape featuring an elegant, late-18th-century gable. Having escaped the 1875 fire, the structure stood intact until the late 1930s; its exact internal floor plan was captured in a 1939 aerial photograph taken mid-demolition. Over time the house was home to notable burghers. Following the 1875 disaster, property owners increasingly abandoned thatched roofing in favour of corrugated iron. Many surviving or rebuilt homes were remodeled with Victorian-style corrugated iron verandahs, ornate cast-iron filigree, and straight gables, giving streets like Dorp Street the mixed architectural heritage seen today. In...

Built: 1990s Architect: Unidentified Location: Aan-de-wagenweg, Stellenbosch. View from south-west. Image source: Archistori View from west. Image source: Archistori Apartments next to the Eerste River. Locality map Sources  

Built: 1903 Architect: Karl Heyne Location:  Fatima Bhayat St (Kerk St), Rustenburg. Aerial view showing Derdepoort Monument in front of church. Image source: NG Moedergemeente Rustenburg on FB. Timeline The Reformed (Hervormde) and Dutch Reformed (NG) Church in the old Transvaal merged in 1885 to form the 'Dutch Reformed or Reformed Church' (Nederduits Hervormde of Gereformeerde Kerk), but barely seven years later, the new church split again. The court ordered the NG Church in Rustenburg to transfer its property to the Reformed (Hervormde) Church. Fortunately, the ZAR government donated 4 erven in the town to the impoverished NG congregation to help them get back on their feet. Following the runderpest (1896) and malaria (1897) epidemics, construction on the church began early in 1898. General Piet Joubert laid the cornerstone on 23 April 1898. The building was nearly completed when the Second Anglo-Boer War broke out in 1899, instantly halting any final completion or offici...

Aka: Derdepoort Gedenknaald Erected: 1920 Sculptor: Anton van Wouw Location: Fatima Bhayat St (Kerk St), Rustenburg. Image source: NG Moedergemeente Rustenburg on FB. Photo c.1969.¹ The memorial at the entrance of the NG Kerk Rustenburg was erected a number of years after the end of the Second Anglo-Boer War and commemorates the names of those killed and murdered at Derdepoort. In the neighbourhood of Mochudi the Marico River is the boundary between the Bechuanaland Protectorate and the Transvaal. On the British side of the river was a native town, Sekwane, and over against it, on the other side, was a Boer laager at a place called Derdepoort.² Derdepoort Massacre The Derdepoort attack took place on 25 November 1899, early in the Second Anglo-Boer War (also known as the South African War). It occurred at a location on the border of the ZAR with the British Bechuanaland Protectorate (in present-day North West Province, near the Botswana border, east of Gaborone). A small group of Bo...

Aka: Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk (Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa) Built: 1913 Architect: P. Westmaas Location: Cnr Charl Cillier & Kruger St, Bronkhorstspruit. Aerial view from west. Image source: NHK on FB (Zachrys Prinsloo). The congregation existed since 1869, but was officially established in 1911. It used to be known as  die Konsulentgemeente van Pretoria.² View from north-west.  Unidentified photographer.¹ Inauguration in 1913. Unidentified photographer. Locality map Sources Muller, J.J.P. (1970) Eeufeesviering van die Nederdeuitch Hervormde gemeente Bronkhorstspruit. Die Hervormer, Jan 1970. NH Gemeente Bronkhorstspruit on FB.  

Client  Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk (Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa) Built: 1970 Type: Retirement Home Architect: Taljaard Carter Building contractor: J. J. Gräbe Location: Observatory Ave, Johannesburg. Status: Unknown Also see: Ons Tuis Elderly Care Homes " Die hoeksteenlegging van die nuwe Ons Tuis, Observatoryweg, Johannesburg, was `n andersoortige gebeurtenis — eintlik 'n hoeksteenonthulling — aangesien die ligging van die grond 'n hoeksteenlegging tydens die boubedrywighede onmoontlik gemaak het. Hierdie praggebou, wat huisvesting aan 115 inwoners bied, met argitekte Mnre. Taljaard en Carter, en bou-aannemer mnr. J. J. Gräbe is al feitlik voltooi — 60 bejaardes onder die bekwame sorg van Matrone Botha en haar personeel het alreeds intrek geneem — toe op Saterdag 16 Mei 1970 om 10.00 vm. die onthullingsplegtigheid deur mev. Betsie Verwoerd, Ere-Presidente van Ons Tuis, waargeneem is. " (1970) Sources Herbst, R. (1970)  'n Nuwe Mylpaal uit Ons Tu...