Noordhoek Wine Estate

MELANIE ATTWELL

C A P E T OW N INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE: HISTORICAL BACKGROUN D R E P O R T

Historical Background Report submitted to Vidamemoria Heritage Consultants for the Cape Town International Convention Centre Company: January 2013

Melanie Attwell was appointed by Vidamemoria Heritage Consultants to undertake a historical study into the site proposed for the extension to the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CIICC II) situated on erven 245, 246; Portion erf 192 and Portion erf 247 (servitude) Roggebaai Cape Town Cape Town. The site is bounded by the Heerengracht, Rua Bartholomeu Dias (or Vasco Da Gama Boulevard including Salazar Square,) Table Bay Boulevard, and DF Malan Avenue. The site consists of:

Erf 245: Site B owned by the City of Cape Town for CTICC expansion Erf 246: Site C owned by the City of Cape Town for CTICC expansion Erf 247 Portion Site A: (Servitude) Erf 192 (Parking) Salazar Square

CTICC

Erf 192

Erven 245,246 and portion 247 (servitude)Rogge baai

Salazar Square:

Fig 1. Erven 245, 246, Servitude: erf 247 and Salazar Square, Foreshore

In terms of the proposal the Convention Centre extension will be situated on erven 245 and 246 Roggebaai, while erf 192 will be used for parking facilities and remainder erf 192 (Salazar Square) will be used for underground parking purposes. Erven 245 246 and 247 currently remain open space and are used for parking. Proposals are currently at an advanced stage for the development of erf 247 as a medical facility.

Erven 245 and 246 are currently undeveloped.

The brief as agreed by Vidamemoria Heritage Consultants was:

 To undertake a deeds search to trace historical ownership.

 To examine the development of the Adderley Street shaft of space, its significance for the urban design of Cape Town, to examine its historical origins and changes to the axis from the 17th to the 20th century.

 To research the design intentions of the Foreshore plan including the “Gateway” concept, the initiation of the planning program and the subsequent amendments and corruptions of that program through building and freeway developments.

 To research the City’s interactions with the sea, notably in the development of the Cape Town Pier and views to and from the sea.

 To research the Adderley Street-Heerengracht axis using secondary sources, maps and images.

A separate archaeological study for the affected site has been undertaken by the Archaeology Contracts Office.

2.1. The methodology involved the following:

 Deeds Office research  Collection and review of relevant photographs historical, maps, aerial photographs and other visual material  Collection and review of relevant planning documentation affecting the site  Collection and review of relevant secondary sources  Spatial/historical analysis as required in terms of the brief  Preparation of preliminary report

2.2. Limitations

A deeds search was limited by the fact that no transfer records and deeds were available at the Deeds Office in the period 1935 – 1970 as they were being digitised. The servitude conditions were therefore currently unavailable.

3. DEEDS RESEARCH

The erven on which the proposed extension of the Cape Town International Convention Centre are situated, form part of the Foreshore reclamation, initiated in 1937 and completed after the Second World War (1939-1945). The affected sites were therefore submerged in Table Bay before this date. Reclamation of land within the Bay was by no means limited to 1937 - 1938 (see Section 4), but occurred as early as the mid nineteenth century.

Erven 245, 246 Portion erf 247 (servitude) and Portion erf 192 form part of the land vested in the Cape Town Foreshore Board by virtue of the Foreshore act of 1950. The erven 245, 246 were acquired by the City of Cape Town transferred from the Board to the Municipality of Cape Town in 1978. Erf 247 is privately owned and will be developed shortly as the Lakeside Medical development.

The erven were created by the Foreshore Reclamation process and vested in the Foreshore Board, the State and subsequently the City of Cape Town. Prior to reclamation the erven in question fell outside the shoreline and were situated well within Table Bay.

3.1. Deeds summary is as follows:

Erf 192 Roggebaai was administered by the Foreshore Board and was not inside the C T Municipal Boundary. In 1979, as a result of the change in the Municipal Boundary, it became registered in the name of the Metropolitan Transitional Substructure – Cape Town, vide Township Title No 4259 dd 1979/03/01. This ownership has since passed to the Municipality of Cape Town vide D/T No 81590 dd 2003/09/03 ( Ref 2003 0842 3511 ). The Deeds Office shows no servitudes registered against it.

Erf 245 Roggebaai is a consolidation of erven 238 &235 ( which were both first registered in 2006 ) vide Certificate of Consolidated Title in favour of the City of Cape Town No 29690 dd 2006/05/03 ( Ref 2006 1174 1904 ). The Right of Way and Services Servitudes as shown on the diagrams are registered Vide K436/2006S (Ref 2006 1174 1915 ).

Erf 246 Roggebaai is a consolidation of the remaining extent of erf 182 & erf 185 (both first registered in 1974) and erven 236, 239 & 242 (all first registered in 2006) vide Certificate of Consolidated Title in favour of Media 24 Ltd No 29687 dd 2006/05/03 (Ref 20100105152709).Erf 246 was then transferred to Naspers Prop Pty Ltd vide Deed of Transfer No 45090 dd 2009/09/09 (Ref 20100105152626). The Right of Way and Services Servitudes as shown on the diagrams are registered vide K433/2006S (Ref 2006 1174 1819), K434/2006S (Ref 2006 1174 1828), K435/2006S (Ref 2006 1174 1837) & K436/2006S (Ref 2006 1174 1915).

Erf 247 Roggebaai is a consolidation of the remaining extents of erven 183 & 184 ( both first registered in 1975 ), erven 240 & 243 ( both first registered in 2006 ) and erf 199 (first registered in 1981 ) vide Certificate of Consolidated Title in favour of the Provincial Government – Western Cape No 29684 dd 2006/05/03 ( Ref 20110617110243 ). Erf 247 was then transferred to Lakeside City Trading 55 Pty Ltd vide Deed of Transfer No 14484 dd 2011/03/18 ( Ref 20110617110141 ).

The Right of Way and Services Servitudes as shown on the diagrams are registered vide K431/2006S (Ref 2006 1174 1747) and K432/2006S (Ref 2006 1174 1756).1

4. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND; THE ADDERLEY STREET/HEERENGRACHT AXIS

The central shaft of space, historically being Adderley Street and the central Company Garden’s axis is the shaping idea for Cape Town, its defining spatial arrangement. The Heerengracht abutting the area under study is a conscious extension of the Government Avenue/Adderley Street axis. The decision to name the extension to the axis the “Heerengracht” signals a clear intention of continuity in the city spine; and a continuity of historical re-enforcement, drawing on the historic urban morphology and idea of a gateway to southern Africa.

4.1. Origins

While the origins of Cape Town have been studied in depth, there is less consensus about the nature, emergence and orientation of the City grid with Adderley Street as the central spine.

1 Mr Ian Black, Research Report for M Attwell: CTICC Cape Town Dec 2012.

© Melanie Attwell : CTICC Historical Background Report 4 Todeschini (1983:18-21) argued that the urban plan for the Cape Town settlement followed the standard merchant/colonial Bastide form i.e. that of an encircled defended space consisting in this case, of a fort, a parade ground and a garden. Fransen (42: 2006) on the other hand, argued that the grid plan was too open, particularly on the inward southern boundary, to be considered defensible, and therefore not a true bastide form. He noted that the settlement was called a vlek or an extended settlement. He also noted that it was not the intention of the Dutch East India Company at the time of the settlement origins, to establish a permanent settlement, and did not intend to wrest the land away from the local Gorinhaiqua; and thus the formal fortifications for the space were not initially required. When that decision changed, Cape Town did indeed acquire defensive fortifications along the Liesbeek River and later facing the sea.2

Van Oers (120:2000) argues that the defensive tactic of “roying” established the outer boundaries of defensive action from the fort; beyond which a settlement was established. This outer boundary was marked by the shaft of space on its western edge (Adderley Street) and resulted in the establishment of the first settlement streets - namely Castle Hout and Riebeeck Streets, running west from the central shaft of space. These streets formed part of a series of component spaces linked by the line of Adderley Street to the central axis of the Dutch East India Company’s Gardens. Rennie (10:2003) however, notes that the fort itself was angled off the true street grid. Such an angle would have impacted upon the grid alignment had the “roying” planning mechanism been fully effected and carefully followed.

To these arguments may be added a third – that of topography and the use of the streams descending from the mountains to supply the settlement, feed the moat and irrigate the Company’s Garden and - to orientate the settlement. The Garden was arranged in a series of formal grids with channels fed from the Vaarsche River for irrigation purposes. The placement and orientation of the Garden was the result of both soil conditions3 and the use of a slope to irrigate the beds through a system of gravity fed channels. A gravity fed system of grachte was initiated at least by 1660 which modified the existing natural drainage system and created a grid orientation system which remains to this day. When the Foreshore was planned a new grid system was intended to link with the old, albeit on a different scale.

Two streams running roughly in parallel run down the lower slopes towards the sea. Both ran along the outer edges of the Company’s Garden. The first ran from Platteklip Gorge along Orange Street and descended towards the Company Gardens via Grey’s Pass. It was later fed into grachte, one of which ran the length of Adderley Street and was linked to the Parade grachte. The second perennial stream ran from the south east edge of the gardens into Plein Street where it entered the moat and the sea. This water system set up the link between the mountain and the sea.

The water channels which created the formal spaces within the Company Gardens were substantial structuring elements described as being about 2 metres in width and depth linked by smaller channels.4 The current channels extending down Government Avenue were probably built long after the Dutch irrigation channels fell into disuse. Harris surmises that they were built probably in about 18485 and were certainly in existence by 1862.6 Government Avenue was extended in the British period towards Orange Street. This, together with the building of the

2 Such large fortifications included the Chavonnes and the Amsterdam Batteries, the Imhoff Battery and the French Lines along the vulnerable eastern flank. These together with the high mountain backdrop acted as a barrier from the south and the west did in fact create a kind of bastide form, at least by the eighteenth century. However this system built on an existing settlement pattern. 3 The Gardens were moved southwards towards the mountain from their original position due to poor soil conditions closer to shore 4 One channel – the Great Channel remains outside the Government Avenue entrance to the Tuynhuys. 5 This was when the lower part of the Garden was designed as a Botanical Garden. 6 They are indicated on Snow’s Municipal Survey 1862. Also shown are the grachte around the eastern and southern edges of the Grand Parade.

© Melanie Attwell : CTICC Historical Background Report 5 jetty at the foot of Adderley Street, and the construction of the water channels defining Government Avenue, indicated an urban design intention to define, extend and celebrate the Government Avenue and central street axis and its axial link with the sea by the mid to late nineteenth century.

The early city settlement was defined by Buitenkant Street to the east, Buitengracht to the west, Buitensingel to the south and to the north - the shoreline. Within this, a series of uniform blocks of equal dimensions were established creating the current city grid. Significant roads such as Adderley and Strand were wider, with the intersection of Strand and Adderley creating the cross axis associated with the City centre. The impact of this cross axis has been diminished by mid twentieth century planning and design initiatives which forced pedestrians underground and created a series of blank facades defining an inhospitable terrain.

4.2. The extension of the Adderley Street7 axis; and city growth

The old Heerengracht now Adderley Street became the spine of Cape Town. The focus appears to have been the upper end of the Street, however. The link with the Company Gardens was formalised by an ornamental gateway complex designed by LM Thibault, while the sea end remained a relatively informal “left over” space, until the building of the central wharf, which extended Adderley Street into the sea. By the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, lower Adderley Street had become a centre for pedestrian activity. People would walk along the jetty and later the Pier after church, mosque or shul. Fishing continued in Roggebaai with boats drawn up on the shoreline and people would fish or swim off the jetty or central wharf.

Prior to the building of the harbour, visitors would go onshore from the central jetty or wharf. The building of the Alfred Basin in 1860 and subsequent harbour development deflected maritime commercial and trading activity away from the Adderley Street spine to some extent, but contributed to Cape Town’s identity as a port city.

There can be no doubt that by the eighteenth and nineteenth century the Adderley Street - Government Avenue link was regarded as a valuable one and worthy of celebration. In 1787, L M Thibault was commissioned to design an entrance and gateway to the Garden. This gateway marked the link between the Heerengracht and the Gardens, and by association the defining spine of Cape Town. The gate piers were replaced in 1847 and by 1895 the remaining piers had been removed.

In the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century the Heerengracht and Government Avenue were also defined by trees and grachte with the Heerengracht (Adderley) shaft of space forming the function of the City centre. By the 1830’s it was still partly residential and partly commercial in use with the 5 bay and 3 bay double story buildings gradually being converted to commercial use.

Despite its strategic sea importance in terms of defence and trade, Cape Town did not possess a harbour until the mid nineteenth century, nor was its shoreline developed as a port city’s might have been.

Fransen (2006), states that despite the strong link of mountain slope to sea, until the creation of the jetty and later the Cape Town Pier, the defining axis did not extend to the shoreline as it “petered out in the untidy waterfront area”. The shoreline or gateway to the city was not architecturally celebrated until the creation of the iconic but short-lived Cape Town Pier in 1913 and the statue of Jan van Riebeeck in 1889 which stood on the edge of the old shoreline

7 While the name Adderley Street was only given in the mid nineteenth century I have used it throughout in order to differentiate with the later extension of Adderley Street called the Heerengracht, to avoid confusion.

The Adderley Street/seafront axis of Cape Town remained uncelebrated until the early twentieth century when the Cape Town Pier was built in 1913-1914. Early maps between the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries suggest that lower Adderley Street beyond Strand and the Grand Parade was a collection of structures generally associated with the “downtown” part of town, including the “Shambles” (where animals were slaughtered and entrails were thrown into the sea), warehouses taverns - and along Sea Street - housing for the fishermen of Roggebaai and the very poor. There were also a number of government offices – the Custom’s House and the first gaol, for instance.

4.1.1. The following image and map analysis gives an explanation of how the central city spine influenced City growth.

Streams

Adderley Street Government Avenue axis

Fig One: Map 1693 (Picard 1968:16) geo-referenced: Source City of Cape Town’s Heritage Resources Section

This map shows the modification of the natural drainage system for irrigation purposes, the establishment of the Company Gardens, the structured orientation dimensions created by such a system; and the first streets and houses northwest of the Fort, along the central axis of the Company Gardens. It may be argued that it was Adderley Street as a shaft of space rather than the first streets that set up the link of city to sea, and garden to city which so characterised Cape Town for much of its history. The role of Adderley Street and the central Company Garden’s axis (Government Avenue) in the development of the formal city grid is substantial, as it was the spine around which the historical city developed. The shaft of space extending from the top of Adderley Street to the Foreshore remains the City principal axis and has its origins in the establishment of the city grid. It also extends “in contrasting muted form” (Harris 2001:34) up Government Avenue. 9

8 The statue was a gift to the City by Cecil John Rhodes. 9 Overlay map by courtesy City of Cape Town: Mr Clive James

Strand Street

Adderley Street shaft of space

Fig Two: Map of the Cape of Good Hope nd circa 1795. Image: National Archive of The Hague, Inventory of the Orphan Chamber Cape of Good Hope http://www.tanap.net/content/activities/documents/Orphan_ChamberCape_of_Good_Hope

This map best illustrates the role played by the Government Avenue/Adderley Street axis and the garden layout in the development of the City. The grid of the Garden gives rise to the grid of the city blocks, water is distributed from the mountain slopes to the north. There is a second transverse axis running east west from the Castle and the Grand Parade between Darling (Keizergracht) and Strand Street. The map erroneously shows the Parade divided into smaller spaces.

Fig Three: This map of Cape Town is dated 1760 but is in fact much later, possibly 1820. M1/338 Cape Archives

In terms of the shoreline, the map still shows a single jetty near the Castle explaining the presence of warehouses in the Buitenkant Street area. The central axis has been extended to Orange Street. The shoreline shows the Amsterdam and Chavonnes Batteries as well as the French Lines and the sea walls. To the west the settlement growth has extended beyond the Buitengracht Street edge towards Signal Hill and the Strand Street Quarries. Further development has occurred north of Strand Street in the vicinity of the Shambles. The water courses extending from Wale Street down Adderley to the Parade are still evident.

Fig Four: Detail: Nautical chart by Skead c 1860 City of Cape Town

This Nautical Chart shows a “hybrid” Cape Town with Dutch military remnants and a British Colonial administrative and commercial overlay. It shows the central jetty now called a wharf, a rail and road link via Dock Road between the central city and the harbour. The Castle jetty is gone - demolished for the rail link. The north and central wharfs remain - suggesting the commercial activity has moved west to the harbour area. There is a coaling wharf close to the Amsterdam Battery, the railway station and the single rail line. The Grand Parade is named here unusually as the “Prince Alfred Square Parade Ground”. This chart was prepared soon after his visit and may suggest there was talk of renaming the Grand Parade in his honour. It gives an indication of how quickly the shoreline developed after the introduction of the Breakwater and how such development followed the shoreline laterally, linking the central district with the port.

Fig Five: Cape Town 1880 from the foot of Government Avenue looking towards the Table Bay. The Bay can be seen at the lower end of Adderley Street. The Sexton’s House (later demolished) to the right projects into Adderley Street

4.2. Historic character of Lower Adderley Street and the shoreline

Commercial opportunities expanded in Adderley Street in the nineteenth century. The Commercial exchange was built within the Grand Parade edge of Adderley Street, to encourage economic growth and represent the merchant classes. This was the first of the building on the Parade and marked a change in the use of the Adderley Street edge from military space to commercial and institutional. By the mid nineteenth century Adderley Street had initiated the change from residential to commercial use although the Cape 5 bay and 3 bay buildings remained.10 Lower Adderley by 1876 was largely government buildings including the custom’s house and the old goal11.

AG Howard (1909) described the area as follows “. . . on the other side of Adderley Street there were some old buildings, some Dutch and some put up by the British Military authorities but bearing the stamp of Colonial architecture. One of these was the old Custom House, that building adjoining the corner three storied building. This building formed a portion of the old gaol, which stretched across the lower end of Adderley Street so that only a narrow lane existed through which one had to pass to reach the pier;” and “. . . we come to the ‘Railway Terminus’, a very grand name to apply to such a miserable structure: which was merely an iron shed, containing one platform, two lines of rails, and a few necessary offices; there was only one shunting line along the outside of the building.”

Howard also described the popularity of the central jetty and surrounding area in Adderley Street as a pedestrian space. “The Central Jetty at the foot of Adderley Street was then in its glory; it was the fashionable promenade of the town, especially was this the case on Sunday evenings when the churches came out; then crowds thronged Adderley Street and eventually found their way to the Jetty”.

4.3. Links with the sea

Until the building of the Alfred Basin, access to the coastline was by jetty. The link to the natural shoreline was all important for Cape Town as a port City, and in terms of its identity. As a colonial port with strategic military value, Cape Town derived its identity from the sea. The Government Avenue - Adderley axis to the sea provided a vital link to the world beyond. From

10 See for example sketch of Adderley Street by Charles D”Oly 1832 Picard 1968:174 11 Moved to Roeland Street

© Melanie Attwell : CTICC Historical Background Report 11 the seventeenth to the mid twentieth century, the arrival of ships in the Bay was a major event. As a result the view of the sea from Cape Town was not only of functional value but the visual link with the sea was of substantial symbolic value too.

Cape Town’s role as a port City was adversely affected by historical events including the opening of the Suez Canal, the establishment of air travel which directed international communications away from the Duncan Dock; and the trade embargoes and political isolation which followed the development of the Apartheid State.

There were three jetties in Cape Town prior to the development of the first harbour facilities. The first was the Castle jetty situated at the foot of Buitenkant Street, close to the Castle with a position now under the suburban rail lines. The second was the North Wharf jetty to the west currently in the vicinity of Pier Place. The third jetty was the central one extending from Adderley Street carrying the spatial Government Avenue/Adderley Street axis to the sea. The jetty was constructed between 1827 and 1847 and its role grew as commercial activity grew. This jetty or wharf marked the extension of the seaward part of the axis.

Despite increased commercial activity and maritime growth in trade; the late development of a harbour in c 1870 ironically deflected the focus of the trading link away from the Central Wharf in Cape Town towards the Alfred and later Victoria Basins.

At the same time (1870-1900) Cape Town’s identity as a port city was re-enforced as sea trade expanded. The Anglo Boer South African War 1899-1902 provided a boost for maritime and military activity and the resulting importance of sea links with Britain. Links to the harbour were channelled along Dock Road, and as a result the lower edge of Adderley Street grew in significance. Commercial opportunities expanded along lower Adderley on the west side of the street with the eastern edge still largely given over to government activities such as the Custom’s House.

The central wharf was replaced by the Cape Town Pier in 1913-1914. Its strong presence reinforced the City link with the sea. It consisted of bathing boxes and fishing platforms at the lowest level followed by a bandstand, a restaurant and a news stand. (Bickford-Smith (41:1999). It became a meeting point and a place where Cape Town residents of all social classes could enjoy the water’s edge. Some fished, some dived of the pier to swim and some were merely spectators. It marked the high point of the mountain to sea axis and enhanced the City’s identity as a recreational destination. In the memories of Cape Town residents it became associated with a freer pre-apartheid Cape Town where Cape Town could still celebrate its links to the sea. The Pier was demolished in 1938 to make way for the Foreshore reclamation. It was a major loss to the identity of Cape Town.

The Cape Town Pier

The central wharf

Fig Six: This map of the historical development of the Harbour area shows on ongoing process of shoreline infill between 1870 and 1977. The road system is superimposed including the Table Bay Boulevard. The approximate position of the site of the proposed Convention Centre Extension is identified with an arrow. Source: City of Cape Town.

The map suggests that there was broad area of coast together with the Central Wharf, the historic Alfred and Victoria Basins; which became increasingly formalised by 1920. This period marks the increasing importance of Dock Road and the building of the Table Bay Power Station. In particular this process resulted in the upgrading of the Adderley - Marine Drive intersection and the building of the Cape Town Pier in 1913. Few changes to the shoreline were effected between 1920 and 1933 but the extensive Foreshore reclamation is shown as having been completed by 1945. Prior to reclamation the shore line was north of Marine Drive which was planted with a line of palm trees.12

4.4. Land Reclamation

Land reclamation in Table Bay was not restricted to 1937-1938. The position of the shoreline was affected throughout the history of the settlement through ongoing dumping and small scale shoreline adjustments.13 Halkett (2012) notes that the technology for substantial reclamation was only available at the end of the 19th century but dumping and tipping into the bay had been a characteristic of the settlement. There were two substantial shoreline adjustments one in about 1870 and the other in 1920, prior to the large scale reclamation project of the 1930s.

12 A portion of the old Marine Drive still remains between the current Civic Centre and the Cape Town Station 13 Historically there was a tradition of “dumping” material and waste into Table Bay.

© Melanie Attwell : CTICC Historical Background Report 13 By the 1930s the existing harbour facilities were considered inadequate for the maritime traffic and in 1935 the South African Railways and Harbours announced plans to develop a new harbour to the east of the existing facilities to be called Duncan Dock. This announcement was to prove the catalyst for the ambitious foreshore plans arising out of the additional land which would be created as a by-product of the harbour development.14

Dredging began in May 1935 when a Dutch firm, the Hollandse Aanneming Maatschappij received the contract to dredge the harbour. The intention was to complete the work by 1941, but because of the intervening war (1939-1945), the reclamation was completed only in 1945. The reclamation was undertaken by dredging material up by pipeline between two areas and depositing the soil on the land side of the inner wall. In this way 140 ha of land was reclaimed from the sea. The harbour walls were built by the South African Railways and Harbour Administration by 1940. By the time of the outbreak of war the Duncan Sock was partially completed and partially in use. Fill material included municipal waste, building rubble but mainly dredged sand and rock from Table Bay.

Photographs dated 1945 to 1947 show the extent of the completed reclamation. (See Annexure One)

4.5. The building of the Cape Town Railway Station

The railway station was built on land at the northern end of the Grand Parade on the eastern side of Adderley Street. The original station described by Howard as a corrugated iron structure was replaced by a substantial early Victorian building and rebuilt a third time in the 1960s. The sea edge in the vicinity of Adderley Street lost development opportunities by being partially cut off from the Town by the railway development, which effectively destroyed any links between the shoreline and the city to the east.

The position and impact of the railway remained a bone of contention between the South African Railways and Harbours and the City of Cape Town throughout the development of the Foreshore plan.

Fig Seven. Impact of railway development in the central City: The Grand Parade in the 1950’s showing the railway cutting off the east city from the sea and forming a problematic visual barrier to the City Hall Precinct.

14 Halkett (2012) notes that approximately 2 million sq metres of reclaimed land would be necessary to make the Duncan Dock accessible from the central city axis.

In its role as the primary street of Cape Town and the increasing focus of commercial and civic activity, Adderley Street assumed ceremonial and symbolic functions. Such roles closely tied Adderley Street to the identity of the City and later, to South Africa as a whole. These included the colonial myths of the “founding fathers” reaching their zenith in the Van Riebeeck Festival of 1952.

There were also ceremonies associated with the war dead 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, and celebrations associated with Armistice of 1919. These spaces have been reclaimed symbolically post 1994 with ceremonial journeys associated with the opening of parliament.

The first formal protest in Adderley occurred in 1849 when residents objected to the presence of HMS Neptune in Table Bay. The ship was to be the first of s series of penal ships intended to turn Cape Town into a penal colony. The support given to Cape Town by the parliamentarian Sir Charles Adderley resulted in the renaming of the City’s main street in his honour.

Fig Eight: The Central Wharf looking towards Adderley Street: SAL

4.7. Adderley Street and the shoreline as a “white space’.

As the dominant space in a colonial city and a racially segregated city, it was inevitable that Adderley Street would form the focus of a series of pageants and symbolic events associated with the origins of the city from the perspective of a “white space”. Adderley Street, particularly the water’s edge, became a space where the “founding fathers” myth was re-enacted and co- opted for political purposes. Much of this centred around the figure of Jan van Riebeeck as the establisher of the “European” settlement at the water’s edge and the first to set foot on the shore, setting in motion a series of “civilising” influences associated with the origins of colonial and later apartheid South Africa. The foot of Adderley Street became the symbolic point where this event occurred.

Fig Ten. The Statue of Van Riebeeck facing the City at the foot of Adderley Street. Image c 1937

The “founding father” Jan van Riebeeck’s statue was a key component in the 1947 Foreshore Plan marking the link between the old and the new cities, and providing continuity as a “civilising presence”. Here Van Riebeeck looks south into Cape Town from the shoreline link with Adderley Street. Rhodes’ statue was intended to stand at the top of Adderley looking north but after his resignation as Prime Minister the idea was shelved and some years later the statue was moved to a secondary axis within the Company’s Garden

The first to seize on the symbolic value of the founding father myth was Cecil John Rhodes, Prime Minster of the Cape, mining magnate and imperial expansionist. He donated the statue of Jan van Riebeeck to be place at the foot of Adderley Street in 1889 where it remains today. The symbolic significance of the position has been minimised by the extension of the shoreline. Rhodes wished it to be orientated to look south towards Cape Town while his statue was to look beyond the city – northwards towards the “hinterland”. A triumphal statue of Cecil John Rhodes was planned for the top of Adderley Street. The intention was to enshrine the Adderley shaft of space with book-end statues of the “founding fathers”. In this Rhodes was symbolically indicating that he assumed the mantle of van Riebeeck. 15 Festivals centring around van Riebeeck statue associated with expressions of nationalism began in earnest in 1913 with the

15 The statue of Rhodes was never placed at the top of Adderley Street. Ii was quietly place in the Company Gardens still looking north.

Witz (4:2003) has analysed the twentieth century re-enactment of this event and the co- option and re-invention of Van Riebeeck, noting: “The disembarkation of Van Riebeeck at the Cape became the launching pad of story of racial domination subjugation and opposition in South Africa.”

He also noted that the point at which this event was reviewed was in the 1940s and 1950s16 when apartheid South Africa was in search of a founder’s myth. Witz argues that van Riebeeck only really received a position of such prominence in 1952 with the Van Riebeeck Festival which marked three hundred years of “white” settlement at the Cape.17 The decision to re-enact the disembarkation at Granger Bay rather than near Adderley and near the statue of van Riebeeck was based on the unfortunate reality that by 1952 the shore had changed beyond recognition of a 1652 coastline, and the Committee needed an “authentic experience”. The re- enactment of the landing was a deeply contested event in Cape Town deeply dividing communities and particularly people marginalised by race and apartheid.

The 1947 Foreshore Plan draws on the notions of colonial superiority and the founding father myth. The introduction to the Plan contains a large photograph of the van Riebeeck statue, stating “European civilization gained its first tentative foothold in the sub-continent during his (Van Riebeeck’s) sojourn. A statue of the ‘father’ of Cape Town has been erected on the intersection of the Old Marine Drive and Adderley Street”18. Despite its affirmation of modernism in the “brave new world” approach to the planning of Cape Town, the report and many of those before it make selective use of heritage monuments and spaces as part of the “gateway” to South Africa. The 1947 Scheme contains and celebrates certain monuments and spaces associated with the Dutch origins of the City including the Castle, the Parade and the Adderley Street axis leading to the Company Gardens. However these were selective and the Scheme in general did not respond to the scale, character and morphology of the City Centre preferring to opt for a new vision of building blocks separated by large boulevards and open spaces. It’s possible to conclude that the historicist references owed equally to a sense of nationalism and a link to the Dutch past as a modernist approach to city planning. In fact one could argue that the two were strongly linked and modern movement planning had a racist/nationalist agenda in this instance, as it led to the racial separation and removal of the inhabitants of the inner city through the eventual destruction of District Six.

16 The National Party came to power in 1948. 17 For a full analysis see L Witz Apartheid’s Festival: Contesting South Africa’s National Pasts. 18 The Cape Town Foreshore Plan: The Final Report of the Cape Town Foreshore Joint Technical Committee June 1947 Introduction page v.

Figs Eleven and Twelve. Colonial processions in Lower Adderley Street: The Royal Visits of 1859 and 1947: From Bull M “Secure the Shadow” and SAL respectively.

Marches and memorial events associated with civic memory tend to be played out in the most significant of spaces and Adderley Street was no exception. When Prince Albert19 arrived in Cape Town in 1859 Adderley Street including lower Adderley Street, was decked out in bunting and flags with hundred of residents lining his route. Pageants and displays of high Empire were played out in distant Cape Town in Adderley Street - the death of Queen Victoria and the coronation of her successor King Edward VII. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and South African Union in 1910 was celebrated in Adderley Street and in the last gasp of Empire, the royal visit of 1947.

In the Anglo Boer South African War, British troops marched along Adderley Street. It was here that troops marked from along Dock Road to the harbour and to here that troops returned. There were many victory celebrations and processions along Adderley Street. Bickford Smith (54:1919) noted that among the first was the celebration in 1915 of the end of the South West Africa (Namibia) campaign. Armistice Day was celebrated in 1919 in the centre of Adderley Street with thousands attending.

4.9. The Adderley Street Cenotaph

Significantly the Adderley Street Cenotaph - Cape Town’s main memorial to the War Dead, which was unveiled in 1924, was placed in the centre of lower Adderley Street at the corner with Marine Drive where troops left the heart of the City to march towards and harbour and embarkation, “where our gallant South Africans took their last glance back at the old city and mountain and heard the cheers of friends as they marched down to the Docks…”20

When V E Day was announced in 1945 to a packed Adderley Street to hear the announcement and returning troops were given a victory parade in Adderley Street, some

19 Son of Queen Victoria, in Cape Town to initiate the harbour development 20 As quoted in Bickford-Smith (75:1999)

© Melanie Attwell : CTICC Historical Background Report 18 embarking for the first some from newly reclaimed land on the Foreshore. There were further parades from the foreshore up the newly built Heerengracht in 196221.

Processions in Adderley Street from the Central Wharf and later the Pier to Government Avenue were celebrated with the building of archways, sometimes at the Government Avenue Adderley Street link and sometimes at the lower end of Adderley Street. These were based on triumphal or celebratory arches and were removed after the event. For example Baker and Kendall designed arches at the north and south ends of Adderley Street to celebrate the establishment of Union Government in 1910.

4.10. Impacts of modern movement planning on Adderley Street (See also Section 5)

The Cape Town Foreshore Plan and its impact on the character and urban design of Cape Town are examined in more detail in Section Five. This paragraph focuses on the impact of the Foreshore Plan on Adderley Street and its relationship with the sea in particular. Land reclamation (See Section 5) began in 1937 before there was a decision regarding the future planning for the additional land and initially at least the Duncan Dock was still link across a substantial open space to the foot of Adderley Street. The reclamation involved the loss of the Pier a major landmark, an extension of the Adderley Street axis, a crucial link with the sea and a social and recreational place for Captonians.

The impetus for the scheme was transport driven – the requirement for a larger harbour in Table Bay, giving rise to the filling in of the Table Bay Shore and the creation of some 480 ha of space for development. The additional space was, initially at least, seen as a by-product of the Duncan Dock Development until the realisation that there was the space for a bold new vision for Cape Town along the lines of a modern re-planned city with monumental spaces and the “tidying up” of uses, drawing on Le Corbusierian planning principles – or in the works of the motivation behind the 1947 scheme, “to re-create Cape Town for the needs of modern life”.

The initial schemes involved the development of a wide monumental approach fro the reclaimed shoreline (fatally) extending over the railway station towards the Grand Parade and Darling where a new Civic Complex was to be built. A new City Hall would be placed at the head of the monumental approach. The 1947 scheme accommodated Adderley Street in the monumental approach by creating two parallel monumental approaches both viewed from the sea. Although entirely modern in scale they drew on historicist influences. They consisted of

 An open monumental park from Duncan Dock to the new civic spaces. The monumental approach was intended to mimic the character of the Old Company Gardens. There would be a further transverse monumental approach by way of a Grand Boulevard to the East which would sweep away much of District Six  A motor vehicle approach up the extension of Adderley Street. This approach was viewed as a mechanism to perpetuate the “historic ceremonial driveway into the heart of the City”. The road extension, consciously renamed the “Heerengracht” would be characterised on the Foreshore by wide boulevards with central spaces and linked by circular intersections.

21 SAL photographic collection.

The Heerengracht as a continuation of Adderley Street

Fig Thirteen. The 1947 Scheme: The Cape Town Foreshore plan Final Report of the Cape Town Foreshore Joint Technical Committee 1948

The proposal therefore did not cut off Adderley Street visually from the sea but - despite its modernist aspirations - strengthened importance of the major historic spine - linking the old and the new city grids. It lengthened the axial approach (photographs suggest a slight kink in the alignment although this may have been temporary).

The boulevard to the north between the foreshore and the Duncan Dock was planned at grade and did not visually affect the link with the sea. The approach was used from the sea for a short period while the Foreshore was being re-planned and altered. In 1952, the foundation stone for the Custom’s house at the foot of the monumental approach was laid but with the demise of extensive sea travel and the trade boycott, the entire proposal was already obsolete. The monumental approach did not survive the 1950s either. In fact the chief survivor in the scheme was the second parallel monumental approach – the Heerengracht/Adderley Street Axis.

Fig Fourteen: The landmark wedge-shaped “Flat Iron” building where Adderley Street continued into the new Heerengracht and where Adderley met Dock Road. The memorial to the War Dead and the Statue of Jan van Riebeeck are both visible. The line of trees marks the old Marine Drive.The layout of the Foreshore road plan is visible. CCb.121f35 102 City of Cape Town.

The reclaimed Foreshore was vested in the specially created Foreshore Board in terms of the Foreshore Act of 1950. Divisions appeared in the directions taken by the City and that of the Board. The City was responsible for what happened outside the reclaimed area - and City Engineer Dr Solly Morris 22- proposed a number of amendments to the agreed Plan in 1951(See below). These were not so much amendments as a mechanism to turn the proposal on its head - building in the monumental approach and cutting off the Heerengracht from the second monumental approach to the sea by an elevated freeway as part of a ring road. His report entitled “The Metropolis of Tomorrow” drew on technological advancements and a strong transportation driven approach to the City’s future. This plan “marked the beginnings of the current Foreshore road and land configuration”.23

In 1959 the proposal was investigated by a Joint Committee upon the representations made by the City of Cape Town the Provincial Administration and the Foreshore Board to the Department of Lands.

The Shand Committee was appointed by the Provincial Administrator in 1963. It confirmed the proposal for the initiation of a ring road around the CBD. It endorsed the 1951 proposals for the Western and Eastern Boulevards and the Table Bay Boulevard. It also became clear that a new layout for the Foreshore would be necessary to accommodate the Foreshore Freeway Scheme. This was made more evident by the collapse of the maritime concept that formed the core of the Duncan Dock - Monumental Approach and the building proposals for the Nico Malan Opera House the Civic Centre on the site of the monumental approach.

The amendments to the 1947 as envisaged by the 1951 Scheme and subsequently fleshed out by the Shand Commission and its consultants fundamentally changed the concept of the “grand approach” or the gateway to South Africa insofar as the first monumental approach across the Grand Parade was concerned. However the second approach or the “gateway concept” remained in the Adderley Street Heerengracht axis, partly by default and partly because

22 He was trained in a transport driven and modern movement approach to urban planning and remained City Engineer until 1977 in a highly formative period in the City’s history. 23 Sotomi M, The Foreshore: Review of the Past, Unpublished Report for the Town Planning Branch City {lanners Department, City of Cape Town.

The new Heerengracht, unlike the monumental approach, survived the transport driven replanning of the city 1950- 1977. However, even the Heerengracht axis as envisaged and the 1947 plan was never completed in its entirety at the Duncan Dock edge. Subsequent changes 1950-1977, particularly the Foreshore freeway scheme, adversely affected its relationship with the sea, its role as a key historical linkage and place closely associated with the role and identity of Cape Town. (See below). Elements and forms remain however; particularly the series of wide boulevards and circles and the building forms heights and setbacks along the western edge of the boulevard.

As far as the monumental approach was concerned, one could argue that it was doomed to failure – it was in the wrong place, did not respond to the spatial dynamics of the City as they existed, was dependent on a dying sea trade for relevance; and never really overcame the problem of the railway lines situated in direct visual competition with the monumental approach itself. In addition it was unclear why two monumental approaches were necessary to a small colonial city and in the end it was the Adderley Street Heerengracht approach that most recognised as the “gateway to South Africa”. The “gateway” concept has been transferred in its entirety to Adderley Street now re-interpreted as the “gateway to Africa”. The gateway concept has been enhanced with landscape references to “Africa” through the use of fever trees Acacia zanthophloea, from the Limpopo Valley.

5. HISTORY OF ERVEN 245 AND 246 THROUGH MAP/PHOTOGRAPH PROGRESSION

245 246

Salazar Square

Fig Fifteen: Map of Cape Town by Eleman 1819 overlaid on current aerial photograph. City of Cape Town, courtesy Brian Martin. The erven 245,246 and 247 are circled in red. The green lines identify erven currently under consolidation and should be ignored. The erven 245-247 are shown in relation to the shoreline and it can be seen that they are well within the Bay.

Fig Sixteen: Snow’s Municipal Survey of Cape Town 1862, with cadastral and aerial photograph overlay. City of Cape Town. This shows the extending shoreline in the vicinity of Adderley Street and Dock Road, the presence of the Central Wharf and Roggebaai. The future erven 245-247 are well within the Table Bay.

245 246

Salazar Square

Fig Seventeen: Thom’s Municipal Survey 1898. This shows the shoreline extending into the Bay to the North West. Roggebaai has been reduced by the North Wharf and the Central Wharf has been extended into the Bay. The Future Erven 245-247 remain underwater well within the Bay

Fig Eighteen: Aerial Photograph 1935. This shows the central wharf extended to form the Cape Town Pier, land reclamation north of Dock Road and the building of the Table Bay Power Station. Roggebaai has been further reduced. There is evidence of land reclamation to the east of lower Adderley Street although the future erven 245-246 still remain well within Table Bay. This era constitutes the high point of central Cape Town’s link with the sea and the strength of the Government Avenue Adderley Street axis.

245 246

Fig Nineteen: Aerial Photograph 1947. This post war photograph shows the completion of the reclamation process and the beginnings of the planning for the infrastructure and the implementation of the plan. The reclamation process is shown as complete and Roggebaai has disappeared beneath the new shoreline. This

© Melanie Attwell : CTICC Historical Background Report 24 photograph shows the Foreshore at the time of the Royal visit in 1947. The central Duncan Dock berth is in use and a temporary road has been constructed at an angle to link the Dock with Adderley Street. There are the beginnings of a road network along the quays at Duncan Dock, the initial Table Bay Boulevard is in the initial stages and the Foreshore road link with Adderley Street has been initiated. There are no buildings on erven 245- 246 and indeed new buildings have yet been constructed on the Foreshore

245

246

Fig Twenty: Aerial Photograph 1953. The extent of the works undertaken in the intervening 6 years is very evident. The “skeleton’ of the Foreshore scheme has been completed with the road network of wide boulevards and circles laid out. The old shoreline which more or less follows the line of Dock Road is partially visible. It shows the old Dock Road Adderley Street intersection and the continuation of Adderley into the Heerengracht where the van Riebeeck statue (circled) is situated. The original Table Bay Boulevard at grade leads into the Heerengracht.

6. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, FORESHORE PLANNING AND URBAN DESIGN AMENDMENTS

6.1. Planning history

6.1.1. The first land reclamation proposal

The first proposal to reclaim land in the Table Bay was submitted by Mr C McLeod in 1907. The proposal sought to provide much needed land by reclaiming land from the shoreline along the Dutch model. An additional advantage would be the screening of the railway and the provision of facilities for road traffic. The position of the railway had always been problematic as it cuts off the eastern edge of the lower City from the sea and the commercial advantages which might have followed.

By 1935 the South African Railways and Harbour (SAR&H) administration undertook preliminary investigations for the reclamation of the foreshore area, with a proposal to reclaim 480 acres form the sea - with some 90acres for dockland development and a further 270 acres for central city development. The construction of the Duncan Dock was proposed at the same

6.1.2 The Planning of the Foreshore

Dredging and reclamation began in 1937. In 1939 the Minister for railways appointed Mr Longstreth Thompson and Professor L.W. Thornton-White to prepare the basis for the urban design of the reclaimed area. The Foreshore scheme proposed a monumental approach leading from the main berth at the new Duncan Dock to a civic area situated on the Grand Parade, and a second major (mainly transport) approach leading up the extended Adderley Street towards the Company Gardens, thus linking the harbour to the mountain slopes via an extended axis. The City of Cape Town, in turn appointed M.E E Beaudouin, Paris City Planner, to advice on the layout of the foreshore. M Beaudouin’s report was submitted to the City in 1940. Both schemes contained a number of similar objectives which included inter alia:

 The construction of a monumental gateway to South Africa from the new harbour  The development of a broad swathe of open space leading across the Parade to a new Civic space  The resolution of the problems presented by the historic siting on the railway and station

There were disagreements regarding the railway station, particularly in relation to the monumental approach and the Grand Parade. The negotiations proceeded for years deadlocked by the position and treatment of the railway station. The Szlumper Commission had considered dropping the rail connections to allow the monumental approach to extend in its entirety to the proposed new civic space beyond Darling Street but this was abandoned. It stated, “It has been suggested that if the railway passenger tracks were brought underground to a terminal station below street level, many of the objections to the railway scheme would be overcome; we have considered this proposal we but feel that the scheme which is recommended later in this report will provide an even better solution at less cost”.24 In the end, the Szlumper Committee achieved a compromise of sorts by getting the parties to agree to the retention of the station in its current form but increasing the mitigation affecting the visual links between the monumental approach and the Grand Parade25.

6.1.3. The development of the Final Planning Proposal 1947

The Cape Town Joint Technical Committee appointed M. Beaudouin to prepare a final composite plan in line with his initial proposals made in 1940 and accommodating the earlier proposals of Longstreth Thomson and Thornton White. The Committee agreed to these final proposals in 1946 and they were published in 1947 - 1948. The final report was submitted and approved in 1947 called the “The Cape Town Foreshore Plan”. It had 16 main components. In the proposal, not one - but two monumental approaches were proposed – one from the site of the monumental approach from the harbour to the city terminating in the Grand Parade; and another from the Heerengracht/Adderley Street axis to the city’s commercial centre. A new Civic Centre would be built in the block containing the City Hall terminating the monumental approach which extended across the sea terminal across the roof deck of the railway station and across the Grand Parade. The plan proposed a system of freeways - an eastern and western boulevard accessing the city and crossing the central boulevard. The proposal built on the City’s strong relationship with the sea, the extension of the City grid in an altered form. Importantly and uniquely for a modern movement plan, it proposed building on the City’s dominant central axis – the Government Avenue Adderley Street axis extending it to meet the Table Bay

24 Report of the Szlumper Committee Item 12, Appendix A, 1947 Report. 25 The Szlumper Committee recommended that the railway be retained in its current position i.e. facing Adderley Street and that the roof over the rail lines should be used as a deck for parking and the Grand Parade levels should be heightened. (Sotomi 1993).

© Melanie Attwell : CTICC Historical Background Report 26 Boulevard and beyond that to the Duncan Dock. It proposed a grid system similar to that of the existing historic city grid which allowed views towards the sea and the mountain, accentuating the “gateway” concept.

6.1.4. Amendments: From “The Metropolis of Tomorrow” to the “Black Report”.

The City of Cape Town‘s City Engineers Department produced a key document in 1951 reviewing the 1947 scheme called “Metropolis of Tomorrow”. Directed by the City Engineer - Dr Solly Morris, it proposed radical changes to the Foreshore Scheme and to the monumental approach.26 The report proposed the building of new City Hall Complex in the centre of the monumental approach and a ring road to provide better access and improve transportation flows into the City. The proposals were accepted by the parties concerned. The ring road although, only partially built, effected a major blow for the Government Avenue Adderley Street Heerengracht Spine cutting it off visually from its link with the sea by an elevated freeway.

The impacts for Cape Town in terms of its aesthetics, its scenic qualities and its identity as a port city were substantial. Planners still grapple with the problem today.

A City review (1991) summarised this plan as being dominated by “road and traffic engineering”. By 1963 the Morris proposals were put to the Shand Committee which confirmed the departmental proposal of the partial ring road around the City, including the development of the Western Boulevard, the Eastern Boulevard; and the Table Bay Boulevard which affected the city/sea link.

In addition the commission recommended the further development of the original monumental approach to include the Nico Malan Opera House (now Artscape) and the development of podium/tower buildings not part of the original proposals and which affected the space to void relationship of the Foreshore plan. The Shand Commission’ recommendations were approved in 1968 and included the extension of the eastern boulevard over the rail lines and across the Culemborg Goods Yards and the elevated freeway across the Foreshore skirting the Table Bay Boulevard. The design for the elevated freeway was undertaken by the Foreshore Freeway Consultants. At the same time the Cape Provincial Administrations took over the gardens of the Monumental approach and began work on the Nico Malan Opera Complex which was completed in 1971.

Because the matter had becoming increasingly complex and confused, R Uytenbogaardt was appointed by the City in 1966 to examine the 1947 Plan. He, equally confusingly, recommended conformity to the 1947 Plan, but at the same time also proposed “adaptability”, including future modifications to the Plan. He proposed a “step down approach”.

The Black Report of 1978 was commissioned to extend the Boulevard to Buitengracht. In 1978 the Cape Metropolitan Transport study revised its traffic projections and recommended an interim Buitengracht scheme which was constructed in 1982. The City of Cape Town acquired the properties necessary for the Final Freeway Scheme with funds provided by the Provincial Administration, but the full Boulevard Scheme remained uncompleted. As a result it now involves truncated and half finished elevated freeways that have become landmarks in their own right.

The full Buitengracht Scheme was abandoned in 1983. This was because of budget issues and also increasing public concern on the impact of the scheme on historic properties of the West City played a role, particularly impact on the Lutheran Church Complex and the Bree Shortmarket Block. This caused the full scheme to not be implemented. Further negotiations and studies continued including the Grey Report and Scheme revisions affecting the Table Bay

26 Dr S Morris called them “minor modifications”

The Foreshore Board was disbanded in 1979 and the powers as established by the Foreshore Act vested in the State.

6.2. Subsequent Planning Studies and Analyses.

6.2.1. The City Bowl Development Area 1991

The City of Cape Town produced the City Bowl Development Area in 1991 to tie existing plans for the City Bowl to a developmental context.

The Planning Framework‘s major concept was the linking of the mountain the City and the sea. It noted that the compact City form altered after 1945 and the physical and visible relationship with the water’s edge has been eroded. From a people-related perspective the loss of the City Pier meant the loss of link with the sea. The report inter alia identified two relevant planning issues in this regard.  “To create physical and visual linkages between the sea and the mountains of Table Valley:, and  “The need to overcome the isolation of the Central City from the Sea”.

It proposed a public space concept linking the Heerengracht through the Company Gardens and the Heerengracht o the Duncan Dock.27

6.2.2. The Cape Town Foreshore: Urban Design Framework

In 2000 the City of Cape Town, with GAPP Architects and Urban Designers, produced an Urban Design Framework for the Cape Town Foreshore.

The study identified the Heerengracht Axis as the defining idea in the Foreshore and, noting its historical origins, stated: “This axis forms the important central spine of the City” linking mountain to sea via the Company Gardens. The Report also notes that the width of the boulevards “create a divide between the East and West City”.

The Report re-enforced the City Bowl Development Areas concept of linking mountain to harbour through the central and historic City spine stating that “the Heerengracht Street axis should become a meaningful spine within the City”.28

It proposed that this be achieved by the following:

 New buildings on the Heerengracht address and define the space  The end of the Heerengracht space should be framed and provide a view to the Harbour  City axis should be extended to the Port

A key proposal was the extension of the central axis beyond the Table Bay Boulevard to the Water’s edge.

6.2.3. The Central City Development Strategy 2012

27 Security requirements in the Duncan Dock have rendered this unfeasible. 28 Urban Design Framework for the Cape Town Foreshore 2000: 2

© Melanie Attwell : CTICC Historical Background Report 28 In 2011 the City of Cape Town accepted a Central City Development Strategy undertaken by CitySpace.29 In terms of Table Bay the report identified five key directives.  To improve accessibility  To improve missed use development  To improve the quality of public space  To enhance the destination value of Cape Town

The Report provides a settlement chronology in brief but with no historical spatial assessment, particularly of the significance of the grid and the axial alignment. Identifications of significant streetscapes are based on architectural analysis and the presence of historic buildings of significance (See Section 3.2.3.Significant Streetscapes 2011) and do not consider the growth form and development of the City as a whole.

However, the report noted the significance of the unique setting with mountain and sea views. It stated: “The protection of significant views is an essential consideration in determining appropriate heights setbacks and skylines with the central City, noting that development and urban design frameworks have consistently recognised and aimed to protect significant views and visual links. The Adderley Street Heerengracht is identified as a primary view corridor and the link to the sea a key focal point.30”

7. VISUAL IMAGE ANALYSIS

For further visual images, See Annexure One

8. HISTORICAL STUDY: SOME CONCLUSIONS

There are no above ground heritage resources on the affected erven. The significance of the site lies in its strategic situation in the Heerengracht as part of the continuation of the historic central city spine and the Gateway to the City concept as conceived in the Foreshore Plan of 1947.

The link spatial link between the Mountain and the sea, and between the Company Garden’s central axis and the City, remains the shaping force, the defining idea of the development of Cape Town. The shaft of space has been extended as the shoreline changed but nevertheless it remained the concept which defined Cape Town and held it together spatially. The Government Avenue/ Adderley Street /Heerengracht axis therefore remains of outstanding importance in the history of the urban morphology and growth of the City.

The City grid within the City Bowl area allowed views and perspectives of both the sea and the mountain, adding to the sense of place and contributing a City identity based on its unique geographical setting.

Despite changes31 which have adversely affected its primacy, the axis remains the dominating shaft of space in Cape Town

Remnant views and glimpses north towards the sea from the axis are important and central to the notion of Cape Town as a port city

29 Cape Town Spatial Development Framework. 30 See Fig 15 Significant Views and Visual connections 31 The Strand Street Adderley intersection and the elevated Freeway, in particular.

© Melanie Attwell : CTICC Historical Background Report 29 The Foreshore Boulevard was a major traffic intervention which irredeemably altered the character and aesthetics of the City, cutting off views to the sea and affecting the nature and character of the City.

The building of the elevated Table Bay Boulevard was not in keeping with the parameters set by the 1947 Foreshore Plan which proposed two Monumental Approaches, one being the Heerengracht Adderley Street axis towards the historic city centre.

Design and Planning Frameworks prepared later by the City have emphasised the need to ameliorate, where possible, the loss of this link (see Section 5).

Adderley Street is significant as a ceremonial space and has been used by successive governments including the colonial government, the apartheid government and current democratic government as a processional space. It is central to the identity of Cape Town. Many of its significant historic monuments are situated within the central shaft of space including the Cenotaph to the War Dead and the statue of Jan van Riebeeck.

Apart from the elevated Table Bay Boulevard, the Heerengracht/Adderley axis remains an open space with no additional obstructions.

9. SOURCES CONSULTED

Published sources

Bickford-Smith V, van Heyningen E, Worden, N, Cape Town in the Twentieth Century : An illustrated Social History, David Philip 1999 Cape Town The Cape Town Foreshore Plan Committee: The Cape Town Foreshore plan: Final Report of the Cape Town Foreshore Joint Technical Committee June 1947. Fransen, H, Old Towns and Villages of the Cape, Jonathan Ball 2006 Cape Town Longstreth Thompson, F. & Thornton White, L. W. 1940. Report of the Cape Town planning advisers on the Cape Town Foreshore Scheme, Report prepared for Union of South Africa, South African Railways and Harbours Administration, Government Printer, Pretoria. Picard, H, Gentlemen’s Walk, Struik Cape Town 1968 Pinnock D, Ideology and Urban Planning: Blueprints of a Garrison City, in: The Angry Divide: Social and Economic History of the Western Cape, David Philip Cape Town 1989. Rennie John, Cape Provincial Institute of Architects, The Buildings of Central Cape Town Volume One, 1976, Cape Provincial Institute of Architects, The Buildings of Central Cape Town, Volume Three

Unpublished Reports

Attwell Melanie, Grand Parade Phase One Heritage Impact Assessment, unpublished report for the Cape Town Partnership and the City of Cape Town November 2006. Attwell Melanie Portion of Block R Cape Town: Historical Background, Unpublished Report 1991. Beaudouin EE, Outline of Scheme (Foreshore) for Cape Town South Africa Cape Town 13th June 1940. City Planner’s Department Waterfront Section, The Foreshore: Review of the Past January 1993. Harris S, Hart T, Levy J, Pistorius P, Company’s Gardens Water Channel Feasibility Study, volume 1. February 2003: Report for the City of Cape Town’s Heritage Resources Section. City of Cape Town Cape Town’s City Bowl Development Area 1997. GAPP Architects and Urban Designers and City of Cape Town Design Services Branch: Urban Design Framework for the Cape Town Foreshore May 2000. Howard A G, The Architecture of Cape Town Cape Town 1908.

© Melanie Attwell : CTICC Historical Background Report 30 Rennie Scurr and Adendorff: Grand Parade Appraisal Report. Unpublished report prepared for the City of Cape Town, 2003. Uytenbogaardt R Cape Town Foreshore 1966: Planned Development for Roggebaai, 1966.

Visual resources

Aerial photographs, Historic photographs: South African Library, City of Cape Town, Cape Archives Maps: City of Cape Town, Cape Archives Deeds: Deeds Office Cape Town

The assistance of Mr Brian Martin, Ms Harriet Clift and Mr D Hart of the City of Cape is appreciated