HERITAGE SCREENER CTS Reference CTS17_095 Number: SAHRA Reference: 11336 Client: Design Indaba Date: 16 August 2017 Title: Arch for an Arch- Temporary - Public Artwork Installation in The Company's Garden Figure 1a. Satellite map indicating the location of the proposed development i n the Cape Town CBD Recommendation by CTS Heritage RECOMMENDATION: Heritage monitoring of any and all disturbance to subsurface layers is recomme nded. Specialists: CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com 1. Proposed Development Summary The applicant has proposed the installation of a temporary arch at the entrance to Government Avenue. The design of the structure, as well as its location, are intended as a celebration of the South African Constitution, the principles of democracy and the life and work of the Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu. It is proposed that the arch should be in place in time for his birthday celebrations in October. The arch will compri se 14 timber struts that span Government Avenue, on footings dug 300mm into the ground surface. 2. Application References Name of relevant heritage authority(s) SAHRA Name of decision making authority(s) SAHRA 3. Property Information Latitude / Longitude 18.4198988713 ; -33.9250261504 (centroid) Erf number / Farm number 95164 Local Municipality City of Cape Town District Municipality City of Cape Town Previous Magisterial District Cape Province Western Cape Province Current Use Public Open Space Current Zoning Public Open Space Total Extent 3,05737 ha 4. Nature of the Proposed Development Total Surface Area 147.41m² Depth of excavation (m) 0.3m Height of development (m) 9.1m Expected years of operation before 18 months decommission CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com 5. Category of Development Triggers: Section 38(8) of the National Heritage Resources Act Triggers: Section 38(1) of the National Heritage Resources Act 1. Construction of a road, wall, powerline, pipeline, canal or other similar form of linear development or barrier over 300m in length. 2. Construction of a bridge or similar structure exceeding 50m in length. 3. Any development or activity that will change the character of a site- a) exceeding 5 000m 2 in extent b) involving three or more existing erven or subdivisions thereof c) involving three or more erven or divisions thereof which have b een consolidated within the past five years 4. Rezoning of a site exceeding 10 000m 2 5. Other (state): S27(18) 6. Additional Infrastructure Required for this Development None CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com 7. Mapping (please see Appendix 3 and 4 for a full description of our methodology and map legends) Figure 1b. Overview Map . Satellite image (2017) indicating the proposed development area in its immed iate context. CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com Figure 1c. Historical Map. Map of 1693 showing the layout of the early town. T indicates the locat ion of the Company Gardens, B the location of the Church. CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com Figure 1d. Historical Map. Wentzel’s map of 1751 showing the development of the early town. CC indic ates the location of the Company Gardens, Z the location of the Church. CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com Figure 1e. Historical Map. Snow’s map of 1862 showing the development of the town in the mid-C19. CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com Figure 1f. Historical Map. Thom’s map of 1895 showing the development of the town in the late C-19 . CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com Figure 1g. Orthophoto. 1926 Orthophoto of central Cape Town. CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com Figure 2a. Heritage Resources Map. Heritage resources previously identified within 200m of the proposed arch, wi th SAHRIS Site IDs indicated. See Appendix 1 for full description of heritage resource types. CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com Figure 2b. Heritage Resources Map. Buildings graded by the City of Cape Town within 200m of the proposed a rch. CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com Figure 2c. Heritage Resources Map. Extent of Parliamentary Precinct, the declared National Heritage Site CTS Heritage 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800 Tel: (021) 0130131 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ctsheritage.com 8. Heritage statement and character of the area Background Design Indaba has proposed the construction of a temporary memorial to the Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu, and a celebration of the Constitution of South Africa, in the form of a 14-member timber arch to be erected at the entrance to Government Avenue, Cape Town, located between St George’s Cathedral and the northern extent of the Houses of Parliament (Figures 1a-b). This location, on Erf 95164,falls within the Parliamentary Precinct, which has been declared a National Heritage Site in terms of the Government Gazette notice No 37535 on 7 April 2014 (Figure 2c). The declaration of the Precinct includes the Houses of Parliament (Erf 95165), Government Avenue (Erf 95164), Stal Plein (Erf 3741) and further erven 9557, 3789, 3790, 3794 and 3798 that extend from the corner of Adderley Street, the proposed location for the arch, to the southernmost part of the Company Gardens. The declaration officially recognises the historical, aesthetic, scientific and social values of each structure, as well as their rarity and embodime nt of notions of representivity. Development of the study area and environs The Company Gardens are one of the earliest remaining landscape interventions of settler origin still present in modern Cape Town, and represent the very reason for the eventual settlement at the Cape, namely the desire of the Dutch East India Company to establish a refreshment station for passing ships (Figures 1c-g). Thus, the Company Gardens represent one of the earliest and most significant examples of European presence in South Africa, and can be viewed as a central hub around which early settler life at the Cape revolved. The Gardens were laid out in accordance with European, and specifically Dutch, pri nciples of order, structure and balance, as is represented in its linearity and symmetricality. The earliest buildings that would have developed around this northern end of the Gardens were the original Dutch Reformed Church, built in 1678, its graveyard, established after the Castle graveyard was closed in 1677, the Slave Lodge, built in 1679, and the Company Hospital, built in 1682 (Patrick et al 2006, NID 356907). Of these, the Slave Lodge (SID 29201) still stands, making it the second oldest building in the country. Church Square (SID 29215) was deliberately created as well, in 1704, as a means of providing access to the Church, and this space remains an open square today. Of the Church itself, only the tower still remains, while the rest of the structure was consumed by the growing Groote Kerk (SID 29230).These three structures are all Grade II Provincial Heritage Sites (Figures 2a-b). The closest and most sensitive of these early buildings is the Slave Lodge, originally built to house Company slaves. While very little is known about the occupants of this building, or what conditions were like inside it, it is known that by 1807, following the abolition of the international slave trade, it was turned into government offices for the British colonial government, at which point some slaves were sold and others manumitted (Abrahams 2000). These very early structures and features were incorporated into the growing city, with alterations and additions, such as the Slave Lodge, and, in some cases, loss of part or all of their original form, such as the Church and the Hospital, respectively. Following this early development, later buildings were erected in this area as the nexus of Cape life. The most significant of these, of course, is the Houses of Parliament, begun in 1884, with later additions in the 1920s and 1980s (Figures 2f-g). These buildings are significant not only for their noteworthy Neoclassical architecture, but also, and more importantly, for their role as the legislative epicentre of South African government, and thereby the site of many monumental political and social events throughout the country’s tumultuous socio-political past. It is this very significance that has ensured that the Houses of Parliament remain the legislative seat of the modern, democratic So uth African government. The other closest, significant building is St George’s Cathedral, a declared Provincial Heritage Site, that was built in 1901 on the site of a pre-existing church dating to 1834 (Figures 1e-g). The Cathedral is stone built, and was designed by Sir Herbert Baker in the Gothic style, but it is for its role in the political history of the country, particularly while under the stewardship of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, that the structure holds significance. It stands as a monument to the role of the churches of the country in standing against apartheid, mobilising opposition marches and providing physical as well as spiritual safe havens for vulnerable people and political activists.