THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF FARMSTEAD ARCHITECTURE IN THE BRANDWATER BASIN OF THE EASTERN FREE STATE UP TO UNION. JACOBUS LODEWIKUS DU PREEZ SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE IN THE FACULTY OF NATURAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE, BLOEMFONTEIN, MARCH 2012. SUPERVISOR: PROF DR WH PETERS (UFS) ABSTRACT / SAMEVATTING ABSTRACT Shelter forms part of the means of maintaining This study endeavors to collect and document the oneself within a landscape. Temporary forms of physical evidence of the early farmhouses in the shelter often develop into a house, as a more Brandwater Basin area. It is a vernacular permanent form of shelter. Once the house has architecture particular to the Eastern Free State, taken form, it also acts as a sign of a foothold on unified by the use of the sandstone that is available the landscape from where influence can be on the landscape as building material. The furthered. A farmhouse is a part of that tradition collection is limited to houses built before the end but agriculturally based. A farmstead usually of the Orange River Colony in 1910. The includes the most important house on the farm and architectural development that followed on the its associated structures. It forms the centre from initial structures is also considered. The purpose of where control is exercised over a demarcated part this study is to extend knowledge of this critical of the landscape, which is the farm. Early phase of the development of the area. It is the farmhouses are therefore associated with a series phase in which a new tradition was introduced to of ideas like settlement, social interaction, control, the area, which up to this day forms the basis on ownership, farms, farmsteads, houses and shelter. which control over the physical landscape is These ideas are viewed conceptually differently by regulated. different cultures. Within a culture the ideas change as time goes by and are influenced on the most basic level by the resources found in the KEYWORDS landscape. Early Farmhouses, Settlement History, Sandstone, Vernacular Architecture, Eastern Free State, Brandwater Basin, Conquered Territory, Pioneer Houses, Architectural Survey, Republic of the Orange Free State. ii SAMEVATTING ‘n Skuiling is een van die maniere waarmee ‘n Hierdie studie poog om binne die afgebakende mens homself kan handhaaf op ‘n landskap. Die gebied van die Brandwaterkom die fisiese getuienis tydelike vorms van skuilings ontwikkel gewoonlik in te versamel van die vroeë plaashuise en dit te ‘n huis, wat dan meer permanente skuiling bied. dokumenteer. Dit is ‘n volksargitektuur wat eie is Sodra ‘n huis eers vorm aangeneem het, is dit ‘n aan die Oos-Vrystaat. Die gebruik van die teken van ‘n vastrapplek op die landskap sandsteen wat op die landskap beskikbaar is as waarvandaan invloed uitgeoefen kan word. 'n boumateriaal onderskei hierdie volksargitektuur. Plaashuis is deel van daardie tradisie maar steun Die versameling word beperk tot huise wat gebou op landbou. 'n Plaasopstal sluit gewoonlik die was voor die einde van die Oranjerivierkolonie in belangrikste huis op die plaas en aanliggende 1910. Verder word die argitektoniese ontwikkeling strukture in. Dit is die sentrum waarvandaan 'n ingesluit wat op die aanvanklike strukture gevolg afgebakende gedeelte van die landskap, die plaas, het. Die studie poog om kennis uit te brei van beheer word. Vroeë plaashuise word daarom hierdie kritiese fase van die ontwikkeling van die geassosieer met 'n reeks begrippe soos vestiging, gebied. Dit is die fase waarin 'n nuwe tradisie in die sosiale interaksie, beheer, eienaarskap, plase, gebied gevestig geraak het, wat vandag nog die opstalle, huise en skuiling. Hierdie idees word basis vorm waarop beheer oor die fisiese landskap konseptueel anders gesien deur verskillende gereguleer word. kulture. Die idees verander ook binne ‘n kultuur met die verloop van tyd en word op die mees basiese vlak beïnvloed deur die hulpbronne wat beskikbaar is op die landskap. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My father Louis du Preez collected information on Paul Evans and Hein Raubenheimer assisted with historical events and places in the Basin which the final preparation of plans and diagrams. introduced me to the field. Many people were involved with this project and I Prof. Das Steyn, previous Head of the Department am indebted to them for their support and of Urban and Regional Planning, accepted a encouragement. This include the farm owners, proposal for a project similar to this in 1985 as students, assistants, information officers, part of the course Housing Studies (OPB401). colleagues, friends and my family. The project did not materialise but it led to this research. Unless otherwise acknowledged, all work in this dissertation is entirely my own work. This study had a long gestation period which allowed for the establishment of a teaching career and family. Prof. Karel Bakker (University of Pretoria) and Prof. Jan Smit (UFS) were appointed supervisors for this study from 1998–2001. Prof. Pattabi Raman was appointed supervisor for this study during 2010. ………………………………………………………… JL du Preez Prof. Dr. Walter Peters (in particular) and Dr. Diaan van der Westhuizen (in general, as part of “A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the Lord the Postgraduate Group) were the supervisors for builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” 2011. (Bible. Ps. 127: 1). iv CONTENTS GLOSSARY…ix 1 INTRODUCTION…1 1.1 INTENT…1 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM…1 1.3 RATIONALE FOR THIS STUDY…2 1.4 OVERVIEW: HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA…3 1.5 SURVEY OF CURRENT KNOWLEDGE…4 1.5.1 WALTON PUBLICATIONS…4 1.5.2 PROF. ROODT AND THE STUDENT SURVEY OF 1977…5 1.5.3 NALN LISTS…8 1.5.4 WORKS PUBLISHED BY KAREL SCHOEMAN…9 1.5.5 OTHER PUBLICATIONS…9 1.5.6 RIGOUR OF SURVEYS…10 1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION…10 2 UNDERSTANDING ARCHITECTURE…12 2.1 AN APPROACH TO ARCHITECTURAL CRITICISM…12 2.2 DIVERSITY IN INTERPRETATION…13 2.3 TIME AS A CONTEXT…14 2.4 THE ANALYTICAL MODEL BY LAWRENCE…15 2.5 AN ADJUSTED ANALYTICAL MODEL…16 2.6 CULTURE AS A CONTEXT…18 2.7 GENERALISATION VERSUS SPECIFICITY…18 2.8 POSITION OF A HISTORY…19 2.9 APPROPRIATING THE FRAMEWORK…20 2.10 CONCLUSIONS…21 v 3 CASE STUDIES…22 3.1 FORMAT OF INFORMATION…22 3.2 LOCATION OF SELECTED FARMHOUSES…24 3.2.1 BETHLEHEM STAR COTTAGE…25 3.2.2 COERLAND HOUSE…28 3.2.3 DUNELM HOUSE…32 3.2.4 KRANSFONTEIN HOUSE FOURIE…38 3.2.5 LUSTHOF HOUSE…41 3.2.6 MIDDENRIF HOUSE VENTER…46 3.2.7 MIDDLETON ESTATE BRINDISI HOUSE GROBLER…49 3.2.8 MIDDLETON ESTATE GOEDETROUW MILLER'S HOUSE…52 3.2.9 MIDDLETON ESTATE KILLARNEY BIG HOUSE…57 3.2.10 MODDERFONTEIN HOUSE VENTER…62 3.2.11 OPSTAL HOUSE…66 3.2.12 PRESENT POORT HOUSE VENTER…70 3.2.13 PRESENT POORT SECOND HOUSE…73 3.2.14 SCHOONZICHT HOUSE HEYNS…75 3.2.15 TIERHOEK HOUSE FOURIE…79 3.2.16 TOEVERTROUW COTTAGE…83 3.2.17 WELKOM HOUSE DU PREEZ…86 4 PHYSICAL CONTEXT…90 4.1 INTRODUCTION…90 4.2 PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS…90 4.3 DESCRIPTION OF THE BRANDWATER BASIN…91 4.3.1 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES…95 4.3.2 GEOLOGY…96 4.3.3 CLIMATE…101 4.3.4 PLANT MATERIAL…101 vi 4.4 BUILDING IN THE BRANDWATER BASIN…102 4.4.1 SITES ON THE LANDSCAPE…102 4.4.1.1 ORIENTATION…102 4.4.1.2 APPROACH…103 4.4.1.3 PROSPECT…104 4.4.1.4 GRADIENT…104 4.4.2 SPACES…105 4.4.3 CRAFTSMANSHIP…105 4.4.3.1 MATERIALS…106 4.4.3.2 JOINTS…107 4.4.3.3 COURSES…107 4.4.3.4 STONE FINISHES…108 4.4.3.5 CORNERS…109 4.4.3.6 OPENINGS…109 5 TIME CONTEXT…110 5.1 PERIOD UNDER INVESTIGATION…110 5.1.1 FIRST TENTATIVE WHITE SETTLEMENT…110 5.1.2 THE GREAT TREK…111 5.1.3 BRITISH INFLUENCE IN TRANSORANGIA…111 5.1.4 REPUBLIC OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE…111 5.1.5 OCCUPYING THE CONQUERED TERRITORY…112 5.1.6 THE MINERAL REVOLUTION…113 5.1.7 BECOMING THE UNION AND THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA…113 5.2 DEVELOPMENT OF FARMHOUSES…114 5.2.1 TENTATIVE SETTLEMENT…114 5.2.2 THE ORANJEVRIJSTAAT ERA…116 5.2.2.1 DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOUBLE BANK PLAN…122 5.2.3 THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY AND AFTERWARDS…125 vii 6 CULTURAL CONTEXT…127 6.1 CULTURES IN THE BASIN…127 6.2 HOUSE AS CULTURAL PRODUCT…127 6.3 HOUSE FORM…129 6.4 RONDAWELS…129 6.5 FRONT, BACK AND SIDES…130 6.6 KITCHENS AND FIREPLACES…131 6.7 THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE EMPIRE…133 6.8 CONCLUDING REMARKS…134 7 CONCLUSION…135 7.1 REVISITING THE PROCESS…135 7.2 ARCHITECTURE OF THE BRANDWATER BASIN…136 7.3 AREAS OF FURTHER RESEARCH…139 7.4 CURRENT SITUATION…140 APPENDIX A: SURVEY OF FARMSTEADS…xvi 1 RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY OF 1987…xvi 2 MAJOR SURVEY OF 1999 – 2000…xviii 3 SURVEYS SINCE 2006…xx APPENDIX B: ORIGINAL OWNERS OF FARMHOUSES…xxi APPENDIX C: SUMMARY OF CASE STUDIES…xxiv 1 SUMMARY IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER…xxvii 2. SUMMARY IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER…xxxiii BIBLIOGRAPHY…xl viii GLOSSARY Afdak: Lean-to. “A building with its roof resting war which involved the Free State. The against the side of a larger building” (Oxford second war is also refered to in South Africa Paperback Dictionary: 462). Compare also as the South African War to stress the Radford 1982: 64. impact that it had on all its people. Afrikaner: “A white person in South Africa whose Basutoland: The independent state of the Basotho native language is Afrikaans” (Oxford people that was annexed in 1868 by Britain Paperback Dictionary: 13). “Name adopted after an appeal by King (Heydenrych in by the white descendents of European Cameron 1986: 149). On independence of settlers …, who identified themselves with a Britain in 1966, the name changed to Dutch, rather than British, colonial past” Lesotho (Van Aswegen in Cameron 1986: (Worden 1998: 16). 294). Agterkamer: Back room. The family or living room Boer: A farmer. A conservative Afrikaner. behind the reception spaces or voorkamer Brandwater Basin: The catchment area of the associated with Cape Dutch houses Brandwater River. The river is now better (Radford 1982: 64 and Lewcock 1970: 511). known as Grootspruit. Since at least the Also achterkamer or agterhuis, which is Anglo-Boer War the term does not refer to back of house. the literal basin of the Brandwater River Agterryer: Manservant. Literally the back rider. anymore. The military and popular This black servant would follow his employer interpretation is that it refers to the whole on horseback and take care of the horses area separated from the rest of the Free and food on any expedition. State by the Witteberg and Rooiberg Anglo-Boer War: In a British context called the Boer Mountains. In that sense it also includes the War. It refers to either of two wars fought by Little Caledon River and Caledon River Britain against the Zuid-Afrikaansche Valleys on the South African side of the Republiek (1880-1881) or the combined border with Lesotho. Boer Republics, the ZAR and the OFS Burger: A citizen of one of the Boer Republics. (1899-1902). The term would in the context More commonly used for male citizens. of this study be used to refer to the second ix Colonist: “A pioneer settler in a colony” (Oxford in this regard” (Radford 1982: 60). Paperback Dictionary: 156). Drif: A ford. “A shallow place where a river may be Conquered Territory: An area in the eastern Free crossed by wading or riding or driving State on the border with Lesotho. The area through” (Oxford Paperback Dictionary: between the Warden Line (1849) and the 313). international boundary determined by the Farmhouse: A house on a farm. In the context of Second Treaty of Aliwal North in 1869 is this study it includes houses that were built refered to as the Conquered Territory. See by farmers in the first instance. Other also Warden Line. farmhouses that were included in the study Cottage: “A small simple house, especially in the were built to accommodate assistants on the country” (Oxford Paperback Dictionary: 181). farm like the miller and blacksmith on the “The most important characteristics of the Middleton Estate. The term excludes early cottage are its small size and limited houses in the towns. number of rooms” (Radford 1982: 58). Farmstead: “A farm and its buildings” (Oxford Culture: The total equipment of ideas and Paperback Dictionary: 289). More institutions and conventionalised activities of specifically the main house and surrounding a people (Redfield in Rapoport 1969: 48). buildings. The place from where control is Dead-end room: A room with only one door. A exercised. Also opstal, or plaasopstal. room with more than one door might have to Free State: The term is short for, and can refer to accommodate circulation through the room the Boer Republic of the Orange Free State as well. A dead-end room offers better (1854-1902), the Province of the Orange security and can accommodate specialised Free State in the Union of South Africa functions. In the context of this study the (1910-1961) or the Province of the Orange emergence of dead-end rooms is interpreted Free State in the Republic of South Africa. as a development on the plan. “A bonus “The province retained its boundaries under from the T-plan is that the living-room can the constitution of 1994 and came to be serve as an ante-chamber to the flanking known simply as ‘Free State’” (Worden bedrooms. Thus privacy to both rooms is 1998: 117). assured. This search for increasing privacy is also an important factor in the development of the house plan. A linear arrangement must suffer serious drawbacks x Great Trek: The northward emigration of 23 000 Basutoland in the east and the Republic of (Visagie 2011: 14) people out of the Cape the Orange Free State in the west in 1854. Colony into the interior of Southern Africa Oranjevrijstaat: The official and formal name used 1835-1845 (Visagie 2011: 8). See also by the Boer Republic of the Orange Free Voortrekker. State (1854-1902) in all treaties, conventions Indigenous: “(Of plants, animals, or inhabitants) and agreements. The name was also used native” (Oxford Paperback Dictionary: 412). as heading for all ordinances, laws and Late trekkers: Boers who associated themselves proclamations. The Republic of the Orange with the political ideals of the Voortrekkers Free State could be considered a but did not take part in the Great Trek. The tautological form, as vrijstaat = republic late trekkers followed after 1845 (Visagie (Eloff 1985: 16). 2011: 8). In the context of this study, all the Ouma: Grandmother. late trekkers had family ties to persons who Oupa: Grandfather. took part in the Great Trek. Poort: An entrance or opening between two Lesotho: Previously Basutoland and a British mountains. A poort (literally gate) is more colony. On independence became known distinct than a nek. A nek has a distinct rise as Lesotho in 1966. which a poort lacks. Nek: An opening between two mountains that is still Republic of South Africa: Was previously the Union high. The two mountains are still connected of South Africa which became the Republic to each other with the nek (Literally neck, of South Africa in 1961 after the Union left plural nekke). See also poort. the British Commonwealth. Oom: Uncle. Rondawel: “The cone-on-cylinder hut, known Orange River Colony: The Republic of the Orange throughout South Africa by its Afrikaans Free State became the Orange River Colony name rondavel, consists essentially of a after it was annexed by Britain during the cylindrical wall capped by a conical thatch” Anglo-Boer War which ended in 1902. The (Walton 1970: 539). The Afrikaans name ORC came to an end with the formation of however, is rondawel. Rondavel might be the Union of South Africa in 1910. an old form or a form which pretent Orange River Sovereignty: An area that Sir Harry translation. Smith declared British in 1848 between the Settler: “A person who goes to live permanently in a Vaal and Orange Rivers and the escarpment previously unoccupied land, a colonist” of the Drakensberg. It was devided into (Oxford Paperback Dictionary: 743). In xi South Africa it was seldom really unoccupied almost invariably used as an office or guest land - perhaps meaning not previously room offers … a good initial explanation for occupied by the settlers or colonists. its position and architectural treatment” Social: ”Living in an organised community, not (Radford 1984: 26). solitary. Of society or its organisation; of the Transgariep: The Khoikhoi name for the Orange mutual relationships of people or classes River was Kei-Gariep and the area north of living in an organised community” (Oxford the Gariep was the Transgariep. The Dutch Paperback Dictionary: 775). first referred to the river as the Grote Rivier Solder: An accessible loft, almost an attic. In the (big river) but Colonel Robert Jacob Gordon Cape Dutch tradition it was accessed with a renamed the river the Orange River in 1779. built staircase leading up to a door in a gable The term Transgariep was eventually on the exterior of the house. replaced by the term Transorangia. Stoep: “(In South Africa) a veranda at the front of a Transorangia: The area north of the Orange River. house” (Oxford Paperback Dictionary: 805). Specifically outside the Cape Colony. The This dictionary definition is too simplistic for northern border of the Cape Colony had not South Africa. A stoep can be unroofed and yet reached the Orange River by 1806 is not always covered like a veranda in (Walker 1922: map 7). Refer also to South Africa, nor is it always in front of a Transgariep. house. There are variants on stoep. A sun Transvaal: The term can refer to the Zuid- stoep is glazed, a solarium, a sun room. A Afrikaansche Republic, the British Colony of back stoep is usually associated with the Transvaal or the Transvaal Province in the kitchen and servants. The front stoep acts Union of South Africa and the Republic of as a reception area and is the place where South Africa. Under the constitution of 1994 the men would discuss the weather after a this province was split into the provinces of meal. Compare also stoepkamer. Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and a part Stoepkamer: “I shall use the term ‘stoepkamer’ to of North-West Province. describe each of a pair of rooms, one at Trekboer: “Usually a marked distinction is drawn either end of a front stoep which is between the Voortrekkers and trekboers sometimes covered by a verandah. This (migrant farmers) … The trekboers were room is usually entered from the stoep and hunters and stock farmers who trekked into is sometimes linked to the main body of the the interior primarily for material reasons: house by an internal door. That it was they went in search of grazing and game. xii The northward movement of the stock Free State (the Oranjevrijstaat 1854-1902), farmers was a spontaneous migration; the or the Province of the Orange Free State in Great Trek (of the Voortrekkers) was an the Union of South Africa, or the Province of organised exodus” (Du Bruyn in Cameron the Orange Free State the Republic of South 1986: 129). Africa. See also Free State. Union of South Africa: Was formed by the four Warden Line: A boundary line agreed upon in 1849 British colonies of the Cape, Transvaal, between Major HD Warden and Natal and the Orange River Colony when Moshweshwe. This boundary was suppose they were united in 1910. The Union of to separate the Basotho and white South Africa changed to the Republic of immigrants in the Orange River Sovereignty South Africa in 1961 as the Union left the (Eloff 1978: 7). Commonwealth of Nations and removed all Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek: The ZAR is also British constitutional connectations (Worden referred to as the Transvaal. The name was 1998: 127). officially adopted in 1853 for the new state of Voorkamer: The front room or antechamber, also the “emigrant Boers north of the Vaal River” sometimes voorhuis (front of house), is the (Heydenrych in Cameron 1986: 150). It was reception space directly behind the front annexed by Britain in 1877 as the British door associated with Cape Dutch houses Colony of Transvaal. The independence (Radford 1982: 64). was in broad terms restored again in 1881 Voortrekker: The term is used for mainly white, after the battle of Majuba which marked the Afrikaans speaking frontier Boers and also a end of Boer War I (Heydenrych in Cameron considerable group of Western Cape Boers 1986: 160). The British Colony of Transvaal that took part in a mass-emigration in 1835- was restored after the Anglo-Boer War in 1838 and some years after that. They 1902. emigrated with economic and social-political motives in large parties or as family treks out of the Cape Colony with the intention not to return and to sever all bonds with the British government (Visagie 2011: 9). See also Great Trek. Vrystaat: Free State. The term is short for, and can refer to the Boer Republic of the Orange xiii xv 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTEND 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM The author of Our Threatened Heritage, André The hypothesis of this study is that we know very Pretorius (1997) dramatically remarked that "a vast little about the architecture of the early white country, sparse population, lack of skilled artisans settlers in the Brandwater Basin. The main and building material which was often inferior, research question could in general terms be automatically means that a mere handful of the formulated as: Why did the houses of early white early pioneer homes have survived". This study settlers take on the forms they did? supports a different view. Much of the "early Or in more specific terms: How did the physical pioneer homes" have in fact survived up to this day. properties of the Brandwater Basin, the developing Their remains are unfortunately often unwanted, socio-economical politics of the area and the undocumented and unknown. cultures of the different groups influence the architecture of the houses of the white settlers? The purpose of the study is to present a more definitive survey and documentation of farmsteads Other questions which arise from this are: in the Brandwater Basin erected up to 1910. The • Why is it necessary to document and try to study will: understand this architecture? • survey and evaluate the current knowledge • How can this collection of recorded material on the subject; add to existing collections? • establish or adjust an analytical model for • Existing collections of recordings of early the study of this architecture; architecture in the Free State tend to make a • draw realistic limits to the study; province-wide sweep. Is there a place for • contribute with the survey and such a narrowly defined and limited documentation to existing collections of collection? examples; and • How can all the factors influencing the • initiate some comparisons and architecture be accommodated effectively in interpretations on the collected examples. an analytical model? • What kind of shelters were built by the first white settlers in the Brandwater Basin? 1 • Did the architecture of the indigenous architectural means only. Likewise, it is not people influence the architecture of the possible to do it justice by historical means only. settlers? This is demonstrated best in the Free State in the • What materials were readily available for work of Walton, Roodt and Smit. Using their work building? as examples, the study collects new samples and • Who settled there, why there, when and for records them by architectural means and also what purpose? presents the historical background to these • What role did architecture play in the political samples. The sample for this study stretches over development of the relationship and border a longer period in time than is the case with between Basutoland (now Lesotho) and the Walton. The sample is at the same time narrowed Republic of the Orange Free State (now the down to a much smaller geographical area than Free State Province)? Roodt dealt with. In scale and scope the work is • What design paradigms would the settlers smaller than Roodt’s and broader than Walton’s. have followed? For example: what impact The work done by Smit in Philippolis and early might the migration into the interior have had white settler architecture in the Zuid-Afrikaansche on the transmutation of the Georgian and Republiek by Elize Labuchagne1 and Mauritz Cape Dutch architecture? Naudé2 is in some respects comparable to this study. 1.3 RATIONALE FOR THIS STUDY The study presents an architecture that is unified by material (the sandstone found locally in the Basin) and scale that enjoys a concordance with its 1Labuschagne, E. 1998. From Trekboer to Builder. Pioneer builders: landscape setting. Development of over a century Materials, techniques, traditions, types. Fisher, R.C., Le Roux, S. & Maré, E. can be traced. Yet the cultural context that (Eds.). 1998. Architecture of the Transvaal. Pretoria: University of South nurtured this architecture changed completely and Africa. currently it is a diminishing heritage in need of 2 Naudé, M. 2009. The Selective Use of Slate in Vernacular Farm Buildings documentation. and Structures North of the Vaal River. South African Journal of Art History, Volume 24, Number 2, p.74-95. This study recognises that architectural history is a Naudé, M. 2010. A Typology for ‘Waenhuise’ in the Vernacular Farm specialised section of both history and architecture. Architecture of the Trans-Vaal River Region. South African Journal of Art It is not possible to do justice to the subject by History, Volume 25, Number 2, p.177-195. 2 1.4 OVERVIEW: HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA The study of the history of architecture in Southern the Transvaal10. More focussed or detailed work Africa initially centered around the Western Cape followed this. and Cape Dutch Architecture with well-known In considering the research carried out on the studies and publications by Geoffrey Pearse3, history of architecture in the Free State, the same Barrie Biermann4 and Ron Lewcock5. Then came pattern repeats itself. The big picture was the sweeping panoramas: Doreen Greig6 and constructed by Leon Roodt. More detailed studies Desireé Picton-Seymour7 had, incredible as it might were done by James Walton, Anton Roodt11, Sanet sound, the whole of South Africa as their field of Botha12 and Jan Smit13. Karel Schoeman is a study, Brian Kearney on Natal8, Leon Roodt on The historian in the first instance, but touches on Orange Free State Republic9 and the Festschrift of architectural history regularly and his work in the the Pretoria School of Architecture: Architecture of Free State cannot be over-estimated. Other writers in the same category of history writers that reflect 3 Pearse, G.E. 1933. Eighteenth Century Architecture in South Africa. also on architectural aspects, are Marianne 14 15 16 London: B.T. Batsford. Botes , Hannes Haasbroek , Dirk van der Bank , 4 Biermann, B.E. 1952. A Contribution to the Study of the Origins of Colonial Architecture at the Cape. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of Cape Town. 10 Fisher, R.C., Le Roux, S. & Maré, E. 1998. Architecture of the Transvaal. 5 Lewcock, R. 1963. Early Nineteenth Century Architecture in South Africa. Pretoria: University of South Africa. Cape Town: Balkema. 11 Roodt, A.J. 1990. Die Argitektoniese Bydrae van Francis Lennox Canning, 6 Greig, D. 1971. A Guide to Architecture in South Africa. Cape Town: 1884–1895. Bloemfontein: Ongepubliseerde M. Arch. verhandeling, UOVS. Howard Timmins. 12 Botha, S. 1991. Die Verandering en Ontwikkeling van die 7 Picton-Seymour, D. 1977. Victorian Buildings in South Africa including Woonhuisargitektuur in Bloemfontein gedurende die Tydperk 1846-1946 met Edwardian and Transvaal Republican Styles 1850-1910. Cape Town: Bydraende Faktore. Bloemfontein: Ongepubliseerde M.Arch. verhandeling, Balkema. UOVS. Picton-Seymour, D. 1989. Historical Buildings in South Africa. Cape Town: 13 Smit, J.D. 1989. Identifisering en Evaluering van die Argitektuur van Struik. Philippolis. Bloemfontein: Ongepubliseerde M. Arch verhandeling, UOVS. 8 Kearney, B. 1973. Architecture in Natal from 1824 to 1893. Cape Town: Jan Smit was also involved with the compilation of the following book: Balkema. Nienaber, P.J., Smit, J.D. en Botes, S.M. 1987. Vrystaatse Argitektuur. 9 Roodt, L. 1987. The Architecture of the Orange Free State Republic 1854– Histories-argitektoniese ontwikkeling van die Vrystaatse boukuns: ‘n oorsig. 1902. A comparative study of the cultural conflicts and building achievements Bloemfontein: Stigting NALN. of a model republic. Bloemfontein: Unpublished Ph.D thesis, UOFS. 14 Botes did a monumental series of more than 8 publications on the houses 3 Chitja Twala17 and Derek du Bruyn18. 1.5.1 WALTON PUBLICATIONS James Walton photographed, measured, documented and published19 the remains of early 1.5 SURVEY OF CURRENT KNOWLEDGE houses in the Free State at a time when nobody A few general surveys and publications exist on the else did. He was completely alone in his pre-1910 architecture of the Free State. The most undertaking and remains the only recorder of much important of these are: of the evidence that has since disappeared. Many • works published by Walton, authors have drawn upon his work20. • Prof. Roodt and the Student Survey of 1977, • NALN surveys and publications, • work published by Karel Schoeman, and • other publications. 19 This is a list of publications by Walton that includes work on the Free State: Walton, J. 1951. Homes of the Early South African Stock Farmers. African that occupied the site of the Old Presidency in Bloemfontein. Take, for Notes and News, Vol. VIII, no. 2, p.51-54. example, one of the earlier publications: Walton, J. 1952. Early Voortrekker Houses in the Southern Free State. South Botes, S.M. 1993. Die Residensie: woning van die Britse Resident in African Architectural Record, July, p.176–179. Bloemfontein, 1846–1854. Navorsinge van die Nasionale Museum Walton, J. 1952. Homesteads and Villages of South Africa. Pretoria: Van Bloemfontein, Volume 9, Deel 14, November, p.438-479. Schaik. 15 Take for example one of his more sensational publications: Walton, J. 1955. Vroeë Plas e en Nedersettings in die Oranje-Vrystaat. Haasbroek, J. 2002. Founding Venue of the African National Congress Kaapstad: Balkema. (1912): Wesleyan School, Fort Street, Waaihoek, Bloemfontein. Navorsinge Walton, J. 1961. Homes of the Trekboers. Lantern, September, p.8-21. van die Nasionale Museum Bloemfontein, Volume 18, Part 7, November, Walton, J. 1965. Early Ghoya Settlement in the Orange Free State. p.126-159. Bloemfontein: National Museum. 16 Van der Bank, D.A. 2004. Gerard Moerdijk se Bydrae tot Kerkbou in die Walton, J. 1970. Architecture, Vernacular. Potgieter, D.J. (ed.). Standard Vrystaat. Navorsinge van die Nasionale Museum Bloemfontein, Volume 20, Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Vol. 1. Cape Town: Nasou. Deel 5, Desember, p.114-159. 20 For example Hexrivier, Klipplaatsdrift, Hefersdal and others in Nienaber, 17 Twala, C. 2008. Winnie Mandela Banishment House in Brandfort P.J. 1986. Pioniershuise van die Vrystaat. Bloemfontein: Stigting NALN, p.6- (Majwemasweu) – its historical significance: 1977–1985. South African 31. Journal of Cultural History, Volume 22, No. 2, November, p.66-85. Also Hefersdal and Vincennes in Roodt, L. 1987. The Architecture of the 18 Du Bruyn, D. Oral Testimonies as a Source of Community History, with Orange Free State Republic 1854–1902. A comparative study of the cultural Special Reference to the Batho Project, Bloemfontein. South African Journal conflicts and building achievements of a model republic. Bloemfontein: of Cultural History, Volume 24, No.2, November, p.1-24. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, UOFS, plate 6 & 7. 4 1.5.2 PROF. ROODT AND THE STUDENT SURVEY OF 1977 The most comprehensive survey was the Student (Wiese, Van der Westhuizen, Bouwer (et al.) Survey of 1977. It was organised by Prof. Leon 1977). These surveys produced contemporary Roodt, then Head of the Department of black and white photographs, some text and plan Architecture at the University of the Orange Free diagrams of the most significant buildings dating State. His Ph.D-thesis distilled much information from the era of the Republic of the Orange Free from this survey. The Orange Free State province State. was divided into regions and a student team was The following tables summarise the buildings that appointed to gather information in each section. were photographed and/or measured in these two sections of the student survey. The buildings within Two parts of the student survey covered parts of the Brandwater Basin are marked with an asterisk the Brandwater Basin that this study also covers. and those included in the selected information of The part most relevant to this study is Ficksburg, this study, are printed in bold in the table. The Rosendal, Fouriesburg: Opname van Historiese Ficksburg, Rosendal, Fouriesburg section is the Geboue 1850–1900 (Kleynhans, Swanepoel, Lock most relevant part and is summarised in its entirety (et al.). The other survey covering a portion of the in the table to give a true impression of the thrust of area of this study is Historiese Opname van this survey. It remains a remarkably systematic Geboue by Bethlehem, Kestell en Clarens: 1977 record of the oldest buildings in the Free State FICKSBURG, ROSENDAL, FOURIESBURG: OPNAME VAN HISTORIESE GEBOUE 1850 - 1900 No. Name of building Page number Number Page no of in document of photos plan diagram 1 St Columba, earlier Anglican Ch. 5, 40, 46 2 2 Anglican Church 6, 7, 43, 47 2 p.7 3 Methodist Church 8, 9, 41, 43, 3 p.9 46, 47 4 First School 10, 40, 46 3 5 First Library 11, 12, 40, 46 2 p.12 6 City Hall 13, 14, 41, 46 2 p.14 7 Landdrost Office 15, 16, 41, 46 2 p.16 5 8 House Taylor 18, 40, 46 2 9 House de Villiers 19, 20, 40, 46 2 p.20 10 Anglican Parsonage 21, 22, 43, 47 2 p.22 11 House Newberry (Zon St.) 23, 43, 48 3 12 House Newberry (McCabe St.) 23, 43, 48 2 13 Sterkfontein House Fick 25, 26, 42, 47 2 p.26 14 Boschfontein House 27, 28, 42, 47 3 p.28 15 Seven Fountains House 29, 40, 46 2 16 Dutch Ref. Church Fouriesburg* 32, 33, 44, 3 p.33 45, 48 17 Snymanshoek House* 34 2 18 Kromdraai House* 35 2 19 Tierhoek House Fourie* 36 1 20 Steynsburg House* 37, 44, 48 3 21 Private House Ficksburg 40, 46 1 22 Driefontein House & Outbuilding 40, 46 5 23 Dutch Ref. Church Ficksburg 41, 46 2 24 Morgenzon House 41, 46 3 25 Ficksburg Upholsterers 41, 46 1 26 General Dealer 41, 46 1 27 Bamboesberg Outbuilding 42, 47 1 28 Nassau House 42, 47 1 29 Welgegund House 42, 47 1 30 Sandfontein House 42, 47 1 31 Mooipoort House & Outbuilding 42, 43, 47, 48 3 32 Addershoek House and Mill 42, 47 3 33 Blydskap House 42, 47 2 34 Rosendal House 42, 47 1 35 Police Station 42, 47 1 36 Lotzplaas House 42, 47 2 37 Unknown 43, 47 2 38 Old Jail 43, 47 2 39 House McBride 43, 47, 48 3 40 Wonderkop House & Outbuilding 43, 48 3 6 41 Gibraltar House 43, 44, 48 2 42 Quaggasfontein House 44, 48 2 43 Presentpoort House Venter* 44, 48 3 44 Bethlehem Star Cottage* 45, 48 3 45 House de Villiers* 45, 48 2 46 House Klemp* 45, 48, 49 2 47 House Robertson St 30* 45, 49 2 48 House Robertson St 32* 45, 49 2 49 Old Jail Fouriesburg* 45, 49 3 50 Kromdraai House & Title Deed* 45, 49 4 51 Schoonzicht House Heyns* 45, 49 2 52 Middenin House* 45, 49 2 53 Magdalena House* 45, 49 4 More information was gathered by the students in the Ficksburg21 area (29 pages with 9 plans) than in Rosendal22 (1 page with no plans) or Fouriesburg23 (7 pages with 1 plan). The students traced the historical plan of the Dutch Reformed Church in Fouriesburg and that unfortunately amounted to the only plan produced in the Brandwater Basin. The nine other plans that they produced in the Ficksburg area are a truer reflection of their work in the area. 21 Ficksburg is also the oldest town, being proclaimed in 1867. 22 Rosendal was proclaimed in 1911. 23 Fouriesburg was proclaimed in 1893. 7 HISTORIESE OPNAME VAN GEBOUE BY BETHLEHEM, KESTELL EN CLARENS. 1977 No. Name of building Section Number number of photos 1 Old Stonehouse* 3.2.1 2 2 Methodist Church* 3.2.2 2 3 Old Parsonage* 3.2.3 1 4 Koeberg House* 3.2.4 2 5 Holkrans on Ouwerf* 3.2.5 1 6 First School on Ouwerf* 3.2.6 2 7 Monument* 3.2.7 1 The table above shows only the information in was not published, several papers relating to this Clarens, which is the area that overlaps with the was28. The focus of this work was on Brandwater Basin. More information was gathered communicating with the different communities, in the Bethlehem24 area (49 pages with 4 plans) especially regarding conservation and the than in Clarens25 (7 pages with no plans) or in establishment of local museums, and not so much Kestell26 (3 pages with no plans). on recording or architectural analysis. NALN 1.5.3 NALN LISTS 28 Nienaber, P.J. 1982. Bewaring in die Vrystaat. Bloemfontein: Stigting The Nasionale Afrikaanse Letterkundige Museum NALN. en Navorsingsentrum (NALN)27 also undertook a Nienaber, P.J. & Le Roux, C.J.P. 1982. Vrystaat-Fokus. Roodepoort: CUM- survey of early architecture in the Free State by Boeke. Christoff Albertyn and others. Although the survey Nienaber, P.J. (red.). 1984. Die Vrystaat en Bewaring. Simposium 16–17 Maart 1983. Roodepoort: CUM-Boeke. 24 Bethlehem is also the oldest of this group of towns and was proclaimed in Nienaber, P.J. 1986. Pioniershuise van die Vrystaat. Bloemfontein: Stigting 1860. NALN. 25 Clarens was proclaimed in 1912. Nienaber, P.J., Smit, J.D. & Botes, S.M. 1987. Vrystaatse Argitektuur. 26 Kestell was proclaimed in 1905. Histories-argitektoniese ontwikkeling van die Vrystaatse boukuns: ‘n oorsig. 27 National Afrikaans Literary Museum & Research Centre in Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein: Stigting NALN. 8 excelled in getting books published on the little remains within the historical sphere and contributes known subject of the architectural history of the to architectural history from that perspective. Free State and for that the institution must receive credit. NALN underperformed however, in terms of 1.5.5 OTHER PUBLICATIONS real original research in the field backed by the The studies by Anton Roodt, Sanet Botha and Jan simplest of measured drawings. It relied heavily on Smit are available to researchers, but remain the research done years before by Walton and on unpublished. In her book on South African the literary and research talents of Karel architecture, Doreen Greig concentrated on towns30 Schoeman. in the Free State but mentions “a massive Early English church at Fouriesburg, 1908, and the 1.5.4 WORKS PUBLISHED BY KAREL cathedral-like church at Winburg in the Orange SCHOEMAN Free State, 1899, …”. Désirée Picton-Seymour Non-architect Karel Schoeman created a historical concentrate more on the most important buildings framework for the history of the city of Bloemfontein in the Free State in her two publications. Dennis with the publication of his singular work Radford wrote a pair of articles31 that use Free Bloemfontein: Die Ontstaan van ‘n Stad 1846–1946 State examples in his typological exploration of the in 1980. This is by implication also a historical cottage and stoepkamer. Brian Kearney and framework for the Free State as a province. Rodney Harber wrote an article on the demolished Important as it is, this work, together with the St Patricks Church in Bloemfontein32 which drew numerous other publications from his labours29, attention to the collection of documents at the University of Natal, now KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. 29 Schoeman, K. 1980. Bloemfontein: Die ontstaan van 'n stad 1846-1946. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau. 30 Greig, D. 1971. A Guide to Architecture in South Africa. Cape Town: Schoeman, K. 1982. Vrystaatse Erfenis. Bouwerk en geboue in die 19de eeu. Howard Timmins. Bloemfontein p.80; Fouriesburg p.44; Harrismith p.127; Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau. Kroonstad p.164; Philippolis p.175; Reddersburg p.212; Sasolburg p.218; Schoeman, K. 1985. Boukunsskatte van die Vrystaat. Roodepoort: CUM- Welkom p.223; Winburg p.22, 33, 44, 55. boeke. 31 Radford, D. 1982. The South African Cottage in the 19th Century. Lantern, Schoeman, K. 1985. Die Huis van die Armes. Die Berlynse July, p.58–65. Sendinggenootskap in die O.V.S. 1834-1869. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau Radford, D. 1984. The Stoepkamer Tradition in South African Architecture. (Vrijstatia Nr.4). Lantern, January, p.26-34. Schoeman, K. 1987. Portrait of Bloemfontein 1860–1910. Cape Town: Human 32 Kearney, B. & Harber, R. 1991. Duadic Construction – the work of Canon & Rousseau. Edgar Rose. Building, no. 29, April, p.13-18. 9 In 1985 Union of International Architects (UIA) Schoonzicht House Heyns36 and Tierhoek House magazine published an issue on Southern Africa33. Fourie37. They included controversial areas like the homelands of Bophuthatswana and Transkei, but did not mention the Free State once. This 1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION demonstrates the ignorance about the building The dissertation presents in chapter 1 a study of traditions in the heart of South Africa that exists at the published and unpublished records on times. architectural history in the Free State. 1.5.6 RIGOUR OF SURVEYS In chapter 2 a framework for the study of historical Walton, Roodt and Smit in Philippolis produced houses and the collection of material is explained measured drawings and images that constitute for and discussed. This framework eventually allows the greater part the sum total of recorded for three instances of investigation: architectural material in the Free State on early white settlement. The record is, however, still very patchy. This is not an argument that pretends that Photographs without any identification on p.48. it should ever be complete, but this study tries to Eloff, CC. 1980. Oos-Vrystaatse Grensgordel. p.5: Photograph by Louis du focus the attention on the Brandwater Basin. It is a Preez misnamed Presentpoort. geographically distinct area with its own traditions Schoeman, K. 1982. Vrystaatse Erfenis. p.23: 2 x Photographs by Louis du and history with only one extant plan, that of the Preez. Dutch Reformed Church of Fouriesburg (1908). 35 Kleynhans, JP (et al.) 1977. Ficksburg, Rosendal, Fouriesburg. p.44: 3 x Photographs misnamed Presentplaas on p.48. This study scanned more than 60 structures Eloff, CC. 1980. Oos-Vrystaatse Grensgordel. p.5: Photograph by Louis du outside of town areas to add another 17 measured Preez misnamed Bethlehem Star. and analyzed examples to the record. Of the 17, 36 Kleynhans, JP (et al.) 1977. Ficksburg, Rosendal, Fouriesburg. p.45: 2 x only 4 have been mentioned before in any survey Photographs identified on p.49. or publication. These are Bethlehem Star 37 Kleynhans, JP (et al.) 1977. Ficksburg, Rosendal, Fouriesburg. p.44: 1 x Cottage34, Present Poort House Venter35, Photograph identified on p.48. Schoeman, K. 1982. Vrystaatse Erfenis. p.85: Misnamed Kromdraai, but 33 UIA. 1985. International Architect / International Union of Architects. clearly describing Tierhoek. Magazine Issue 8. Southern Africa. Eloff, CC. 1980. Oos-Vrystaatse Grensgordel. p.418: Photograph by Louis du 34 Kleynhans, JP (et al.) 1977. Ficksburg, Rosendal, Fouriesburg. p.45: 3 x Preez without caption. 10 • investigating the physical evidence; • investigating the time-related evidence and • investigating the cultural evidence. Chapter 3 presents the 17 farmhouses that were surveyed and recorded. All of this material was put together in an accessible and comparable format with summaries in Appendix C. Chapter 4 presents the investigation of the physical records. That includes not only the house itself, but also the landscape and major movement patterns in relation to the house. The space investigated includes the landscape. Chapter 5 presents the investigation into the chronological developments. This places the physical records into a changing or developing time frame. The major, longer term developments are the focus of this part of the work. Chapter 6 presents the investigation of cultural aspects, specifically the ways of doing which are associated with specific persons. It was possible to group some of them, but it did not facilitate the comparisons. Chapter 7 presents the conclusion and reflects on the findings. 11 2 UNDERSTANDING ARCHITECTURE 2.1 AN APPROACH TO ARCHITECTURAL CRITICISM Writers, in some cases, find everything they Brandwater Basin present themselves in the early need to write about architecture in libraries, phases as vernacular types. A framework for the archives and boxes in store-rooms. This often understanding of vernacular types was therefore results in a criticism that focusses on cultural investigated. Amos Rapoport published a seminal appreciation. Architecture is in this scenario part work on vernacular houses in 1969: House Form of place-making. It answers the question: How and Culture. It was analysed and criticised by did people experience the place? Space and numerous writers and some of that criticism will be physical properties play a secondary role. presented here. Geographical area and chronology is implied in the cultural activity presented in such an architectural history. Other writers find everything they need on the site. They present measured records with spatial and physical evidence to the reader. It acts on the same level as archaeological records where the cultural aspects can only be added from other sources. It is an investigation into space-making and space. Time and culture is suppressed as they colour the evidence with pre-conceived ideas and prejudices. There are many ways to approach architectural criticism between and outside of these extremes and this study sets out to understand such frameworks of knowledge. The houses in the Fig. 3 House Form and Culture by Amos Rapoport as published in 1969. 12 2.2 DIVERSITY IN INTERPRETATION Rapoport criticised “interpretations of the design of the inhabitants and possible changes to these vernacular houses which only consider a single and other variables during the course of time. … Although analytical descriptions of this kind factor” (Lawrence 1990: 223) such as the “Physical are essential for interpreting vernacular Deterministic View” (Rapoport 1969:42). In the houses in a systematic way, when same vein Roderick J. Lawrence critically reviewed architectural and technical data of this kind “diverse definitions and interpretations of remain unrelated to a conceptual framework, vernacular architecture which have been published this empirical approach is inadequate for in English and French during the last hundred years enriching our understanding. In like manner, by authors in diverse professions and academic an ethnographer's notes remain a narrative of observed events and descriptions by disciplines” (Lawrence 1990: 220). After informants until they are interpreted with establishing seven explanations38 which were respect to cultural, social, or other concepts” commonly used, he concludes that: (Lawrence 1990: 222). "This critical review illustrates that diverse One of the major contributions that Rapoport made, definitions and interpretations of vernacular was to bring together diverse factors. He was able architecture have rarely been used in a to do that because he introduced a hierarchy of complementary way by authors in diverse factors39. "…he endeavoured to show the primacy disciplines. Yet this limited approach restricts our understanding of vernacular dwellings; for of 'socio-cultural' factors and how other parameters example, those studies which only measure (i.e., availability of building materials, economics, and record the design, construction and 39 Rapoport 1969: 18, 60: The framework that he proposed looked like this: furnishing of specific dwellings … are not PRIME FACTORS: SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS: Basic needs informative about the meaning of these dwellings, why they were built, the lifestyle of Family Position of women 38 The seven explanations are: Privacy 1. The aesthetic/formalist interpretation Social intercourse 2. The typological approach SECONDARY FACTORS: MODIFYING FACTORS: Climate, Need for Shelter 3. An evolutionary theory Construction, Materials, Technology 4. Social and geographical diffusionism Site 5. Physical explanations, such as materials and technology, site and climate Defence 6. Social explanations, including economics, household structure and defence Economics 7. Cultural factors including collective spatial images and religious practices Religion 13 etc.) are only modifying factors implicated at a against a time context could also inform both. It secondary level” (Lawrence 1990: 223). The would, for example, be limiting to our understanding conclusion is that it is important to consolidate a of the rise of the Ndebele decorative tradition if it wide sweep of information that normally would fall were not set against the labour practices of the under diverse disciplines, if architecture were to be time.41 properly understood. To also place the architecture of the Brandwater Basin in a time context, will allow political 2.3 TIME AS A CONTEXT developments to be considered. Part of the area Rapoport was ambivalent about the role of time in falls outside the Republic of the Orange Free State, House Form and Culture. He understood the then inside the Conquered Territory, then outside usefulness of it when he wrote: “In the same way the British Empire and so on. Writers will often limit that we cannot understand our subject at a moment the time context in any case to concentrate on a in time, we cannot understand it in the context of a specific condition or culture as Roodt did in The single culture” (Rapoport 1969: 12). He also, Architecture of the Orange Free State Republic however, expressed reservations on the usefulness 1854 – 1902 or Kearney did in Architecture in Natal of a chronological study. Trying to write a meta- from 1824 to 1893. narrative, as he did, with examples taken from across the world, this is to be expected. He did not As the physical context can be limited to focus at want to get into all the exceptions to the rule, he examples that occur at the same place, the time wanted to generalise40. context can also be limited to look in detail at examples that developed within a specific period. In a limited study the case for a chronological Lawrence hints at this when he proposes that (in framework might once more be appropriate, since it would help the researcher in clarifying the small- 41 Any 'socio-cultural' factor is time-specific. These factors tend to develop scale development that might have occurred over any given period even within closed communities. Isolationism, political sporadically. Chronological developments set pressures, forced cultural assimilation, etc. will play at least a 'modifying' role, if not a primary one. As information diffuses more rapidly into previously 40 Compare for instance Rapoport 1969: 15, where he tries to present isolated regions, the pace of development might even increase. It is also not vernacular architecture as “basically nonchronological in nature”. This study only the socio-cultural factors that change over time. Even physical factors points to a different direction: Nonchronological architecture is the exception such as the 'availability of building materials' or the climate could be time- and chronological development is the rule. specific. 14 defense of a limited study) a “precise understanding of these variables in specific contexts at specific points in time is required” PHYSICAL / MATERIAL FACTORS: (1990: 223, italics by author). It is then surprising Availability of building materials that he does not include time in his Analytical Availability of building technology Customary use of materials Model. Presence of craftsmen, and self-build Site conditions Climatic conditions 2.4 THE ANALYTICAL MODEL BY LAWRENCE Lawrence presented his Analytical Model “to aid the SOCIAL AND CULTURAL VARIABLES: scholar to address the complexity of this subject by Historical values, beliefs using the contributions of diverse interpretations in Extant social values, beliefs Social roles, public and private a complementary way”42. His model considers the Structure of population reciprocal relationships between: Composition of households Economic factors, costs Building regulations, norms INDIVIDUAL / HUMAN FACTORS: Age, gender of residents Marital status, household formation Past and present occupations Personal beliefs, religion, preferences Residential biography Foreign, external contacts and experience 42 He continues: "This framework enables scholars to account for the design, meaning and use of dwellings in terms of those dimensions may need to be stressed or undervalued with respect to others. From this perspective, researchers and practitioners can situate their approach, forcibly partial rather than inclusive in terms of this conceptual model" (Lawrence 1990: 255). 15 dimension or context. Such an adjusted model is presented in the next section. 2.5 AN ADJUSTED ANALYTICAL MODEL The adjusted model simply utilises three contexts, dimensions or groups of variables, namely the physical, time and cultural contexts. Two categories of Lawrence’s model (“Social and Cultural Variables” and “Individual/Human Factors”) were combined into the cultural context. Any researcher applying this model will have to decide how unlimiting or limiting all of these would be on the research at hand: THE PHYSICAL CONTEXT Site conditions Climatic conditions Resources at the place THE TIME CONTEXT Fig. 4 Lawrence’s Analytical Model of vernacular houses, which considers the Historical influence reciprocal relationships between physical/material factors, social and cultural Political pressures and administrative networks variables and individual/human factors (1990: 256). Foreign, external contacts Economical [and industrial] activity A development over time is implicated in aspects like Past and present occupations, or Availability of THE CULTURAL CONTEXT building materials/technology. The framework Personal information could even be repeated for every period Social roles, structures, beliefs (year/decade etc). Many other sub-divisions could be included, argued The conclusion is however, that time-related issues or incorporated. Each situation would bring more to could be accommodated more precisely in the the foreground. The major thrust here is the three model, especially with a limited approach where main categories. time could be regarded as another limiting 16 17 2.6 CULTURE AS A CONTEXT After Rapoport few have questioned the inclusion that the general term of genre de vie43 should be of cultural variables into the study of vernacular broken “down into terms even more specific and architecture. It has even been used uncritically at concrete” (Rapoport 1969: 60). times (Duncan 1981: 2). In a multi-cultural context (as South Africa has proven to be throughout "In sum, such generalisations fail to history), the cultural dimension could be a demonstrate how the design and use of houses are influenced by these variables, bewildering collection at most places, almost because first and foremost, there is not a always. Demarcating the place and the time deterministic relationship between spatial and certainly simplifies the cultural dimension, but the social parameters in the context of domestic culture itself could however also be regarded as a architecture and, second, there is no boundary of research. Even limiting research to a guarantee that these notions, do have a single group will immediately open up questions spatial component in all societies” (Lawrence about the composition of that group into sub- 1990: 223). groups. Broader perspectives will include more To counter these generalisations, others44 groups but will tend to treat those as more proposed that the context be limited45. This will generalised/homogeneous groupings. It follows provide an opportunity for the factors operating that like space and time, culture should also be within that context to be studied in detail, even over consciously and clearly demarcated: which an extended period of time46. The opposite would groups/sub-groups to include or compare and which to ignore. 43 “The term 'genre de vie' used by Max Sorre includes all the cultural, spiritual, material, and social aspects which affect form”. Rapoport “further suggests that the socio-cultural component of the genre de vie is the sum of 2.7 GENERALISATION VERSUS SPECIFICITY the concepts of culture, ethos, world view, and national character…” (Original Lawrence criticised Rapoport for the use of very italics, 1969: 47-48). general terms (1990: 223). The argument is that 44 Geertz and Dunleavy in Lawrence 1990: 224 non-material factors that impact on building design 45 As Dunleavy (in Lawrence 1990: 224) notes: “…problems of choosing a cannot be considered universal. “General terms typical case in this approach disappear, and the uniqueness and particularity such as family, position of women, privacy and of each study is explicitly recognised”. social intercourse” (Original italics. Lawrence 1990: 46 "In contrast to generalisations about whether non-material factors are 223) have, for instance, a different content in implicated in the design and use of buildings, it is crucial to comprehend how diverse societies. Rapoport himself also thought they function in the design and use of the build environment. This implies that 18 2.8 POSITION OF A HISTORY be to cite diverse examples from various sources, and to try to apply (necessarily generalised) "Here we can identify, say, historians' parameters to these examples47. histories (professional histories attempting to exercise hegemony over the field, a version The choice lies in gaining perspective and losing expressed in the thesis, the monograph and detail, or gaining detail and losing perspective. the text), teachers' histories (necessarily There is a vast difference between the approach popularisations of professional histories), and that takes a large number of samples from different then a whole range of other distinctive forms contexts and the approach that tries to take that can only be listed: children's histories, samples from a single context. Although it is popular-memory histories, proscribed important to recognises the usefulness of both48, histories, black histories, white histories, women's histories, feminists histories, men's this study follows the latter method of limited histories, heritage histories, reactionary contexts to arrive at conclusions. It therefore histories, revolutionary histories, bottom-dog becomes necessary to make a value judgement on histories, top-dog histories, etc., all these the scale of the physical context, the scale of the varying constructs being affected by local, time context and also the scale of the cultural regional, national and international context. perspectives" (Jenkins 1991: 65-66). Jenkins (1991: 69) illustrates that “there is no such thing as an 'unpositioned centre' (actually a it is important to limit and specify the reciprocal relations between buildings contradiction in terms); no possibility of an and people …. This can be achieved by replacing extremely broad unpositioned site. The only choice is between a conceptual tools, which obscure the essence of those social processes and history that is aware of what it is doing and a history cultural ideals implicated in the design and use of houses, by intensive that is not”49. The compilation of information has a analyses that define the context dependent parameters operative in specific certain purpose, a vested interest in presenting this contexts, and also the reciprocal relations between them." (Italics original. construction of the past. Emphasis, omissions, etc. Lawrence 1990: 223-224). will be influenced by this. 47 The arch-example of this approach would be Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture, but it is also the approach adopted very successfully 49 Also "For in saying that you ought to make an explicit choice of position I by Rapoport. See also King in Lawrence 1990: 224. do not want to imply that if you do not want to make such a choice then you 48 This contrasts with Lyotard “… characterising post-modernism as can do a position-less history. That is, I do not want to suggest that you have witnessing the ‘death of centres’ and of displaying ‘incredulity towards some sort of freedom to choose or not; for this is to be unreflectively liberal” metanarratives’” (Jenkins 1991: 60). (Jenkins 1991: 69). 19 In this study it is the author's concept (coming from anachronistic and unpalatable and can at best be a phenomenological background) of an academic, viewed as part of yesterday’s top-dog histories. architectural history perspective that is driving the This work tries to follow in the footsteps of Roodt work. The measurement and recording of original and Walton where the collection of material was a architectural fabric where others have not yet major contribution. worked, opened a field which has to be presented and analysed with caution. The intention is to establish this body of work solidly within the 2.9 APPROPRIATING THE FRAMEWORK architectural field in the first instance, then in the By describing the limits of this study according to second place also as history (within which there are the adjusted framework, the position of this history many possibilities: geographical, contemporary will also become clearer. The physical context is archaeology, social, etc.). limited to the Brandwater Basin. The author lived in Fouriesburg (which is central to The time context is limited from the first buildings the Brandwater Basin) from 1971 to 1979 and knew by European builders, through the apocalyptic some of the places and their owners before events of the Anglo-Boer War and aftermath, to the commencing this work. This helped to facilitate establishment of the Union of South Africa. This permission to access the buildings at a time when translates into a period of more or less 80 years, farmers are extremely security conscious50 and from 1830-1910. It allows the shelters to develop suspicious of heritage meddling51. It is the intention from the tentative isolated beginnings into of this study to pay lip-service to neither farmhouses that show influences from the conservational or heritage issues, nor to current Edwardian Empire that it was part of. politically-correct opinions. In the popular politics of the day, the topic should be considered In the cultural context the study will be concerned with the houses of the white settlers who introduced 50 This is the result of a series of assaults and robberies on farmers. the concept of a farm with a single owner in a Compare for instance the murder of Kol and Annetjie Roos on their farm farmstead to the area. For that reason, houses in 52 Coerland: Slain farmer and his wife found by son. (The Citizen 1998: 2) and urban areas were excluded . Ownership has in the assault on Mossie and Ida Mostert on their farm Mooidam: Bloedvergieting op VS plase duur voort met jongste aanval op boer. (Die Volksblad 1998: 1). 52 Different influences operate on houses in the town than on farmhouses. 51 See for instance: Klag ingedien teen sloop van sandsteenhuis. (Volksblad The fact that there is only an erf with a given street front limits the first owner’s 2006: 1). choice of view, approach, front door or back of house. 20 certain cases moved away from whites, but this is still the way in which the rural landscape is controlled. This group of settlers that established the farm culture, was not homogeneous in their "For (history) viewed not in its traditional background, political conviction or language guise as a subject discipline aiming at a real preference. Most of them were Voortrekkers, but knowledge of the past, but seen rather as the group included also an English speaking trader what it is, a discursive practice that enables from Durban and others that did not (or would not) present-minded people(s) to go to the past, take part in the Great Trek. there to delve around and reorganise it appropriately to their needs, then such history, … may well have a radical cogency that can make visible aspects of the past that 2.10 CONCLUSIONS have previously been hidden or secreted This chapter started by investigating the away; that have previously been overlooked frameworks of writers that dealt with vernacular or sidelined, thereby producing fresh insights architecture. The framework moved away from that can actually make emancipatory, vernacular architecture to become a tool for material differences to and within the present - which is where all history starts from and criticism of architecture in general. It also helped to returns to” (Jenkins 1991: 68). indicate the areas where deliberate decisions on limits would benefit the study. In the following chapters, the case studies will be presented and the framework will be applied to the body of recorded buildings to test its usefulness. 21 3 CASE STUDIES The buildings that form the basis of this study are Under the heading of Physical Context and presented here in alphabetical order according to Description the following information is presented: the name of the farmstead. In the case of • the physical approach to the building; extended farming over many farms, these were • the area around the building and any grouped together as is the case with the Middleton neighbouring structures; Estate. As established in the document, the • notes on the orientation and windows (north, surveyed information is placed in a: south); • physical context and described on a physical • the prospect; level; • internal arrangement; • time context to include concurrent aspects; • notes on the number of rooms and doors; and • height above sea level; • cultural context to allow cultural factors to be • the nature of the contours and slope, taken highlighted. over the extent of the building and its Notes on the interpretation of the plans were also associated terraces; added when necessary. • the way that the builder dealt with the gradient of the natural ground level; • overall dimensions; 3.1 FORMAT OF INFORMATION • roofed area; Each site has a first page with photographs of the • exterior materials; exterior, followed by a second page with the plan • details; and and basic information: • peculiarities. • the site indicated on a location plan of the Not all of these descriptors are applicable to all the Brandwater Basin; structures. Taken as a list, the descriptors present • the site indicated on a map of 1:50 000; a sample of information that was investigated. It • an aerial photograph of the buildings to a also indicates to the reader the sequence of scale of 1:2 000; and presentation. Most of these descriptors overlap • the ground floor plan to a scale of 1:200. with the time context or could be argued to contain cultural aspects. They are, however, included 22 under the Physical Context because they are neighbours still remember, or tell stories of the deemed to be physical evidence for the researcher original owners, it is an indication of the stability of in the first instance. the community and their notability in it. If nothing could be traced on them, it also gives an idea of Information relating to the political situation during how temporary the community was that they were the different phases of the building is placed under part of and how little remained extant. the heading of Time Context. The researcher has to bring this evidence to the argument. The Under the heading Notes on Data in Summary are researcher has to place the physical evidence in a explantions that might clarify or explain some of the time frame. If the building is an example of a more contentious decisions that were made in the particular fashion or way of doing that might have absence of clear evidence. The information was existed at a certain time, it should be noted here. summarised and presented in table format in The development of the house over time is also Appendix C: Summary of Case Studies. This acts indicated where the structure and materials or plan as a cross-reference to the information presented displayed clues to that effect. Changes in the use here in Case Studies, chapter 3. and occupation of the house will be discussed where appropriate. Under the heading of Cultural Context are aspects relating to cultural values which are expressed in the structure. These include the inherent orientation (front, sides, back) of the house which is a cultural construct. This is important because it relegated the physical position of females, children, servants, blacks, unwanted strangers, working areas etc. to the back and placed males, the receiving of visitors, whites, family, interesting strangers, reception spaces etc. in front. It was not always possible to identify the first owners, but where possible, notes on the original owners and their position in the community can contribute to understanding the structure. If current owners or 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 4 PHYSICAL CONTEXT 4.1 INTRODUCTION Chapter 2 dealt with and arrived at a framework of To return to the physical context which this chapter criticism in architecture. Chapter 3 presented the will deal with: It was so important for Rapoport to specific case studies. The next three chapters will illustrate the supremacy of cultural factors over endeavour to apply the framework of criticism from physical factors53, that it is easy to neglect the fact chapter 2 to the case studies in chapter 3. The that the landscape contains in it the universe of process start with the physical context (in chapter possibilities and choices that cultures react to. It 4) and continue from the general to the particular: remains the springboard, the touchstone. If the • limit the physical context; features of the landscape allow and the necessary • describe the physical context; economic incentives exist, the landscape might be • place the houses in the physical context and changed (for instance by mining or by connectors indicate influences; and like railways, roads, bridges) that open up more • compare the physical properties of the possibilities. It does not override the fact that the houses themselves. landscape was there first, and all activities react to it in the second instance. This process will repeat itself in chapter 5, dealing with the time context: • limit the time context; 4.2 PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS • describe the time context; and The physical limits of the study is the Brandwater • place the houses in the time context and Basin54 in the Eastern Free State. The survey that indicate developments. accompanied this study concentrated on houses in 53 “While the physical nature of the site does affect building form, as in the The process is again repeated in chapter 6, the case of a steeply sloping site, it is the initial choice of site that introduces this cultural context: variable. In this choice access to food or water, exposure to wind, defensive • limit the cultural context and describe it; and potential, the sparing of land for agriculture, and transportation all play a role” • place the houses in the cultural context and (Rapoport 1969: 74). indicate any influences that can be detected. 54 As is explained in the glossary: The term, since the Anglo-Boer War, does not refer to the literal basin of the Brandwater River anymore. 90 the rural district and does not include buildings in indicate all of the enclosed valleys between the towns55. The reason for this is that houses in a Witteberge and Rooiberge57 and the Caledon town react to a different set of ideas than River. It is the popular understanding of the term farmhouses. and it was in this sense that it was used during the Anglo-Boer War by the British58. It is in this sense The most important reason for choosing this area is also that the term will be used in this document. that there are almost no measured architectural records available. Secondly it has a politically To conclude: the Basin is dominated by two major unstable history with the border of the conquered valleys, those of Grootspruit and the Little Caledon territory running through the middle of it. and the rest are minor areas. The town of Architecture played a role in the occupation of the Fouriesburg sits prominently at the centre, on the area after the three border wars with Basutoland watershed between the two major valleys, on the and the Anglo-Boer War affected this area foot hills of Ventersberg. Access to the area is via intimately with the burning of the farmsteads. This six natural entrances in the mountains. situation has the potential to demonstrate the time context better than in an area with a very stable development. 4.3 DESCRIPTION OF THE BRANDWATER BASIN EDITION) 1987 sheet. The 'Brandwater Basin' (or in Afrikaans: 57 The older spelling is sometimes used as Wittebergen and Roodebergen. It Brandwaterkom or Brandwaterbekken (De la Harpe literally translates into White and Red Mountains. Compare for instance De [1993]: 74)) literally means: the catchment area of Wet 1902: 161. the Brandwater River56. The term is often used to 58 “Meanwhile, he [General Hunter] had at last begun to gather some idea of what was going on behind the screen of mountains. … and he had imagined 55 The towns in the area are Fouriesburg (1893) and Clarens (1912). that the Boers were preparing to break out of the Brandwater Basin by 56 The Brandwater River is also known in the area as Meulspruit, Meulstroom Ficksburg and the road to the west. … There were six wagon roads into and and indicated on some maps as Grootspruit, which is the more common out of the mountains … Commando Nek and Witnek … Slabbert’s Nek … name for the stream used by the locals. Compare, for example, the SOUTH Retief’s Nek … Naauwpoort … [and] the most easterly pass – Golden Gate” AFRICA 1:50 000 2828CA FOURIESBURG (SECOND EDITION) 1979 (Pakenham 1982: 441). Witnek is an unusual name and is now known as sheet and the SOUTH AFRICA 1:250 000 2828 HARRISMITH (THIRD General’s Nek. 91 GENERAL VIEWS OF THE BASIN Fig. 253 The town Fouriesburg is central to the Brandwater Basin. (1987) Fig. 255 Visierskerf, one of the landmarks (Photo: Danie du Preez 2012) Fig. 254 The Witteberge from the top of Visierskerf, looking south (1987) Fig. 256 The Brandwater Basin from the top of Visierskerf, looking north-east (1987) 92 THE NEKKE OF THE BASIN Fig. 257 Retief’s Nek towards Bethlehem (Photo: Danie du Preez 2012) Fig. 259 Commando Nek towards Ficksburg (Photo: Danie du Preez 2012) Fig. 258 Slabbert’s Nek towards Paul Roux (Photo: Danie du Preez 2012) Fig. 260 General’s Nek towards Rosendal (Photo: Danie du Preez 2012) 93 MOUNTAINS OF THE BRANDWATER BASIN Fig. 265 The most prominent mountains of the Brandwater Basin indicated on the 1 800 m and 2 100 m contours. 4.3.1 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES The Brandwater Basin comprises an area of It lies between 28˚00'S to 28˚40'S and 28˚20'E to approximately 1 500 sq. km or 150 000 hectares. 28˚50E. It is a branch valley off the Caledon River From Commando Nek to the high point of the and is drained by the Little Caledon River and Golden Gate pass59 it stretches for 70 km parallel Grootspruit. The area lies between 1 580 m60 and to the border with Lesotho, never wider than 40 km. 2 837 m61 above sea level. The towns of 59 De Wet calls this the pass to “Witzeshoek”, later to become QwaQwa and 60 Where Grootspruit branches into the Caledon. Phuthaditjhaba (De Wet 1902: 161). 61 Ribbok Kop, above Golden Gate. 95 4.3.2 GEOLOGY Fouriesburg and Clarens have a fairly high altitude The three maps that follow indicate the Brandwater at 1 770 m and 1 800 m respectively. Basin, first in comparison to South Africa and then in detail. The geology of the Basin lies within the The Witteberge range of mountains forms the Karoo Supergroup. The Karoo Supergroup has in western and part of the northern boundary. The its lower levels the Beaufort Group which does not highest mountain in that range is the well-known offer suitable building material. The Beaufort Visierskerf at a height of 2 407 m. The Rooiberge Group sandstone (which is a fluvial deposit) Mountains close in from the eastern side and form contains impurities like feldspar, mica and clay that the rest of the northern line. In the Rooiberge react to moisture (Loock 2012). As can be seen on Mountains Snymanshoekberg (2 469 m), the last two geological maps in bright green, it is Wodehouse Kop (2 438 m) and Ribbok Kop (2 only the lowest valleys of the Brandwater Basin 8337 m) are some of the landmarks. Also part of where the Beaufort sandstone is exposed. the Rooiberge range is the prominent Ventersberg. At a height of 2 259 m it is not nearly the highest The sandstone of the Molteno, Elliot and Clarens mountain in the area. Its prominence is due to its Formations, on top of the Beaufort Formation, is landmark position, almost at the centre of the generally available in the Basin. The Clarens Basin. The southern line is the international border sandstone is an excellent building material. The with Lesotho, formed by the Caledon River. quality of the Clarens sandstone (which is an aeolian deposit) available in the Basin might be one The occurrence of such an enclosed valley is of the reasons for some of the earlier buildings to unique to the topography of the Free State. The have survived better(Preakelt 2012). The quality of main routes through the area are the routes from this material might also have stimulated the building Ficksburg, Bethlehem and Clarens that converge at operations where it would have been merely Fouriesburg. Entrance from Lesotho is mainly functional with a lesser building material. through Caledonspoort, although a few small drifs are occasionally operational62. 62 For example Hendrik’s Drif and Joel’s Drif. 96 97 98 99 100 4.3.3 CLIMATE In terms of the temperature, the Brandwater Basin southern slopes, are covered with brushwood. is a cooler place than the rest of the Free State. These include multi-stemmed bushes like Ouhout On the mean annual temperature, the Basin lies (Leucosidea sericea, Ouhout), Blue Guarri (Euclea between 12-14 degrees C. The rest of the Free crispa, Gwarrie), Bloubos (Diospyros lycioides, State lies mostly between 14-18 degrees C. Bloubos) and others. These have very little application in construction. Trees that yield quality In terms of rainfall, the Brandwater Basin is part of wood for carpentry were limited to the protected the wettest areas in the eastern Free State. The kloofs. Broad-Leaved Yellowwood (Podocarpus heavy rainfall would have made brakdak latifolius, Geelhout) and Lovers Cheesewood construction difficult. The only house that could (Pittosporum viridiflorum, Kasuur) were available in have had a possible brakdak or flat roof of some the kloofs of the eastern Free State as in the sorts in this collection, is Modderfontein House northern Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal, but has Venter. The material exposed on the southern been cut out to extinction. gable wall suggests a flat roof before the gable was put in place. After the Anglo-Boer War there was a sudden addition in exotic trees like Willow, Poplar and 4.3.4 PLANT MATERIAL Eucalyptus (Bluegum) (Du Preez 2012). Timber The most important plant material was thatch for from these trees became easily available and was roof cover and wood for rafters and trusses. popular as construction material in buildings where Grasses and reeds in the area that are suitable for the budget for the building was limited. thatching is the Common Reed (Fluitjiesriet, Phragmites australis) that occurs in areas of Examples of plants introduced to the house wetland, banks and swamps (vleie) (Du Preez 2012 gardens of the area which survived years of neglect and also Pooley 1998: 52). The Common Thatch were the fruit orchard at Modderfontein, a Grass (Dekgras, Hyparrhenia hirta) that occurs in Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) next to the front disturbed areas, against slopes and mountains, is stoep entrance at Schoonzicht and a Lemon also useful (Pooley 1998: 51). Verbena bush (Aloysia triphylla) also next to the front stoep steps at the Present Poort Second Indigenous trees in the Brandwater Basin are the House. same as in all the mountainous areas of the eastern Free State. The slopes, more so the 101 4.4 BUILDING IN THE BRANDWATER BASIN By collecting evidence on the farmhouses within 3 x W 1. Bethlehem Star, 10. the physical context, the following can be Modderfontein, 12. Present Poort considered: House Venter • the nature of the sites of the houses on the 4 x NW 5. Lusthof, 9. Killarney, 11. Opstal, landscape; 17. Welkom • the interior space and stoep space; and 3 x almost N 2. Coerland, 8. Goedetrouw, • the craftsmanship displayed on the 16. Toevertrouw buildings. 3 x NE 3. Dunelm, 7. Brindisi, 15. Tierhoek 1 x E 4. Kransfontein 4.4.1 SITES ON THE LANDSCAPE 1 x SE 6. Middenrif The factors taken into account to understand the 2 x SW 13. Present Poort Second House, placement of houses in the landscape are 14. Schoonzicht orientation, the aspect and approach towards the house and how visible it is from the house, the Although none of these houses were aligned strictly prospect from the house as well as the gradient. north, 10 of these made use of north, even if at an angle. These houses might not have favoured north 4.4.1.1 ORIENTATION decidedly, but they positively did avoid a southern There is no uniform orientation followed by the orientation. The houses that aligned strictly with builders of these early farmhouses. As can be the cardinal points, were the 4 that were orientated deduced from the 17 examples included in the west and east. In the case of these 4 houses, the summary of selected buildings, other factors cardinal points and the rising and setting sun must besides the positions of the sun must have played have played a role. Two of them (Present Poort a dominant role in the placement of the houses. Of House Venter and Modderfontein House Venter) the 17, the orientation is as follows63: were built by the same family of Venters. 63 Numbers of the houses indicate the order of the houses as in Appendices B & C 102 4.4.1.2 APPROACH Regarding access to the houses, the houses can The second largest group (6 out of 17)66, are those be divided into three groups. that face the road from the side. Most of them are 1. There are examples that face a road and that parallel to the road67 which is in almost all of these are parallel to the road. Visitors turn 90˚ off the cases68 a public road leading on, past the house. road to enter. The houses stand in an obvious Their placement were influenced by the road. relationship to the road. 2. Some examples confront the approach directly. The smallest group (3 out of 17)69 confront the These houses face the approach squarely. access road. This is only possible on a fairly level 3. The others neither confronting it, nor parallel to site. The exception here is Present Poort House passers-by. Most of these are examples that are Venter. The site has a fall of 1:10 and the house is parallel to the approach towards them and the road set across this, to face the only practical entrance stops, for all practical purposes, at the farmstead. to the valley. This results in notable terracing and Visitors turn up to 90˚ at the end of the road to retaining walls of over 1.5 m in height for a small enter. These examples tend not to have a clear house. relationship to the approach. All three of these houses are in secluded areas with only one natural entrance. Surveillance of the Most of the examples (8 out of 17)64 fall into this approach could offer safety and security benefits third category. All of them except one65, are on a and these three houses took advantage of their gradient of more than 1:20. The steep gradient situation. limits the orientation of the house as well as the possible approaches. The houses have to follow Another aspect to the approach that could be the contours to avoid even more extensive considered, is the distant view from the house on terracing and the approach has to follow the contours to keep to a practical slope. This results 66 1. Bethlehem Star, 7. Brindisi, 8. Goedetrouw, 10. Modderfontein, 13. in a sideways approach with the front of the house Present Poort Second House, 14. Schoonzicht facing another direction. 67 The only exception is Brindisi which face the T-junction in the road. It could be argued that the junction is the more important part of the road and the placement of the house even considers both roads. 64 2. Coerland, 3. Dunelm, 4. Kransfontein, 5. Lusthof, 9. Killarney, 11. 68 The only exception is Modderfontein which was probably a semi-public Opstal, 15. Tierhoek, 17. Welkom road. 65 Tierhoek is on an almost level site with a gradient of more or less 1:30 69 6. Middenrif, 12. Present Poort House Venter, 16. Toevertrouw 103 the approach. This could afford the inhabitants the other, but avoids the prospect down the kloof more or less time to prepare for visitors. In this on the northern side. case, most of the houses (11 out of 17)70 had a This means that with only two exceptions, all the distant view on the approach. It is noteworthy that houses utilised the prospect in their specific all three of the houses that confront the approach71 situations. Prospect therefore played a more have an excellent view for some distance on the important role in the placing of the houses than access road. Another consideration was visitors or orientation or approach. clients from Lesotho. The Big House on Killarney The importance of the view across the landscape does not have a distant view over the access road can further be illustrated with two other exceptional from the side of the Free State, but it has a examples. Both Modderpoort and Killarney have a commanding view over the international border and descending access. The approach is from the top beyond. down towards the house. This is unusual and places the houses in a defenceless position. 4.4.1.3 PROSPECT However, passing through the houses, both of Most of the houses (15 out of 17) have a stoep72 them have a stoep73 on the opposite side of the and a long side towards the view out of the valley house with a view over the landscape. or down the gradient, even if that is not also the approach. The two exceptions are Goedetrouw 4.4.1.4 GRADIENT (placed on an outcrop with circumfluent views but Most houses have an elevated approach and are with the stoep towards the road, rather than to the higher than the access road (9 out of 17)74 or level open view) and Dunelm in a narrow kloof. Dunelm with it (6 out of 17)75. Some examples that are is in a complex situation. It utilises the short view higher than the access road have extensive across the kloof from the height on the one side to terraces that accentuate this difference in level, like Present Poort House Venter or Coerland. The only 70 1. Bethlehem Star, 3. Dunelm, 4. Kransfontein, 6. Middenrif, 11. Opstal, 12. Present Poort House Venter, 13. Present Poort Second House, 73 The only stoep in the case of Modderpoort and a second stoep in the case 14. Schoonzicht, 15. Tierhoek, 16. Toevertrouw, 17. Welkom of Killarney 71 As singled out in the previous paragraph 74 2. Coerland, 4. Kransfontein, 6. Middenrif, 7. Brindisi, 8. Goedetrouw, 12. 72 In the case of Bethlehem Star (which is the only house without a stoep) the Present Poort House Venter, 13. Present Poort Second House, 14. only door is taken as an indication of an area where the functions of a stoep Schoonzicht, 17. Welkom would have taken place. One such function for the inhabitants would be to 75 1. Bethlehem Star, 3. Dunelm, 5. Lusthof, 11. Opstal, 15. Tierhoek, 16. assess the outside conditions. Toevertrouw 104 two exceptions that are not higher or level with the • Dunelm includes 22% covered stoep area; approach are the Modderfontein House and the Big • Opstal includes 3% covered stoep area; House at Killarney where the approach slopes • Killarney includes 17% covered stoep area; down to the house, as has been pointed out before • Lusthof includes 36% covered stoep area; in dealing with the prospect. and • Welkom includes 28% covered stoep area. 4.4.2 SPACES The covered area that was habitable ranged from The 3% stoep area of Opstal is misleading in the 37 to 518 sq. m. The 5 smallest houses included in sense that the front stoep was brought out between this selection are: the two stoepkamers and then enclosed with glass Bethlehem Star Cottage 37 sq. m to form a sun stoep. It is a huge area, but it could Toevertrouw Cottage 37 sq. m only be regarded as part of the living space of the Present Poort Second House 50 sq. m house after it had been enclosed. Modderfontein House Venter Phase 1 52 sq. m Lusthof House Phase 1 55 sq. m 4.4.3 CRAFTSMANSHIP None of these small houses included any covered The craft of the mason tends to express itself in stoep areas and all of them are simple rectangular • the selection of materials for the building; houses. Except for Bethlehem Star, all have • the joints between the sandstone blocks evidence of an uncovered stoep in front, running (straight, irregular, narrow or flush); the total length of the building. • the measurement of the courses (a standard course eventually evolved into 309 mm); The 5 biggest houses included in this selection are: • the dressing or finishing of the face of the • Dunelm House Phase 4 518 sq. m; stone (rusticated, exaggerated rockface, • Opstal House Phase 4 471 sq. m; smooth rockface, marked); • Killarney Big House Phase 5 452 sq. m; • the definition of the corners where quoin • Lusthof House Phase 5 394 sq. m; and headers reveal the thickness of the stones; • Welkom House Du Preez Phase 4 302 sq. and m. • the fitting, spacing and decoration of openings in the wall. 105 4.4.3.1 MATERIALS The most visible material for the exterior of the buildings in this collection is sandstone, stone walls that were built with rubble or ashlar. That was however not the only material available. Sun-dried bricks were often used for interior walls. The Basotho of the area used sod construction or wattle-and-daub for their homes. These construction techniques were also used by the earliest settlers to the area, but little of these structures still remains. The earliest parts of Fig.273 House Saunder (a farm manager’s house) on Killarney, the Middleton Estate, where all additions were carried out with different building materials Lusthof House and the Big House at Killarney and techniques. The gable with the exterior chimney to the left is reinforced might be the best examples of houses employing with sandstone on the corners, but mostly constructed with sun-dried brick. these techniques. (2000) Although corrugated iron as a roofing material received less attention than sandstone in the literature on the architecture of the Free State (and is even questioned76), it played a decisive role in the development of the architecture once it became available. The lower pitch of the roof that was made possible with the new material77 facilitated the development of covered stoeps and plan forms not practical in thatch. 76 “Typical and with a bleak appeal, are houses built of the strange combination of materials so often used in the Free State – stone and corrugated-iron; …” (Picton-Seymour 1977: 376). 77 “These, then, were the major developments before 1850 when a new Fig. 274 House Grobler (a blacksmith’s house) on Brindisi, the Middleton Estate, where the sun-dried bricks of an interior wall became visible after the roofing material became available and which had within a couple of decades house was demolished recently. (Photo: Louis du Preez 2012) allowed the house form to develop in a unique way. This new material was corrugated iron or, more correctly, galvanized corrugated iron” (Radford 1982: 61). 106 4.4.3.2 JOINTS Joints between building units evolved together with the refinement of the building units themselves. Uncoursed rubble masonry was replaced with coursed rubble (roughly dressed) work at Bethlehem Star Cottage when the gables had to be replaced. This reduced the variation in jointing across the wall considerably. The coursed random walls at the Second House on Present Poort were Fig. 275 & 276 On the left is Bethlehem Star Cottage showing random work strengthened on the corners and around the and coursed random work. (1987) On the right is Present Poort Second openings with rock faced ashlars. This, once again House with coursed random work and ashlars on the corners. (1999) resulted in more uniform jointing between the ashlars on the corners. With the refinement of the smooth ashlars used at Tierhoek House Fourie, the technique of building without any visible mortar reaches a high level of refinement. At Welkom, the earlier work without any visible mortar or pointing can be seen on the old shed, while the (newer) house used the standardised course width, with mortar and pointing to the joints. Fig. 277 & 278 Detail of the jointing at Tierhoek House Fourie on the left. 4.4.3.3 COURSES (1987) The old shed (right) on Welkom is on the right. Note the shift in The depth of the courses initially varied from course depth between the shed and the addition. (1999) building to building. On some of the earlier buildings, it is possible to find courses of different depth on a single building. At Tierhoek House Fourie the stone was cut precisely and for a specific layer, as the courses decreased in depth as the courses rose. On the shed behind the Tierhoek House, the differences in course height Fig. 279 & 280 Details of jointing and the alighnment of lintels on Welkom. do not follow such a recognisable logic. The house (right) and the old shed (left). (1987) & (1999) 107 Towards the end of the 19th century the height of an aslar course became standardised at a measurement of just over a foot (1 foot = 304.8 mm). This enabled the further specialization of stone cutters and stone masons into two separate trades. Since the sandstone could be prepared in advance for any building, the direct link between the building and the preparation of the sandstone units could be indirect. 4.4.3.4 STONE FINISHES Sandstone facilitates a variety of finishes. On the earlier structures there is an effort to arrive at a Fig 281 The shed behind Tierhoek House Fourie with different course heights smooth wall. At Present Poort House Venter and and less careful jointing when compared to the house. (1999) at Modderfontein House Venter the walls (not always stone walls) were whitewashed. At Modderfontein it might have been an attempt to blend all the different building materials (sun-dried bricks of different batches and colouring as well as random work) on the façades. The use of a rock face finish to the ashlars was initially framed with a tooled margin. At Kransfontein the rock face finish was used without a margin. That became progressively the common exterior finish to the sandstone walls. Fig.282 & 283 Dunelm House (left) with exaggerated finish on the crowstep gable above ordinary rock face. (1987) House Heyns at Schoonzicht (right) At the turn of the century novel finishes were with an early example of rock face ashlars framed with a tooled margin. introduced to the area. At Dunelm the crowstep (Photo: Louis du Preez 2012) gable was finished with an exaggerated rock face 108 finish above regular rock face. At Kromdraai78 a whole range of different finishes were employed. 4.4.3.5 CORNERS The thickness of the stones is visible on the quoin headers at the corners. At Toevertrouw Cottage the corners reveal a range of different thicknesses for the quoins which is unusual since it influences the thickness of the wall. Once ashlar was used, it was the custom to define the corner with a tooled margin. 4.4.3.6 OPENINGS The earliest openings were bridged with wooden Fig. 284 & 285 The front gable at Kromdraai (left) with detail (right) of a lintels. For large openings in sheds, a wooden chain of rustic quoins. (1987) beam remained the most common way to span the opening at the top. With smaller openings, such as at doors and windows, sandstone lintels became the custom. The finishing of the lintel and window sill could vary, but the material remained sandstone. With some of the structures at Welkom, the fitting of the lintel into the coursework of the wall is complicated by not being aligned as was indicated in the case study. Fig. 286 & 287 The side gable at Kromdraai (left) with detail (right). (1987) 78 Kromdraai House was surveyed but not included in this collection. 109 5 TIME CONTEXT The limits in terms of the time context are set from Southern African interior in the 1820s and 1830s” the arrival of the first white people up to the end of (Worden 1998: 101). The revolution “smashed the Orange River Colony in 1910. Any houses built tribes, scattered others and dashed the fragments after 1910 were not considered for this selection. into new combinations” (De Kiewiet 1941: 50). The Houses built before 1910 were, however, Mfecane established the Zulu Kingdom under considered with all their developments up to the Shaka to the east of the Drakensberg, the Ndebele time of survey. Kingdom under Mzilikazi north-west of the Vaal River and the Basotho Kingdom under Moshweshwe in the Maluti Mountains as the major 5.1 PERIOD UNDER INVESTIGATION powers in the interior. Moshweshwe and his The political and administrative development of the followers would consolidate their power around Brandwater Basin was influenced by the Thaba Bosiu in 1824 (Edgecombe in Cameron emergence of both Lesotho and the Free State 1986: 122). Province as it is today. The main developments will be highlighted to establish the time context for the Also in the early 1820s, more and more trekboers development of the architecture. found themselves in the Transgariep territory with no intention of returning to the Cape Colony. 5.1.1 FIRST TENTATIVE WHITE SETTLEMENT However, they still considered themselves to be Colonel Robert Jacob Gordon renamed the colonial subjects (Du Bruyn in Cameron 1986: remarkably large river to the north of the Cape 129). An important example is RM Britz who Colony, known as the Kei-Gariep (Khoikhoi name) settled in 1820 or 1821 at a fountain and called his or Grote Rivier (Dutch name), the Orange River in farm Bloem Fontein (Schoeman 1980: 1). 1779. The area north of the river was first referred to as the Transgariep, but the name Transorangia Missionaries also entered the Transgariep and the later replaced it. North of the Orange River, the oldest town is Philippolis, founded in 1823 as a Mfecane was under way for most of the 1820s. mission station for the “Boschemen” (Ross 1976: The term Mfecane refers ”to the period of great 23). By 1833 Rev. Dr. JP Pellissier had established disruption and population dislocation in the a congregation at Bethulie (Roodt 1987: 24), but 110 more important, the Paris Evangelical Mission Potchefstroom areas were incorporated into the Society also established a mission station in Republic of Natalia in 1840 (Eloff 1980:336). After Basutoland at Morija, in response to an invitation the British took over the Republic of Natalia in from Moshweshwe. Two Wesleyan missionaries79 1842, the Winburg and Potchefstroom districts established a mission at Thaba Nchu in the same were severed from the area east of the year under the Barolong (Eloff 1980: 209). A few Drakensberg. The Trekkers in the Transorangia other stations would also be established soon after established Winburg as their capital in the same 1833, but the next important factor that would year. influence white settlement in the Transorangia would be the Great Trek. 5.1.3 BRITISH INFLUENCE IN TRANSORANGIA The Cape Governor Maitland appointed a British 5.1.2 THE GREAT TREK Resident in the Transorangia in 1845. Early the From 1835-1845 more or less 2 540 families (family next year, Captain HD Warden took over the post members together with servants this totalled some and moved his residency from Philippolis to 23 000 people) moved out of the Cape Colony Bloemfontein, where he arrived on 26 March 1846 northwards into the Transgariep (Visagie 2011: 14). (Schoeman 1980: 3). In February 1848, Sir Harry The Voortrekkers were rebels who wanted to Smith annexed the entire territory between the realise their political ideals in an independent Orange and Vaal Rivers and the Drakensberg as republic without British interference (Du Bruyn in the British Orange River Sovereignty (ORS) (Du Cameron 1986: 129). The Ndebele attacked the Bruyn in Cameron 1986: 137). He instructed Trekkers, but at the battle of Vegkop in October Warden to settle the question of the border with 1836, they successfully beat off the attack and Basutoland and the Warden Line was accepted in eventually drove the Ndebele far to the north. By December 1849 as the boundary between the ORS the end of 1836, the Trekkers elected a Volksraad and Basutoland (Eloff 1980: 13). at a meeting at Thaba Nchu. 5.1.4 REPUBLIC OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE It was possible to establish the Republic of Natalia The British forces suffered defeat against the Sotho with the capital at Pietermaritzburg after the at Viervoet (north of the present day Ladybrand) in Trekkers defeated the Zulus at the Battle of Blood 1851 and at Berea Mountain (now in Lesotho) in River on 16 December 1838. The Winburg and 1852. This led the Cape Governor to propose to the British authorities that a further Trekker buffer 79 Rev. James Archbell and Rev. John Edwards state could constitute a greater advantage to the 111 British authorities. The Imperial Government Line and the Caledon River and a major part of the accepted the proposal and the Bloemfontein Brandwater Basin) was included in the Free State Convention was signed on 23 February 1854 (Du territory for the first time. The treaty of Thaba Bosiu Bruyn in Cameron 1986: 138). At the Convention in 1866 ended this war (Eloff 1980: 23). The Third Britain granted independence to the white Basotho War broke out in 1867 and it ended with inhabitants of the ORS and the Orange Free State British intervention. On 12 March 1868 Republic (OFS) was established. Basotholand was annexed by the British on invitation of Moshweshwe. By that time the current For the OFS the greatest test was the unstable frontier line between the Free State and Lesotho situation on the border with Basutoland. On 19 had already been firmly established between Britain March 1858 the Free State declared war on the and the OFS in February 1868 with the Second Basotho. The Free Staters did not fare well in the Treaty of Aliwal North (Heydenrych in Cameron war. At the end of September 1858 a treaty was 1986: 149). signed which confirmed the Warden Line as the boundary (Heydenrych in Cameron 1986: 147). 5.1.5 OCCUPYING THE CONQUERED This line cut right through the Brandwater Basin TERRITORY and left two entrances on the north (Retief’s Nek The Free State government realised that only a and Slabbert’s Nek) from the Free State into the large number of settlers would in the long run remaining part of the Basin. safeguard the Conquered Territory against infiltration by the Basotho. With the publication of After protracted negotiations failed to resolve the the Occupatiewet (Ordinance 2 of 1866) the survey border problem, the Second Basotho War broke and registration of farms was set in motion and out seven years later in 186580. It was with this war even the possibility of the establishment of towns. that the Conquered Territory (between the Warden It was stipulated that burgers (citizens) who actively took part in the Second Basotho War would get 80 “Border troubles continued, and in June 1865 the OFS President JH Brand priority in applying for a farm. Another stipulation called out his commandos against Moshoeshoe. Wodehouse declared the required prospective farm owners to build a house Cape Colony to be neutral but, in practice, many men from the Cape as well on the farm within 6 months of occupation. The as Natal went north to join the commandos, lured by the prospects of loot, or house had to be at least 20’ x 10’ (6.1 m x 3.05 m) the grant of a free farm in conquered territory. The disillusioned High (Eloff 1980: 26). Commissioner wrote that ‘Englishmen all along composed the main fighting element of the OFS Commandos’” (Reader’s Digest 1989: 160). 112 A year later the government also founded three Cameron 1986: 184). One of the side products of defensive towns in the area to further strengthen the mineral revolution was the urgency to provide a the occupation: Ficksburg, Ladybrand and railway system from the mines to the harbours. Wepener.The outbreak of the Third Basotho War Bloemfontein was connected to Port Elizabeth by interrupted the settlement. The signing of the treaty 1890 and Johannesburg via Bloemfontein by 1891 in 1868 reduced the border tension considerably (Schoeman 1980: 112). The discovery of gold and by the end of 1869 the survey of the 608 farms brought about a reorientation of the internal political in the conquered territory was complete. By 1880 and socio-economic order. In the 1890s it also the eastern Free State was the most densely brought relations with Great Britain to breaking populated area in the Free State (Eloff 1980: 36). point. “On 11 October 1899 the war between the Fouriesburg was recognised as a town in 1893 but South African republics [the Transvaal and its ally, was still in the Ficksburg district. the Free State] and Great Britain became a reality – a war which was to cast a long shadow over 5.1.6 THE MINERAL REVOLUTION twentieth century South Africa and drastically affect In 1867 two boys, Klonkie and Erasmus Jacobs, the lives of blacks and whites” (Grundlingh in dug out a shining stone from a chalk bank near Cameron 1986: 197). Hopetown, south of what would later be Kimberley. By mid-1871 the Kimberley diamond mine was 5.1.7 BECOMING THE UNION AND THE active (Benyon in Cameron 1986: 168). The Cape REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA Colony claimed the area and President Brand In March 1900 Bloemfontein was occupied by the protested strongly against this claim. After a 1876 British. During the Anglo-Boer War the Brandwater ruling the British Government paid £90 000 in Basin received its share of the devastation of compensation to the Free State (Heydenrych in farmsteads and loss of life. It also became Cameron 1986: 148). associated with one of the most shameful incidents on the Boer side when more than 4 000 Boers The discovery of gold in the Eastern Transvaal surrendered halfway between Fouriesburg and (Mpumalanga today) led to mining activities there Golden Gate on 29 July 1900 (Pakenham 1979: since about 1870. It was however, the discovery of 443). On 31 May 1902 the peace treaty was the exceptionally rich gold deposits on the signed in Pretoria and the Orange River Colony Witwatersrand in 1886 that turned the Zuid- (ORC) became an undisputed colony of the British Afrikaansche Republiek into the single largest gold Empire. During the ORC period, permission for the producer in the world by 1898 (Grundlingh in construction of a Bloemfontein/Bethlehem railway 113 line was granted, and was opened in 1907 (Eloff distance from the one side to the other. 1980: 91). The town Fouriesburg benefited little Spanning the longer distance in most cases from this line because Fouriesburg Station was is only a function of repetition, but the short nine kilometres from the town. distance is an indication of the technical ability and means of the builder/owner. This The Union of South Africa was formed by the will establish the maximum span that was former colonies of the Cape, Transvaal, Orange possible with the material available at River and Natal in 1910, which later became the different stages of the development of the Republic of South Africa in 1961. construction industry in the Basin. 5.2.1 TENTATIVE SETTLEMENT 5.2 DEVELOPMENT OF FARMHOUSES Most of the early houses surveyed date from after The development of houses will be examined in the Third Basotho War (1867). The only two terms of: houses older than that are the Bethlehem Star • size; Cottage (probably 1830) and Modderfontein House • the specialisation and privacy that comes Venter (1854). One of the research questions is to with dead-end rooms81; investigate the impact that political developments • the use of windows and doors; and had on the houses of the area. The most decisive • the stretch or span of the roof over the short political development was the establishment of a border between the two states. For the almost 40 81 “This search for increasing privacy is also an important factor in the year period from 1830 to 1868, when the border development of the house plan. A linear arrangement must suffer serious was fixed at the Second Treaty of Aliwal North, the drawbacks in this regard” (Radford 1982: 60). Radford points to the fact that sample of two houses for comparison is small. If rooms were interconnected in a linear plan. It was only the rooms at the end anything, it indicates a hesitation on the side of the of the line that were not used for circulation as well. The advantages to such white settlers to invest in buildings in an area with an end room was that a sense of privacy could be maintained, security was an uncertain political future. The fact that three better and the function of the room could specialise without having to cater to buildings could be found dating from the time circulation as well. The linear plan therefore offers circulation rooms and immediately following the treaty (1870), reflects the dead-end rooms. The number of dead-end rooms in a strictly linear plan point that the settlers were in a position to invest in could also be increased by adding an outside room. Only one house in this permanent structures, pending the political collection (Middleton Estate Killarney Phase 1) seems to have made use of outcome. These two houses unfortunately span this option. the whole period of the Great Trek and British 114 115 influence in the Transorangia, with the next built from the graph that the size of the houses evidence from the time of the established Republic increased dramatically towards the end of the era. of the Orange Free State. In Fig. 291 the number of dead-end and circulation rooms are contrasted with each to investigate the Although the examples are small in number, there possibility that it could act as an indicator of the is an aspect worth noting about Bethlehem Star stage of development of the plan. In Fig. 292 the Cottage, Modderfontein House and also number of doors and rooms are placed against Schoonzicht. Heyns from Schoonzicht, settled like each other. In Fig. 293 the emergence of covered Venter from Modderfontein, in the area before it stoeps is traced. In Fig. 294 the issue of security is was part of the Free State. He stayed in a first considered with the number of external and internal house which did not survive. He then built the doors. None of these investigations proved to be a sandstone house in 1883 next to his first house. All clear indicator of the level of development. three of these are beside one of the major transport routes through the area. There is a ridge (‘n randjie) separating the Ficksburg – Golden Gate road from Modderfontein, but Schoonzicht was alongside the road. Bethlehem Star was on the Ficksburg – Bethlehem road. Being in an unsettled landscape, it might have been reassuring to be next to a major thoroughfare and could have contributed to a sense of security. 5.2.2 THE ORANJEVRIJSTAAT82 ERA The republican government set about populating the Conquered Territory with remarkable success after 1870 (compare also Fig. 289). This is also reflected in the greater number of houses surviving from that time as indicated in Fig. 290: Covered Fig. 289 Map 21 in Walker 1922: “Density of Union European Population, Area and Date of Construction. It is also notable 1911…” shows the Eastern Free State and Bloemfontein as the two most populated areas in the Free State. 82 The official name of the Boer Republic of the Free State (1854-1902). Vrijstaat = Republic (Eloff 1985: 16). 116 The initial houses in this collection remained firmly within the cottage tradition as it is described by Dennis Radford: “The most important characteristics of the early cottage are its small size and limited number of rooms. These were usually two, sometimes three, seldom four” (1982: 58). The first example that hints at development and refinement of the cottage is Tierhoek in 1876. This example points in the direction of the double bank plan83, but is in essence a traditional cottage plan. In many respects this remains an exceptional house to this day. The elegance of the stonework has never been surpassed. More surprising is the clear and understandable plan which separates circulation rooms from dead-end rooms with complete comprehension. No other multi-roomed house in this collection could achieve dedicated room space in 75% of the number of rooms. Adding the back room under the afdak84 resulted in the record of 80% of the number of rooms being dead-end rooms for this collection. 83 The double bank plan is a development on the linear or single file plan. Whereas the linear plan is a single row of rooms, the double bank plan is a Fig. 290 Covered area in sq. m against date of construction (Compare also double row of rooms. Brunskill 1974: 17). 84 Compare also Radford 1982: 62 Fig. 9 117 118 119 120 121 Another development was the double bank plan. idiosyncratic, the plan is a new plan-type in the The first instance of this is the highly individualistic Basin all the same. There was little discretion in Schoonzicht House in 1883 with four rooms85. Like the placement of the internal (or, for that matter the Tierhoek (where the stonework as well as the plan external) doors and reflects the unease with which the new type was handled. The plan was widely used afterwards up to the Anglo-Boer War86. Some of the developments that occurred within the double bank plan were the replacement of the voorkamer with a passage, the additions of stoepkamers and also different variations on the roofing of the longer stretch – longer than the single row or linear plan. 5.2.2.1 DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOUBLE BANK PLAN Lewcock points to a development from Cape Dutch to English in describing houses in the Eastern Cape: “In plan the houses became increasingly Fig. 295 & 296 The stonework at Tierhoek (left) (1987) is precise and ordered English in character, the old ‘voorhuis – achterhuis’ like the plan. The stonework at Schoonzicht (right) (1999) includes unusual was narrowed to an English hallway…” (1970: 523). refinements like the chisel drafted margins and the large interlocking stones Radford also use the term typical Natal plan and on the handrail of the staircase. In spite of these refinements, the stonework describe it as a “central passage running from the on Schoonzicht was not done neatly. All sorts of inaccuracies were ignored by the builder and was absorbed in the larger whole. The plan introduced a new front door into the kitchen/living room (1982: 64). form (the double bank plan) to this collection of houses in the Basin, but are Two neatly dated examples, Middenrif of 1884 and remarkably careless in placing doors at strategic points. Kransfontein of 1885, illustrate the progression from the Cape plan to the British plan: was precise and ordered), the stonework at Schoonzicht is likewise an uncanny reflection of the 86 Compare for instance the plans of Middenrif House Venter Phase 1 1884, planning. Rough and ready and highly Kransfontein house Fourie Phase 1 1885, M.E. Killarney Big House Phase 2 [1885], Coerland House Phase 1 and Modderfontein House Venter Phase 3 85 The passage or hall was most likely inserted later with a new front door. [1890]. 122 • Middenrif (1884): • Kransfontein (1885): voorkamer leading into an agterkamer: central passage running into living room: the typical Cape plan the typical Natal plan Fig. 298 The plan of Kransfontein House Fourie. Fig. 297 The plan of Middenrif House Venter 123 The other aspect that makes Kransfontein noteworthy, is the example of the two stoepkamers at the back that it acquired by 1899. Coerland is estimated to have acquired the first covered stoep and a few years later, two stoepkamers at the front. A better example of the Natal central passage plan is Welkom, not yet completed when the Anglo Boer War broke out, but also with the first hipped roof87. The stoepkamers and covered stoep were facilitated by the arrival of corrugated iron and improved transport to make the new material available in isolated places. There is no evidence of a thatch covered stoep in this collection, Fig.299 & 300 As soon as corrugated iron roof sheeting replaced thatch as although Radford illustrates a thatched stoep with roofing material, builders could adjust the pitch of the roof to a lower angle to Futcher’s Hotel in Bloemfontein [1860] (1984: 32) accommodate the longer span of a double row of rooms. On the left is the Big and Lewcock the same with the First Raadzaal in House at Killarney (2000) and on the right is Modderfontein (1999). Both are examples of an extremely pragmatic approach. Pretoria [1860] (1970: 528). These illustrations are all earlier examples than most of the buildings in But with the arrival of corrugated iron roof sheets, this study. Except for being unfashionable later, it two impressively pragmatic examples of extensions might have been also unpractical under higher also proved useful: Killarney at a lower angle and rainfall conditions such as the Eastern Free State. Modderfontein at a different angle. Not strictly stoepkamers, but more accurately rooms added The first few double bank configurations simply 88 under afdakke can be seen with Tierhoek phase 2, extended the well-known gabled roof with attic Present Poort House Venter phase 2 and Brindisi over the width of the two rooms. It had the phase 2. advantage that the attic became more spacious. There is also the occurrence of a thick wall through the middle of the house89 with some examples. It is 87 Middenrif was built earlier in 1884, but acquired its hipped roof most likely not the same as the thick middle wall at Killarney or only in 1929. 88 Compare Tierhoek for instance 89 Compare the plans of Schoonzicht, Middenrif, Kransfontein and Coerland. 124 Modderfontein, which is the result of the doubling came before the Second World War. This period up of the linear house where one exterior wall of growth coincided with the expansion of the became the middle wall after the additions. The economy after the mineral revolution91. fact that this wall was intentionally built in the double bank plan to the same size of an exterior “Like a great flywheel the mining industry gave wall, could be the result of a limit to the length of stability to a country that otherwise would have been singularly sensitive to world conditions roof beams available. If it is not possible to span without, and to drought and pestilence within, the whole distance from outside to outside, then a found comfort and strength in the lee of the load-carrying wall in the middle could serve as a Witwatersrand” (De Kiewiet 1941: 156). support for the beams spanning from the outside to the middle of the house. “Agriculture did indeed blossom. New markets in the middle of the country, 5.2.3 THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY AND combined with railways, transformed the farming sector” (Wilson 2009: 68). AFTERWARDS When Welkom was completed after the war, it was To put the growth of house size into perspective: decided to extend the stoep around the corner to The largest house in the collection by 188592, is also include the eastern side. This was a portent of smaller than the smallest newly adapted house in things to come. The Brandwater Basin had stoeps the study by 190593. In 20 years the difference before the war. They were narrow, straight and between the old houses and the new houses simple. Very soon stoeps ran in and out of corners became obvious, even if only in terms of size. (Dunelm phase 3), could widen out and retract where nobody would notice them (Lusthof phase 4) The humble stoepkamers of before the war, were and parts of these could be closed in with glass followed by stoepkamers with their own (Dunelm phase 4, Brindisi phase 4, Schoonzicht independent roofs at Opstal (the size of the original phase 4, Killarney phase 5 and Middenrif phase 3: house) and Schoonzicht (doubling the 97 sq. m There are two sun stoeps at this house). interior space of before the war to 183 sq. m). At Lusthof phase 4 the old house became a The expansion of the houses before the war90 was the tendency for most of the houses after the war. 91 Compare also “The mineral revolution in Southern and Central Africa” in The graph in Fig. 273 shows that a slowdown only Austen, R.A. 1996. African Economic History. London: James Currey, p.162 92 The phase 2 Big House at Killarney, Middleton Estate at 119 sq m 90 Notably the Big House at Killarney 93 The phase 3 House at Coerland at 132 sq. m 125 stoepkamer to the new house. With additions that size, the functional clarity suffered and plans became complex as indicated on the graph in Fig. 273. After the war 50% dedicated dead-end rooms is the highest. Half of the houses in this collection could achieve more than that before the war. 126 6 CULTURAL CONTEXT 6.1 CULTURES IN THE BASIN In the Brandwater Basin to which the white settlers migrated, lived Tlokwa under Sekonyela94 and some of the Basotho under Moshweshwe. Moshweshwe destroyed Thlokwa independence in 1853 (Edgecombe in Cameron 86: 123). The Griquas, Korana, trekboere, Voortrekkers and dealers passed through there as well, but by 1849 farms95 were already registered on the Free State side of the Warden Line. Settlers that moved into Basotholand on the other side of the Warden Line had to negotiate an arrangement with the Basotho chief there. 6.2 HOUSE AS CULTURAL PRODUCT Who were the people that built these houses? It seems from the list of first owners that most were Voortrekkers and late trekkers but other groups can also be distinguished. The known people who moved in there to settle and build houses are listed in Appendix B with a summary presented here. 94 One of the markers on the Warden Line to the south-west of the Brandwater Basin is a peak called Sikonjelashoed (the hat of Sekonyela), just south of Visierskerf. 95 LJ Fourie registered Weltevreden in 1849 (Scheepers [2009]: 25) 127 SUMMARY OF FIRST OWNERS OF THE SELECTED HOUSES No. Name of farmstead Person and group 1. Bethlehem Star Cottage Game hunters and/or JJ Fourie, Voortrekker 2. Coerland House Unknown 3. Dunelm House JG Dixon, British soldier 4. Kransfontein House Fourie JJ Fourie, 2nd generation 5. Lusthof House Unknown 6. Middenrif House Venter MW Venter, 2nd generation 7. Middleton Estate Brindisi House Grobler, blacksmith, artisan 8. Middleton Estate Goedetrouw Unknown, a miller, artisan 9.1 M. E. Killarney House phase 1 Veldman, late trekker 9.2 M. E. Killarney House phase 2+ CE Middleton, trader 10. Modderfontein House Venter RH Venter, Voortrekker or late trekker 11. Opstal House Unknown 12. Present Poort House Venter WD Venter, Voortrekker 13. Present Poort Second House Unknown 14. Schoonzicht House Heyns AM Heyns, trek boer 15. Tierhoek House Fourie PC Fourie, late trekker 16. Toevertrouw Cottage Unknown 17. Welkom House Du Preez IFR du Preez, wagon-maker, transport driver The following groups can be identified from the summary: • 6 are unknown • 5 are Voortrekkers or late trekkers • 4 are artisans or traders • 2 are 2nd generation farmers • 1 is an independent trekboer • 1 is a British soldier 128 6.3 HOUSE FORM 6.4 RONDAWELS It is not possible to recognise any substantial Then there is the issue of rondawels97. The older difference between the original houses of the Basotho stayed in beehive structures (Walton Voortrekkers and the other groups. They were 1970: 539) but gradually adopted the larger and there earlier and their houses are smaller. In terms higher rondawel as living space. The settlers of the traders and artisans, the two who worked for stayed in rectangular houses and also adopted the Middleton had smaller houses than Middleton and rondawel as useful space. Geometrically and Du Preez, who worked for themselves. The linear compositionally the rondawel is also a good house was stretched to 19 m96 before the 2nd compromise between the rigidity of the box and the generation farmers and the trekboer Heyns broke organic fluidity of the beehive structure. Judging away from the established linear and single file plan from the evidence in this collection, the acceptance in 1883, 1884 and 1885 to build double bank plans. of the rondawel among the white settlers was not This was at the height of President Brand’s immediate. None of the first or temporary houses peaceful and prosperous presidency (1863-1888). were rondawels98. The first rondawels in this After these double bank houses were built, it was collection could have been built by Middleton after the exception to work with a linear plan again. In this regard the blacksmith and miller who worked 97 Walton in Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa 1970: 539: “The for Middleton, the home for the elderly at Present cone-on-cylinder hut, known throughout South Africa by its Afrikaans name Poort Second House and Opstal House are the rondavel, consists essentially of a cylindrical wall capped by a conical thatch.” only examples in this collection. Of these four, it is The Afrikaans name is rondawel. Rondavel might be an old form or a form only the resident of Opstal House who was self which pretend translation. employed. The other three were employed or 98 In the Brandwater Basin, the rondawel was therefore more of an retired. Opstal House did not stay linear for long exception than one would understand from the experience of Maria Minnaar, either. It was developed into a major house very related to Preller and quoted by Labuschagne: ”Then when a suitable place soon where the original humble phase 1 house was had been found, in which we women naturally had some considerable say, the dwarfed by a Palladian setting. men built a hartebeest house. This took the form of a rectangular oblong, divided into two or three rooms, the walls being also temporarily built of wattle- and-daub, or of clay only, under a thatched roof. Sometimes at this stage a rondawel was built instead, which later on served the purpose of an outhouse to the permanent dwelling, which again came into being perhaps a year or more after the first hartebeest house had been put up” (Labuschagne 1998: 96 Modderfontein House Venter phase 2 46). 129 the substantial additions to his house. The initial cases. The generation that fought the Basotho outbuildings (shower room, butchery, first shop) border wars was slow in the up taking. Once the were rectangular. Then rondawels were used for rondawel proved to be useful, the acceptance of it the guestroom, female toilet, book keeper’s office, indicates a cultural shift away from the colonial farm office, tack room, store room and other. At mindset, to an acceptance of the new context with one stage seven rondawels or more were part of some of the possibilities that are part of it. the farmstead. Except for Middleton, the other rondawels were built by 2nd generation owners or later. 6.5 FRONT, BACK AND SIDES A cultural distinction with huge impact, is the An early example of a 2nd generation owner that creation of a front and a back door. It is important used a rondawel is JJ Fourie at Kransfontein. The because it relegated the physical position of rondawel and shed are earlier than his house. He females, children, servants, blacks, unwanted married in 1877 and built his house in 1885. Later strangers, working areas etc. to the back, and rondawels were at House Saunders99, placed males, the receivers of strangers, visitors, Kromdraai100, Dunelm and Lusthof. In the whites, family members, interesting strangers, Brandwater Basin the rondawels were associated reception spaces etc. in front. Mrs Serfontein at with the Basotho. That association was perhaps Snymanshoek explained that if a chieftain would too strong for the first generation to also perceive visit, he would be received in front. Other blacks the usefulness of the form. The fact that the and servants or labourers would know to use the Basotho labourers could erect it without much input back. from the owner, that a lot of floor space would be available for little material, that all the materials Three of the oldest houses in this collection lack a were available at almost no cost etc. were all clear back door. Bethlehem Star only had one recognised as advantages once the strangeness or door, Modderfontein and Killarney had entrances ‘Basothoness’ of the form had worn away. To on the one side, but opened also to the view on the become accustomed to rondawels and to accept it other side. Both of these houses developed a as one of the possibilities took a generation in most clearer back side with dedicated back door eventually. Except for Toevertrouw, all the houses 99 Saunders was a farm manager for Middleton and built his house on the built after Killarney phase 1, had recognisable Middleton Estate, Killarney. Measured but not included in the selection. fronts and recognisable backs with back doors. 100 Measured but not included in the selection. Work could go on, food could be brought in and 130 6.6 KITCHENS AND FIREPLACES taken away without interrupting the conversation, Kitchens came late. Cooking must have been without using the front door, without passing prepared outside up to such time. It is worth through the reception space, even if that is the remembering that the trekkers were used to same room with simply two doors. The ability to cooking outside and that the Basotho also afford someone the status of the front door (to the preferred cooking outside in their traditional chieftain for instance) or to deny someone that homesteads. Maria Minnaar related her status (a white beggar for instance) was made experiences to Preller: possible by having two exterior doors to the same room like at Tierhoek phase 1, Present Poort “So at the outspan we first pitched our tents, House Venter phase 1 or Lusthof phase 1. Food and the men arranged for a skerm (shield) about the fireplace. This consisted mostly of a would be prepared at the back, at first outside in circular structure of poles and reed, planted in what would in time develop into kitchens. Kitchens the ground to keep the wind off the fire. are intimately linked to the rear of the house. Back Sometimes it had a kind of lean-to for shade doors could also diversify: back doors for servants and against the rain” (Labuschagne 1998: 46). and back doors for owners. Two examples where the master of the house was spared walking through the kitchen to get to the backdoor, is Schoonzicht and Lusthof phase 3, each with two back doors right next to each other. The problem with Lusthof was further that the front of the house was distinguished by a spacious stoep on three sides of the house. Three french doors opened onto this stoep. That did not leave much space for the rear, as the southern side was completely unfit for use – even for a rear-of-house101. A discrete wing wall was inserted between the two back doors of the house that would create a back stoep and Fig. 301 & 302 The bakoond opening next to the back door at Kransfontein separate it from the front stoep. dating from 1885 (left) and (right) the hearth with the massively built hood inside the early kitchen at Schoonzicht dating from 1883. (1999) 101 The slope of the site on the southern side is steep and is against the mountain side. 131 Whatever the reasons, the first interior space that resembles a dedicated food preparation area was found at Schoonzicht in 1883. Small (3.2 x 3.1 m), with its own back door, it boasted a substantial hearth (one sixth of the floor space) with a built chimney on the inside of the gable above the hearth. At Tierhoek and Welkom the original house was still standing behind and served as back space after the completion of the sandstone house. After Schoonzicht, four more houses102 acquired kitchens before the Anglo-Boer War. Kransfontein boasted a bakoond (oven for baking) opening in the stonework. The oven would have been on the Fig. 303 Commandant Robert Finlay’s House at Vincennes (near the present- day town of Zastron) showing the addition of the kitchen to the rear. (Walton outside next to the back door, but only the opening 1955: 22, 23 & 34) remained. After the War it was the exception not to include a kitchen in the house plan. Radford argues that the kitchen was moved out of the living-room into a separate compartment in more prosperous days103. That might have been the case at other places, but in the Brandwater 102 Kransfontein phase 1, Modderfontein phase 3, Present Poort House Venter phase 2, Killarney phase 3 103 “When more settled and prosperous days dawned it was natural that increased comfort should be sought and it appears to have been almost universal that the first improvement was to move the cooking out of the living- room and into a separate compartment. Bearing in mind the prevailing restrictions, it would have been most logical to add a kitchen on to the length Fig 304 The kitchen as it was added to the back of Tierhoek, also with a huge of the house and sometimes this was done. Nevertheless, the preferred hearth on the inside of the gable with the chimney as Schoonzicht. (Louis du Preez 1980) solution appears to have been to add it on immediately behind the living-room, thus forming a T-plan” (Radford 1982: 59-60). 132 Basin, the cooking was done in the open and Anglo-Boer War in this selection. After the War, certainly at the rear. By adding a kitchen at the fireplaces were more common. For a place that is back, it merely formalised the status quo104. It known for its cold winters, the slow appearance of would have been difficult to do any large-scale fireplaces is surprising. Fear of fire in the thatch cooking in a living room without a chimney. previously inhibited the use of fireplaces in Cape Town (Lewcock 1970: 511) and it could be the When Radford describes a typical cottage, he reason here too. The availability of corrugated iron includes a chimney: “The most important roof sheeting could also have dispelled any characteristics of the early cottage are its small size prejudice against fireplaces. and limited number of rooms. … One of these gables usually had a chimney built into it” (Radford 1982: 58). The evidence in the Brandwater Basin 6.7 THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE EMPIRE differs from that. The first built chimney in this Large parts of the population were isolated before collection dates from 1883105 and only one the Anglo-Boer War. After an apocalyptic war the example was surveyed with a visible chimney on population became part of the largest empire of the the exterior of the gable106 like the example and time and some form of experimentation with illustration that Radford provides. The first built-in novelties was to be expected. At Coerland a fireplace (only for heat) was probably in the Big House on the Middleton Estate, soon followed by a second one, back to back, in the same house. One of Middleton’s employers, Mr Grobler the blacksmith, also acquired a fireplace in his living room by 1895. Together with the two fireplaces at Dunelm, five is the total for fireplaces before the 104 The best example here would be Tierhoek phase 3 of 1910. Compare also Vincennes, Zastron in Walton 1955: 23 & 34. Both of these two houses solved the roof junction in the same way by separating them. Fig. 305 & 306 An octagonal rondawel (left) at Bethel (1987, since 105 Schoonzicht demolished) and a hexagonal tower (right) at the back of the house at 106 House Saunders was surveyed, but not included in this collection. AJ Coerland. (2007) Saunders (1861-1909) was a farm manager on the Middleton Estate and his house was some distance from the Big House, past the Smithy, on Killarney. 133 hexagonal rondawel107 was placed in an exposed position as a garden pavilion together with a 2- storeyed hexagonal tower behind the house. Bay windows arrived in the basin and none more elaborate than the huge Gothick bay window at Dunelm. The end of the reception room at Glen Skye108 was fashioned into half a hexagon with a high ceiling inside. Another novelty that appeared (after the First World War) was a dedicated bathroom. Fig. 307 & 308: The bay window (left) on the south-eastern side of Dunelm (1999) with a detail (right) of the stonework and woodwork involved. (1987) The first sign of a bathroom was found at Middenrif phase 2 (1929), followed by Hesbon109 and Tierhoek phase 4 where a mealie-stalk (stronk) geyser110 was still in place in the bathroom at the time of the survey in 1999. 6.8 CONCLUDING REMARKS The case studies presented in Chapter 3 were placed in the three contexts of inquiry. Chapter 6 was the last of the three contexts. Chapter 7 will offer a summary of the process and findings. Fig. 309 & 310: Two hot water donkeys found during the survey. The 107 At Bethel an octagonal rondawel farmhouse (left) at Bethel (1987) and (right) at Foutanie. (1987) Bethel and 108 Surveyed but not included in the selection Foutanie were surveyed but not included into this collection. 109 Surveyed but not included in the selection 110 The stronk geyser must have been the first upgrade from the donkey. It is in essence a compact metal donkey that could fit inside a small space. An upright water tank on top of a small burner that could barely fit pieces of wood, but could take stronke, which is also less of a messy fuel than most alternatives. 134 7 CONCLUSIONS 7.1 REVISITING THE PROCESS In Chapter 2 the approaches to recording and landscape than by the aspect from the access understanding vernacular architecture were road. investigated and rationalised. The argument is that Almost all of the houses had open stoep areas architecture should be investigated on a physical initially. When covered stoeps were introduced, it level, on a time-related level and on a cultural level. could on average be 25% of a large house’s These were seen as three contexts in which covered space. architecture can be placed for scrutiny. This Lastly, much experimentation took place regarding framework (physical, time-related, cultural) is the the use of sandstone. For the builders the essence of this study and was used as a guide in possibilities presented by the material proved to be collecting and presenting evidence. of a wide range. In terms of finishing the stones, width of courses, fitting lintels and sills and In Chapter 3 the case studies were presented articulating the corners the stonemasons individually with the information and the stages of experimented with different options. In all of these development relevant to them. aspects a standardised masonry technique of working with the stone was slow to appear. In Chapter 4 the first of the 3 modes of investigation (the physical space) was applied to In Chapter 5 the time-related issues were the body of collected house plans. The aim was to investigated. Developments over time and the understand the physical context and the extant shifting political conditions were the main focus remnants on the sites. The physical properties of here. It was useful to present a summary of the the sites and the intervention on the sites were collected houses in the order of their dates of investigated. construction. Such a summary highlighted It was determined that, although a favourite development over time as a basis for conclusions. orientation in terms of the cardinal points did not It was interesting to note that the very early houses exist, a southern orientation was avoided. It also were never far from the main transport routes and became clear that the placement of these houses that there was not a noticeable difference between was influenced more by the prospect over the the houses inside and outside of the Conquered 135 Territory. The international border line proved as form. The landowners would have moved on in penetrable to the burgers as it was to the Basothos. terms of size and house form from there, but it was The main developments from the very basic still acceptable for employees. houses were: The acceptance of rondawels as part of the • growth in size; homestead was not immediate but came with the • multi-roomed houses; 2nd generation of landowners or with settlers like • the double bank plan; Middleton who arrived after the conclusion of the • the thick middle wall; Basotho Wars. • the corridor; • the move from thatch to corrugated iron roof It was established that having a front door and a sheeting; back door leading out from the same room was • covered stoeps, afdakke and stoepkamers; more important than having a kitchen. Cooking in • the hipped roof that did away with gables; the living room, kitchens, fireplaces and substantial • the sun stoep; chimneys against the outside of gable walls were • the gablet on the bigger hipped roofs, all found to be less common to the Basin area than sometimes with pseudo ventilator; and existing literature might imply. • complex and even ineffective circulation patterns. 7.2 ARCHITECTURE OF THE BRANDWATER In Chapter 6 the last and most complex BASIN investigation took place, namely to understand a It might be useful to reconsider the questions place as the product of a culture. Here the posed in 1.2 Statement of the Research Problem. personal details mattered and it was not always The main question was: Why did the houses of possible to find adequate sources of information. early white settlers take on the form they did? The groups that took part in the inaugural The correct answer according to this study is that ownership of the houses were identified where the houses took on this form because the early possible. The house form was the product of white settlers were used to this form. It was the development over time, but reverting back to an old baggage they brought with them. On the very basic form could be explained culturally. If a first owner level of a cottage, it differed very little whether it of a house was not self-employed, or was building was a Cape Dutch cottage, or a Georgian on another’s property, the house would be anachronistically small in size and resemble an old 136 cottage111. The common idea of cottage in the on each other might be picked up in the resigned Eastern and Western Cape was transplanted to the acceptance of an outside cooking area and new location. eventual acceptance of the rondawel as part of most of the farmsteads. The question was also asked in more specific terms: How did the physical properties of the Other questions asked included: Brandwater Basin, the developing politics of the Why is it necessary to document and try to area and the cultures of the different groups understand this architecture? influence the architecture of the houses of the white The buildings are some of the very few actual settlers? artefacts that physically survived from the time of The physical properties of the Brandwater Basin settlement. The houses also has the advantage were probably most influential in terms of the that inherent with it are details (fireplaces, built-in availability of workable sandstone. This type of furniture) and that the buildings interact on a larger stone is not too hard to work with even for an scale with the landscape. The surviving structures inexperienced mason and at the same time durable opens an alternative view on a decisive period. to build with. Sandstone with a natural stone face Before settlement took place, Moshweshwe and soon became the usual building material and finish the Basothos were arguably the most important in the area and timeslot of this study. The politics threat to stability in the Oranjevrijstaat. The of the area was inhibiting building in the area until settlement of the area was part of the containment the border was agreed upon and accepted. After of that threat. that, exposure to the newly developed markets of the Witwatersrand proved profitable. The How can this collection of recorded material add to economic growth that was experienced before the existing collections? Anglo-Boer War continued for some time Since the existing collections have very little on the afterwards. The influence of the different groups Brandwater Basin, this collection adds to their scope. 111 “Aesthetically the most important device was the commitment to symmetry, this being carried out by having a central door and two flanking Existing collections of recordings of early windows. The Georgian origins of this are unmistakable. … This cottage form architecture in the Free State tend to make a was in many respects also being built by the early Dutch platteland farmers province-wide sweep. Is there a place for such a before the English settlers arrived. … However, a common North European narrowly defined and limited collection? origin must not be ruled out” (Radford 1982: 58-59). The usefulness of wide-sweeping collections lies in 137 a different application than narrowly defined and Who settled there, why there, when and for what limited collections. There is very little duplication of purpose? existing material in this collection. i) Unknown people (5), Voortrekkers and late trekkers (5), artisans and traders (4), 2nd generation How can all the factors influencing the architecture farmers (2), a British soldier (1) and an independent be accommodated effectively in an analytical trekboer settled in that area. model? ii) The area offered fertile, alluvial farm land, a By considering the factors relating to the physical higher rainfall, sheltered valleys and noticeable evidence, the time-related evidence and cultural scenery, but at the price of being part of a frontier aspects, all the factors influencing the architecture community. In the Conquered Territory the inviting can be accommodated. possibility existed that a farmer could acquire a farm in return for his services to the Vrystaat112. What kind of shelters were built by the first white iii) The settlement took place in two decades from settlers in the Brandwater Basin? 1849 to1869. The first farms were registered on Single-roomed cottages that soon evolved into the Free State side of the Warden Line. After the linear multi-roomed cottages. Second Basotho War it was theoretically possible to also register farms on the other side of the Line. Did the architecture of the indigenous people That became a reality after the Third Basotho War influence the architecture of the settlers? and was actively supported by the Free State With the English general dealer, Mr Middleton, the Government. The Government saw the settlement acceptance of the rondawel as part of his of burgers on these frontier farms and the farmstead followed. With the Voortrekker families, establishment of towns in the conquered territory as it did not happen in the first generation. With the a matter of policy to solve the border issue with 2nd generation came the acceptance of rondawels Basutoland. as part of the farmstead. iv) Most of the people settled there to make a living as farmers. Of the four artisans and traders, two What materials were readily available for building? worked for Middleton at the Middleton Estate. Grass and reeds for thatch, and sandstone for Middleton himself traded very successfully with the building walls and floors. There were not enough Basotho and also became a successful farmer in trees for roofing or lime for mortar. Beams and the process. Du Preez arrived as a wagon-builder lime would have to be imported if necessary. 112 It became the short form for the Boer Republic of the Free State. 138 and transport driver, married a farmer’s daughter, most basic Georgian influence. A solder with built established a farm in the process and farmed staircase on the outside and two symmetrically successfully. placed decorative wall cupboards in the voorhuis must be the last remnants of Cape Dutch113 What role did architecture play in the political characteristics. development of the relationship and border Two very early houses114 were built of stone and between Basutoland (now Lesotho) and the whitewashed. This does not point to either Cape Oranjevrijstaat (now the Free State Province)? Dutch or Georgian, but could be regarded as a The republican government of the Orange Free common practice in both. The whitewash of State realised after the Second Basotho War that houses ceased after about 1875 and sandstone military success is only part of the operation to was then the usual exterior finish. stabilise the border between the two states. They proposed a state-organised settlement program, which was only put into effect after the Third 7.3 AREAS OF FURTHER RESEARCH Basotho War. This offered a farm to any burger • The acceptance, introduction and spread of who would settle in the area and build himself a kitchens, corrugated iron roof sheeting, house of at least 10 feet by 20 feet (3.048 x 6. 096 covered stoeps, fireplaces, bay windows, m) along with other military conditions. This sun stoeps, bathrooms and water heating settlement program also included three border systems, rondawels and second kitchens towns: Wepener, Ladybrand and Ficksburg. The (servant kitchens) in South African homes. settlement program proved highly successful. • The gradual standardisation of sandstone building techniques and sizes in the What design paradigms would the settlers have sandstone industry in South Africa. followed? For example: What impact might the • The historic development of Basotho Great Trek have had on the transmutation of the architecture in the Eastern Free State. Cape Dutch architecture? • The historic development of the architecture The trekkers came from the Swellendam and of houses in towns in the Eastern Free State Graaff-Reinet areas, where hybrids of Cape Dutch up to the end of the Orange River Colony in and Georgian architecture were common. The 1910. most basic and useful of both influences survived: A symmetrical front on a long side without any 113 This description is of Tierhoek phase 1 indication of gable over the entrance must be the 114 Modderfontein and Present Poort House Venter 139 • The historic development of farmhouse of the day and more by the interests of the architecture in the Wepener, Ladybrand and recorder. Conservationists can do very little for the Ficksburg areas of the Eastern Free State survival of these structures. No important president up to the end of the Orange River Colony in or general was born in any of the structures and 1910. little political gain can be gathered from the preservation of these structures. It might in fact be irresponsible to spend money to reverse the 7.4 CURRENT SITUATION irreversible. The people that lived in these In spite of the surprising number of early houses structures, brought with them some revolutionary that could still be documented in 1999 for this ideas (of private ownership, the landscape as a study, the process of attrition can not be halted and commodity, republican government systems, etc.) evidence of the early built work is disappearing which slowly rolled out over the landscape and will constantly. This study endeavoured the capturing without any doubt outlive these structures. Ideas of part of this evidence. Unfortunately, the are stronger than stones. demolition, study, recording or conservation of the early buildings in the Free State Province takes place on an ad hoc base. An overview or a vaguely complete list does not exist and role players in the built environment concentrate on detailed parts covering their own interests. Interested parties concentrate on a few examples. This is not because these examples are the most important, but simply because they are known. This study presents a diligent survey of a small part of the Free State which demonstrates on a small scale our inadequate grasp of the built heritage of this part of South Africa. Like the work done previously in the Free State by Walton, Roodt and Smit, this exercise stresses the importance of recording. Unlike conservation, Fig. 311 Southern elevation of House Heyns at Schoonzicht. (Louis du Preez recording is less influenced by the political agendas 2012) 140 APPENDIX A: SURVEY OF FARMSTEADS 1 RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY OF 1987 This appendix records the surveys which were The reconnaissance survey was conducted in 1987 carried out to gather material for this dissertation. as a continuation of a student project for B.Arch. The first was a reconnaissance survey in 1987 studies. The initial project formed part of the which was followed by a major survey in 1999– subject Housing Studies (OPB401) in 1985. 2000. Material was also collected since 2006 in a Housing Studies was then presented by Prof. Das focused attempt to address specific areas in the Steyn of the Department of Urban and Regional compilation of this work. Not all material gathered Planning to the students of the Department of proved useful. The material which was considered Architecture. This survey was conducted by JL du useful, is grouped per farm and presented in the Preez, PD du Preez and MJ du Preez. The survey same format to allow comparison and analysis. produced 35 mm photographic colour slides of the This appears under CASE STUDIES in chapter 3. buildings and a diagram of some of the buildings. The most important outcome of this exercise was exposure to the conditions in the field and differing samples of buildings. Some of these farmsteads proved invaluable (Tierhoek, Welkom) and others were clearly not useful (Elim, Arcadia) in the construction of an argument. Some buildings have since been demolished (Bethel House and Rondawel) or had details removed (Tierhoek wall cupboards) before follow-up work was done in 1999, which made this initial effort invaluable. The buildings eventually included as case studies are highlighted in bold in the table. xvi 1 RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY OF 1987 No. Name of farmstead and structure Page number No. of Diagram of in sketchbook slides plan 1 Foutanie House 1, 2 CS x 5 Yes 2 Foutanie Shed - CS x 1 No 3 Tierhoek House Fourie 3 - 6 CS x 15 Yes 4 Tierhoek Shed - CS x 1 No 5 Tierhoek Graveyard - CS x 3 No 6 Welkom House Du Preez 7 CS x 7 Yes 7 Welkom Shed - CS x 2 No 8 Welkom Graveyard - CS x 2 No 9 Arcadia House 8 CS x 4 Yes 10 Magdalena House - CS x 9 No 11 Elim House - CS x 3 No 12 Dunelm House 9 CS x 13 Yes 13 Dunelm Shed - CS x 2 No 14 Mooihoek House 10 CS x 2 Yes 15 Verliesfontein House - CS x 4 No 16 Kromdraai Old House 11 CS x 16 Yes 17 Kromdraai House - CS x 1 No 18 Tuinplaas House 12 CS x 9 Yes 19 Tuinplaas Shed - CS x 1 No 20 Strydom House 13 CS x 8 Yes 21 Strydom Outbuildings - CS x 2 No 22 Presentpoort House Venter 14 CS x 7 Yes 23 Bethel House 15 CS x 6 Yes 24 Bethel Rondawel - CS x 1 No 25 Bethlehem Star Cottage 16 CS x 7 Yes 26 Roodehoek House - CS x 5 No 27 Roodehoek Outbuildings - CS x 2 No Note: Houses that were eventually included in the case studies are in bold. xvii 2 MAJOR SURVEY OF 1999 - 2000 The major survey was a concerted effort to gather the first instance to assist with the redrawing of the enough information to be able to trace plan, but were also useful in giving an impression of developments and recognise types among the the building. This survey also endeavored to farmhouses of the Brandwater Basin. Different collect dates for the built work, and in this respect groups of students and family members assisted family graveyards on the farms proved to be of with this, and these are indicated on the table listing much help. Once the original owner could be the work. The survey produced photographs, established, a whole series of further (cultural) colour slides and ground floor plans of the research opened up. Once again, not all the buildings. Measuring was done with hand held material was useful and could be included, but the measuring tapes using running measurements, and bulk of the useful material stems from this were first recorded in sketchbooks, to be redrawn operation. The buildings eventually included in the and presented later. Photographs were taken in case studies are highlighted in bold in the table. 2 MAJOR SURVEY OF 1999 - 2000 No. Name of farmstead and structure Date Page number Team surveyed in sketchbook 1 Dunelm House 1999 06 26 1 - 3, 5 Z 1999 07 15 54b - 58b Y 2 Dunelm Cowshed 1999 06 26 4 Z 3 Dunelm Shed 1999 06 26 6 Z 4 Modderfontein House Venter 1999 06 28 7, 10 Z 5 Modderfontein Cowshed 1999 06 28 11 Z 6 Hesbon Old House 1999 06 28 8 - 10 Z 7 Middenrif House Venter 1999 06 29 12 Z 8 Meyer's Cottage above Arcadia 1999 06 29 13 Z 9 Welkom House Du Preez 1999 06 29 14 Z 10 Welkom Graveyard 1999 06 29 15 Z 11 Bethlehem Star Cottage 1999 06 30 16 Z 12 Bethlehem Star House Fourie 1999 06 30 17 Z 13 Presentpoort House Venter 1999 06 30 18 Z 14 Presentpoort Second House 1999 06 30 19 Z xviii 15 Tierhoek House Fourie 1999 06 30 20 Z 1999 07 01 25 - 28 Z 1999 07 08 52 Z 16 Tierhoek Shed 1999 06 30 21 Z 17 Tierhoek Outbuildings 1999 07 01 22 Z 18 Tierhoek Cage and Stable 1999 07 01 23 Z 19 Tierhoek Kraal 1999 07 01 24 Z 20 Schoonzicht House Heyns 1999 07 02 29 - 31 Z 21 Lusthof School 1999 07 02 32, 33 Z 22 Lusthof House 1999 07 02 33 - 35 Z 23 Lusthof Outbuilding 1999 07 02 36 Z 24 Kromdraai House 1999 07 05 37 - 39 Z 25 Coerland House 1999 07 05 40, 41 Z 26 Bamboeshoek Shed 1999 07 07 42 Z 27 Bamboeshoek House 1999 07 07 43 Z 28 Toevertrouw Cottage 1999 07 07 44 - 45 Z 29 Rocklands House 1999 07 07 46 Z 30 Paterimo House 1999 07 07 47 Z 31 Kransfontein Shed 1999 07 08 48 Z 32 Kransfontein House Fourie 1999 07 08 49 Z 33 Erfdeel House 1999 07 08 50 Z 34 Erfdeel Stable 1999 07 08 51 Z 35 Opstal House 1999 07 09 53 - 54a Z 36 Ou Werf School 1999 07 15 59 Y 37 Zaaihoek Cottage 2000 05 08 T 38 Valuta House and Outbuildings 2000 05 08 S 39 Glen Skye House and Outbuildings 2000 05 08 V+R 40 Maria House 2000 05 08 Q 41 Bamboesberg House 2000 05 08 U 42 Klein Thaba Bosio House 2000 05 09 W 43 Eedenswaag House 2000 05 09 T 44 Middenin House 2000 05 09 S 45 Ebenhaezer House and Stable 2000 05 09 R 46 Koppiealleen House 2000 05 09 W xix 47 Middleton Estate Killarney Big House 2000 07 10 60 X 2000 07 11 62 - 64 X 48 Middleton Estate Killarney Butchery 2000 07 10 61 X 49 Middleton Estate Killarney Shop 2000 07 11 65 X 50 Middleton Estate Killarney Shed 2000 07 11 66 X 51 Middleton Estate Killarney Fort Campbell 2000 07 12 X 52 Middleton Estate Goedetrouw Mill 2000 07 12 67 - 69 X 53 Middleton Estate Goedetrouw Miller's House 2000 07 12 70 X 54 Middleton Estate Killarney Smithy 2000 07 12 71 X 55 Middleton Estate Eureka House Render 2000 07 13 72 X 56 Middleton Estate Killarney House Saunder 2000 07 13 73 X 57 Middleton Estate Brindisi House Grobler 2000 07 13 74 X Survey teams for this survey: Z JL du Preez, JL Jonker, JS Venter Y JL du Preez, WA Venter, JS Venter X JL du Preez, JL Jonker W BJ Kotze, CW Neethling, JJ van der Watt, P Venter V JL Grobler, MY le Roux, N Naudé, NB Viljoen U HDS Fourie, PW Hancke, JL Jonker, Z Schutte T JR Brand, JH Smit, J Viljoen, DIH van den Berg S PJ de Wet, NP du Plessis, TD Ford, CL Potgieter R V du Plessis, PR Perold, DL van der Westhuizen Q CJ Eckard, LT Mathole, MT Melao, AE Ferreira Note: The names of the farm and the farmstead on the farm seldom differ. In the case of differences, the name of the farmstead was used. Examples of this is Lusthof (Lushof), Tierhoek (Tygerhoek Opstal), Paterimo (Snymanshoek), Present Poort (Presentpoort) and Arcadia (Moira). 3 SURVEYS SINCE 2006 Smaller, specific surveys were necessary since 2006. As the material was put together, mistakes and omissions were noticed and addressed. These were brief revisits and are not listed. Snymanshoek House was the only new work surveyed in this period but was not included as a case study. xx APPENDIX B: ORIGINAL OWNERS OF FARMHOUSES In this appendix the original owners will be listed. It married Johanna Catherine van Heerden after the seems from the list of first owners that most were war (Fargher 2011: 204). Voortrekkers and late trekkers but other groups can 4. Kransfontein House Fourie: JJ Fourie (1850- also be distinguised. The known people who 1930) was christened in 1851 in Winburg, lived at moved into the Brandwater Basin to settle and build Tierhoek with his parents and later at Kransfontein, houses, will first be listed and then a summary will a farm that was severed from Tierhoek. He follow. The summary is also included in the text of married EPC de Jager in 1877 in Bethlehem chapter 5. (Scheepers [2009]: 53). 5. Lusthof House: Unknown, perhaps a member 1. Bethlehem Star Cottage: Early hunters or JJ of the Roos family. Fourie or both. It is possible that the Fouries built 6. Middenrif House Venter: MW Venter (1841- and used this cottage on their hunting expeditions 1916) was the son of WD Venter of Present Poort and later returned to it when they decided to settle (now Fouriesburg area) and was born just after the in the area. JJ Fourie (1818-1907) was christened trek to Natal. He married AE van Helsdingen in in Boschpas Swellendam (Scheepers [2009]: 26) Harrismith (Van Helsdingen 2011). and lived at Bo-Duivenhoksrivier Swellendam 7. Middleton Estate, Brindisi House Grobler: A before he trekked with the Voortrekkers to Natal. certain Grobler, a blacksmith. He married EMJ van Schalkwyk in 1850 in 8. Middleton Estate, Goedetrouw Miller’s Pietermaritzburg (Visagie 2011: 190). House: Unknown 2. Coerland House: Unknown, perhaps a member 9.1 Middleton Estate, Killarney Big House phase of the Roos family. The initials CR are inscribed on 1: This phase 1 house was built by the Veldman the lintel over the original front door. Cornelius brothers on the undivided farm of Welbedacht. Roos is a common name amongst the Roos family They are referred to as Voortrekkers by the of the area. Middleton and Veldman families, but cannot be 3. Dunelm House: Captain John George Dixon found on any list of Voortrekkers. They were was the owner in 1908 when the remarkable probably late trekkers, like PC Fourie of Tierhoek, sandstone work was in process. He was educated who associated themselves with the political ideals at Durham and served in the Anglo Boer War. He of the Voortrekkers. xxi 9.2 Middleton Estate, Killarney Big House phase 1896) was born in Wyk Heidelberg, Bethulie, 2 and afterwards: This phase 2 house was built by christened the same year in Boschpas, CE Middleton (1854-1948) who was born in Durban Swellendam. Cannot be found on any of the and was a general dealer. He moved to the Voortrekker registers, even though he is a brother Brandwater Basin soon after the Third Basotho of JJ Fourie of Bethlehem Star. He married EC War. The farm Killarney was separated from Cronje in 1840 in Boschpas, Swellendam. After her Welbedacht, along with the house on it. Middleton death, he married JJA du Toit in 1883 in was eager to trade with the Basotho and could Wakkerstroom, Transvaal (Scheepers [2009]: 27). capitalise on the position of the house, overlooking Taking into account his date of marrage, he was the border (Middleton 2000). probably a late trekker who associated himself with 10. Modderfontein House Venter: RH Venter, a the political ideals of the Voortrekkers. family member of WD Venter of Present Poort and 16. Toevertrouw Cottage: Unknown MW Venter from Middenrif (Venter 1999). 17. Welkom House Du Preez: IFR du Preez 11. Opstal House: Unknown, perhaps a member (1846-1929) grew up at Doornkraal, Riversdal to of the Human family. become a wagon-maker and transport driver. He 12. Present Poort House Venter: WD Venter married JC Heyns from Schoonzicht (now (1816-1892) was christened in Graaff-Reinet. He Fouriesburg area). After her death, he married MA married JA Pretorius in 1837 before they joined the Siebert in Middelburg, Transvaal (Du Preez 1988: trek. He was one of the cannon gunners at the 125). Battle of Blood River in 1838. After her death, he married MM van Schalkwyk in 1851 in Winburg. The following groups can be identified from the After her death, he married SJ Janse van Rensburg summary: in 1868 in Harrismith (Visagie 2011: 593). • 5 are unknown 13. Present Poort Second House: Unknown • 5 are Voortrekkers or late trekkers 14. Schoonzicht House Heyns: AM Heyns from • 4 are artisans or traders Humansdorp, before he moved independently to • 2 are 2nd generation farmers Basutoland (now Fouriesburg area). He married • 1 is an independent trekboer RE Rademeyer from Humansdorp (Du Preez 1988: • 1 is a British soldier. 125). Some of his family (also independently from the Voortrekkers) moved in and settled in the area of (currently) Paul Roux. 15. Tierhoek House Fourie: PC Fourie (1820- xxii SUMMARY OF FIRST OWNERS OF THE SELECTED HOUSES No. Name of farmstead Person and group 1. Bethlehem Star Cottage Hunters and/or JJ Fourie, Voortrekker 2. Coerland House Unknown 3. Dunelm House JG Dixon, a British soldier 4. Kransfontein House Fourie JJ Fourie, 2nd generation 5. Lusthof House Unknown 6. Middenrif House Venter MW Venter, 2nd generation 7. Middleton Estate Brindisi House Grobler, blacksmith, artisan 8. Middleton Estate Goedetrouw Unknown, a miller, artisan 9.1 M. E. Killarney House phase 1 Veldman, late trekker 9.2 M. E. Killarney House phase 2+ CE Middleton, trader 10. Modderfontein House Venter RH Venter, Voortrekker or late trekker 11. Opstal House Unknown 12. Present Poort House Venter WD Venter, Voortrekker 13. Present Poort Second House Unknown 14. Schoonzicht House Heyns AM Heyns, trek boer 15. Tierhoek House Fourie PC Fourie, late trekker 16. Toevertrouw Cottage Unknown 17. Welkom House Du Preez IFR du Preez, wagon-maker, transport driver xxiii APPENDIX C: SUMMARY OF CASE STUDIES The table lists the buildings presented in this In the second part, the buildings are in appendix. In the first part, the buildings are in chronological order even though they retain their alphabetical order and have the same numbers numbers for easy reference. and order as in chapter 3. APPENDIX C: SUMMARY: PART 1: ALPHABETICAL ORDER No. Name of farmstead and building 1. Bethlehem Star Cottage 2. Coerland House 3. Dunelm House 4. Kransfontein House Fourie 5. Lusthof House 6. Middenrif House Venter 7. Middleton Estate Brindisi House Grobler 8. Middleton Estate Goedetrouw Miller's House 9. Middleton Estate Killarney Big House 10. Modderfontein House Venter 11. Opstal House 12. Present Poort House Venter 13. Present Poort Second House 14. Schoonzicht House Heyns 15. Tierhoek House Fourie 16. Toevertrouw Cottage 17. Welkom House Du Preez xxiv APPENDIX C: SUMMARY: PART 2: CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER No. Name of farmstead and building Date THE ORANGE RIVER SOVEREIGNTY 1. Bethlehem Star Cottage [1830] THE REPUBLIC OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE 10.1 Modderfontein House Venter Phase 1 1854 THE THIRD BASOTHO WAR ANNEXATION OF THE CONQUERED TERRITORY 9.1 Middleton Estate Killarney Big House Phase 1 [1870] 12.1 Present Poort House Venter Phase 1 [1870] 16 Toevertrouw Cottage [1870] 5.1 Lusthof House Phase 1 [1875] 15.1 Tierhoek House Fourie Phase 1 1876 5.2 Lusthof House Phase 2 [1880] 10.2 Modderfontein House Venter Phase 2 [1880] 14.1 Schoonzicht House Heyns Phase 1 1883 6.1 Middenrif House Venter Phase 1 1884 4.1 Kransfontein House Fourie Phase 1 1885 9.2 Middleton Estate Killarney Big House Phase 2 [1885] 2.1 Coerland House Phase 1 [1890] 5.3 Lusthof House Phase 3 [1890] 7.1 Middleton Estate Brindisi House Grobler Phase 1 [1890] 8.1 Middleton E. Goedetrouw Miller's House Phase 1 [1890] 10.3 Modderfontein House Venter Phase 3 [1890] 12.2 Present Poort House Venter Phase 2 [1890] 13. Present Poort Second House [1890] 14.2 Schoonzicht House Heyns Phase 2 [1890] 15.2 Tierhoek House Fourie Phase 2 [1890] 2.2 Coerland House Phase 2 [1895] 3.1 Dunelm House Phase 1 [1895] 7.2 Middleton Estate Brindisi House Grobler Phase 2 [1895] 8.2 Middleton E. Goedetrouw Miller's House Phase 2 [1895] xxv 9.3 Middleton Estate Killarney Big House Phase 3 [1895] 11.1 Opstal House Phase 1 [1895] 4.2 Kransfontein House Fourie Phase 2 1899 17.1 Welkom House Du Preez Phase 1 1899 THE ANGLO-BOER WAR THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY 2.3 Coerland House Phase 3 [1905] 3.2 Dunelm House Phase 2 [1905] 7.3 Middleton Estate Brindisi House Grobler Phase 3 [1905] 3.3 Dunelm House Phase 3 1908 THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA 9.4 Middleton Estate Killarney Big House Phase 4 [1910] 14.3 Schoonzicht House Heyns Phase 3 [1910] 15.3 Tierhoek House Fourie Phase 3 [1910] THE FIRST WORLD WAR 6.2 Middenrif House Venter Phase 2 1929 5.4 Lusthof House Phase 4 [1930] 15.4 Tierhoek House Fourie Phase 4 [1930] 17.2 Welkom House Du Preez 1937 THE SECOND WORLD WAR 2.4 Coerland House Phase 4 [1950] 7.4 Middleton Estate Brindisi House Grobler Phase 4 [1950] 14.1 Schoonzicht House Heyns Phase 4 [1950] 17.3 Welkom House Du Preez Phase 3 1950 3.4 Dunelm House Phase 4 [1960] 11.2 Opstal House Phase 4 [1960] THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA 5.5 Lusthof House Phase 5 [1970] 6.3 Middenrif House Venter Phase 3 [1970] 9.5 Middleton Estate Killarney Big House Phase 5 [1970] 17.4 Welkom House Du Preez Phase 4 1979 xxvi xxviii xxix xxx xxxi xxxii xxxiii xxxiv xxxv xxxvi xxxvii xxxviii xxxix BIBLIOGRAPHY Austen, R.A. 1996. 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