Friends of Tshwane Heritage Research Centre

17/06/2026

The south-western corner of Church Square has always been associated with a theatre; no wonder Parliament Street was first called Theatre Lane. As early as 1888 the first theatre was built on this site called the “President Theatre”. It was described as “a well-ventilated building, fitted with a good stage and scenery. The decorations are neat. The theatre is ceiled and floored and seated with comfortable cane-bottomed chairs”. This special old theatre could accommodate 350 people. After 1903 a skating rink was added to the theatre. Its name had then changed to “The Empress Theatre”, most probably for political reasons. Later it changed again to “His Majesty Theatre”. In 1930 it was demolished to make way for the Capitol Theatre, which is today in a dilapidated state, being used for a car park.

10/06/2026

The first hotel in Pretoria was a house with a thatched roof, built in 1864 by a Mr C Meyer on Church Square, next to the first Raadsaal. It was called the European Hotel. Apparently, Mr Carter was the owner of the hotel and the restaurant in 1878/9 and whose hospitality became well-known. Edward Sandeman visited Pretoria in 1878 and wrote “there I had better cooking, better attendance, better plate and better liquors, than I had come across anywhere else in the whole of South Africa“ The ownership of the European Hotel changed hands in 1880 to RA Colquhoun. In 1882 a second story was added, but unfortunately this hotel was demolished in the late 1880's to make way for the new Raadsaal.

03/06/2026

Koch and Co. occupied the corner of Church and Andries Streets before 1888. Photo 1 probably dates from the 1870’s, while Photo 2 shows the improvements made over the years with the wholesale department added to the business. The Koch brothers did not own the property on which their shop stood but apparently hired it from PJ Marais, who owned a large part of that block. In 1895 Robert Hamilton bought the property, demolished the buildings and built Durban House on what became known as Hamilton’s Corner.

27/05/2026

During the Anglo Boer War in 1902, there was a concentration camp north of Meintjeskop, in the Gezina area. This camp was mainly a camp for the National Scouts and their families. They were treated quite differently from the inhabitants of the traditional concentration camps. The camp had a hospital and a school. A certain miss O’Shea and miss Plumb taught the children in two tents. Photo 1 is an example of a tent school. After the peace treaty, the inhabitants of the concentration camps started to move back to their homes. But as many people had lost everything in the war or were waiting for family members to reunite, the concentration camps were not evacuated immediately and even children from the surroundings joined the schools. Gezina Primary School was officially established on 3 November 1903 as a tent school with 4 teachers and a principal, still teaching in the tents of the concentration camp. The school was situated on the north-western corner of Frederika Street and 12th Avenue. In 1904 it moved into more permanent structures on the corner of Frederika Street and 13th Avenue. It had 135 children, the teaching medium was initially English and it later became a parallel-medium school. In 1919 a new Afrikaans-medium school was opened in Eloffsdal where one of the teachers of the Gezina school, Mr Eben (J.D.E.) Swemmer became the first principal and in the same year, Robert Hicks became the principal of Gezina Primary School. In 1936 the English school, renamed after Robert Hicks, had their new school premises in Adcock Street and the Afrikaans medium school was named after Eben Swemmer. Photo 2 shows an older view of Laerskool Eben Swemmer, while photo 3 is more recent.

20/05/2026

Tilanus and Van Griethuizen was a Dutch shop on the south-eastern corner of Skinner and Market Streets in old Pretoria. They started in groceries in 1889 nearby, but around 1898 the business prospered so well that they were able to erect their own building. At this time they were called general importers, wine and spirit merchants and sold household furniture, carpets and groceries. At the rear of the building were large produce stores, where they also had a special department for roasting and grinding coffee. Van Griethuizen retired in 1902 and Tilanus remained the proprietor until 1904. The company was then taken over by Van Zuilen, except for the wine and spirit department which Tilanus retained.

20/05/2026

13/05/2026

The photo below and the painting thereof by Eric Bolsmann, show a view from Church Square into Church Street West. The oldest reference to the Post Office Bar at the southern corner of the street dates back to 1888 when it was acquired by EH Clarke from W McClennon. Clarke moved the door to the corner, as it was considered an advantage for a bar and added the verandah. He later sold the business to a Mr LG Martin and by 1889 the Post Office Bar had become the Wellington Bar under the proprietorship of Max Stadler, who remained there until the war. After the war it was still the Wellington Bar for some time with Mr Phillip Lapin as the proprietor, until it became the American Boot Store.

06/05/2026

Hatfield is an area quite familiar to any student of the University of Pretoria where many fond memories were made. Hatfield was laid out by surveyor WR Lanham on the farm Koedoespoort for the Weselyan (Methodist) Society in 1905. The suburb was named after Hatfield House in Hatfield, Hertfordshire England (photo 1) It was the house of Waldegrave Palmer, second Earl of Selborne (1859- 1942) who became Governor of the Transvaal (1905) and High Commissioner in 1909. (photo 2) The name Hatfield has its origin from Old English ‘haep, haddefield: Haep = ’heather-covered field’ Hatfield township was incorporated into the Pretoria municipality in 1916. Lanham left his name to Lanham Street in the East Lynne area and Walter Lanham Street in Bailey’s Muckleneuk.

29/04/2026

The North Lodge building of the Pretoria High School for Girls in Park Street, were designed by famous architect John Stockwin Cleland and built in 1913. In 1915 School House was opened and in July of the same year the school moved to the current site. Cleland was chief architect of the Public Works Department for the Union of South Africa from 1920 until 1932, and until 1939 he was Secretary of Public Works. In 1977, on her 75th Birthday, Pretoria High School for Girls received the honour of being declared a National Monument.

21/04/2026

The main buildings of the Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital were declared a Provincial Heritage Site in 1981. They comprise an extended chain of Edwardian structures built along a ridge. Due to the hilly area where it was built, the asylum was later named Weskoppies. The buildings are connected by courtyards and long passages that allow for ventilation and natural light in patient areas. They were designed and built in 1907 under the supervision of Piercy Eagle and the Transvaal Public Works Department. Two beautiful spaces incorporated in the main complex that are architectural highlights are the hall and chapel. The design of the Weskoppies main buildings may have been influenced by the Kirkbride Plan: a mental asylum design used in the USA, while there is also a resemblance to High Royds Hospital in Yorkshire England.