Page 21 - Bulletin 7 2003

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In Cape Town itself, it is perhaps true to say that old buildings ‘stand in the way of
progress’; in a literal way they do, of course, although with a few dozen of them

among as many thousands of modern buildings the argument is hardly convincing.
However, in the smaller towns building space is less at a premium and the often

more intact townscape makes preservation more worth while. Yet it is here that the
th
greatest 20 century losses have occurred; no one will ever know precisely how
great, for as we have seen, not even Elliott left us a precise record. One only has to

look at his photographs of the vicinity of the old church and the drostdy village at
Tulbagh, of Church Street, Stellenbosch, of the church with the adjoining wool store

at Swellendam, to realise that what we lost there is more than just a few modest
buildings.

We still have Dorp Street in Stellenbosch, the Paarl church and surroundings,
Parsonage and Cradock Street, Graaff-Reinet, Long Street in Montagu, Church Street

in Tulbagh, or smaller towns like Wupperthal, Genadendal or McGregor as almost

unbroken samples of the charming village architecture of a century or more ago. The
National Monuments Council now provides a measure of protection for a number of

individual buildings and a few groups such as Wynberg Village and Daljosaphat.
Laudable efforts in this regard have been made by local and national preservation

societies and private restoration companies. Yet much of our heritage could still –
and does – disappear overnight without anyone being in a position to stop it.

Somewhat less gloomy is the situation regarding our historic farms. But so it should
be. With their absolute rightness in the landscape from which they seem to have

sprung like the oaks and vines surrounding them, the Cape homesteads form one of
our country’s greatest cultural treasures. Moreover, there is generally no real

justification for the demolition of old farmhouses in reasonable repair – as they
should be. They seldom stand in the way of progress – or, more correctly, of property

gains – as old houses sometimes do in built-up areas. With minor adjustments and

proper maintenance, traditional farm opstalle have proved over and over to have
remained eminently suited to the farming and dwelling requirements for which they

were built.