Twofaced Cape Town: from the Castle of Good Hope to Century City

If you walk up Signal Hill you’ll get a good impression of how twofaced Cape Town actually is. Look down and you’ll see the beautiful coloured houses of the Bo-Kaap, but look a little bit further and you’re eyes meet the skyscrapers of Shell and LG. A look at Cape Town architecture.

Roughly all the architecture in Cape Town can be put in three brackets: Dutch colonial, British colonial and 20th century.

Dutch colonial
To see this type of architecture at its best, a trip down to Stellenbosch is a must. But Cape Town has one the oldest and most famous Dutch colonial buildings: the Castle of Good Hope. Although the castle did change a bit over the years, but it’s still the oldest surviving colonial building in Cape Town. Another icon of Dutch colonial architecture is Groot Constantia; build for Governor Simon van der Stel. The house was built in 1692 in the Winelands, and set a standard for a lot of other houses in that region.

The Cape Dutch style emerged in the 17th century. Typical for this style of architecture is the stoep (similar to the veranda), and a large central hall running through the centre of the house, with two large rooms on either side. On the outside the houses are characterized by gables. The roofs on top of the houses are usually pretty steep and the walls are almost always painted in white.

Cecil John Rhodes set off a Cape Dutch Revival when he ordered a young English architect, Herbert Baker, to build Groote Schuur in 1890. The former residency of Rhodes is now the biggest hospital in Cape Town.

British colonial
A stroll along Darling Street or Long Street is like a true blessing for British colonial architecture lovers. The Old Town Hall, Long Street Baths and Bertram House are just a few of the famous buildings in town. Don’t forget the Houses of Parliament! There’s Victorian style enjoyment all over the place. Even a quick visit to student village Observatory will amaze you. Incredible columns and balconies, all in white, off course. Whoever invented white paint must've made a lot of money here…

20th century
Yes, Cape Town has skyscrapers as well. Thank God they don’t have that many, but the 20th century architecture hit the Mother City as well. Actually the first skyscraper that was built in Africa is situated here. It’s the Mutual Building, on Darling Street, finished in 1940. Big corporations like LG and Shell couldn’t fall behind.

In the apartheid era there wasn’t much activity on the architectural field. Typical buildings from that era are the Artscape and the Civic Centre. Just plain boring concrete, not a lot to be proud of for Capetonians.

Probably the first (sometimes even only) confrontation of Cape Town architecture for tourist is sadly enough Century City. But although the average classical architecture fan will cry at the sight of the tourist shopping bazaar, it could've been worse.

There’s also a lot to be said about the V&A Waterfront. Some love it, some hate it. But the combination between a working harbour and a tourist shopping mall is pretty unique.

The latest enrichment of Cape Town architecture is the International Convention Centre, on Lower Long Street, the new six hectare place to be for conventions, business meetings and big international events.