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on this property was made when Thomas Cutting sold the property to Johan Knipp on 10 March

1874 (D.T.244).

Anders Ohlsson

Thomas Cutting ran an omnibus service, which consisted of nine omnibuses and forty horses, in
partnership with William Boyce from Wynberg to Simon’s Town. He married the daughter of

Thomas Melville who had a hotel in Kalk Bay and, after Cutting’s omnibus service went

bankrupt in 1863, he may well have established an hotel on this site. When Daniel Cloete bought
this property from Knipp on 24 January 1876 (D.T. 395) he wished to add this hotel to the many

others he owned. The hotel passed to Anders Ohlsson on 27 January 1887 from the insolvent

estate of Daniel Cloete. (D.T. 228.) It can only be assumed that Anders Ohlsson was a keen
mason for the name was changed to the Masonic Hotel, and the property was transferred to

Ohlsson’s Cape Breweries on 30/12/1889. (D.T. 385.)

The Masonic Hotel was a double storey building and the downstairs consisted of two bedrooms,
a large bar which opened directly onto the Main Road, a billiard-room, a kitchen, dining-room

and toilet facilities. There were 6 bedrooms upstairs. (Fig. 5.6.)

Architect John Parker and the Majestic Hotel

John Parker (Fig. 5.7) came to South Africa in 1883 at the young age of 16 and had served as an

assistant for seven years under Charles Freeman. He then started his own practice at No.19, Hout
Street in 1890 and one of his early works was the White House Hotel in Strand Street (1893)

which, until demolished in the early 1970s, was a landmark in Cape Town. In 1900 he did some

minor work for Ohlsson’s Cape Breweries, much to the satisfaction of Anders Ohlsson. Parker’s
firm, which was now known as Parker and Forsyth, continued with work for Ohlsson’s Cape

Breweries. Buildings included local South Peninsula landmarks such as the Muizenberg Hotel

(now demolished), the Glencairn Hotel, and the British Hotel in Simon’s Town.

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