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Martin Melck House

Buildings and structures in Cape Town
Martin Melck House, Strand Street
Martin Melck House, Strand Street

The Martin Melck House (Afrikaans: Martin Melck-huis) on 96 Strand Street and the Kostershuis on 100 Strand Street, on either side of the Lutheran Church in Cape Town, are both national heritage sites of South Africa. With the building of the Lutheran church, Martin Melck, a German immigrant whose business success and advantageous marriage rendered him the wealthiest man in Cape Colony in the 18th century, lent part of his property on the east side of the church for a parsonage. He donated the property to the congregation in the end, and in 1781, after Melck's death, construction began on the house. Louis Michel Thibault was probably the original architect. Anton Anreith is generally considered to have been responsible for the stained-glass windows, the swan in the gable, and the engravings on the front door. The building is influenced by French Renaissance architecture. It is also unique in that the attic (a "belvedere") had four windows, at the time giving a wide view of the city and Table Bay. Spacious rooms, paved entryways, African teak floors on the ground floor and Real yellowwood floors on the top floor, African teak beams over the living room, and a courtyard make it a distinctive structure. Until 1891, it served as the parsonage for the church. In 1929, there was talk of demolition, but conservationists and the wider community saved it through intensive renovation. From 1932 on, it was named the Martin Melck House, earning the distinction of a national monument in 1936, and it was used by cultural groups in the city. Around 1975, and antique shop operated there. Shortly after 2000, it was home to a museum of gold art, a souvenir shop, a restaurant, and a goldsmith's studio. The museum focuses on 19th- and 20th-century gold works from Mali, Senegal, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast. The Golden Lion is the highlight of the collection and also serves as an emblem of the museum. It is exhibited in the attic. On the corner of Buitengracht and Strand Streets is the Kostershuis, declared a national monument in 1949. This house was originally built from 1779 to 1783. 100 Strand Street in Cape Town was the traditional address of the Dutch Consulate General in the city.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Martin Melck House (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Martin Melck House
Strand Street, Cape Town Cape Town Ward 115

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Wikipedia: Martin Melck HouseContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N -33.919166666667 ° E 18.419722222222 °
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Address

Strand Street 96
8001 Cape Town, Cape Town Ward 115
Western Cape, South Africa
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Martin Melck House, Strand Street
Martin Melck House, Strand Street
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Nearby Places

1 Thibault Square
1 Thibault Square

1 Thibault Square, formally known as the LG Building and originally known as the "BP Centre", is a 126.5-metre (415 ft) modernist skyscraper on the European-style Thibault Square at the end of St George's Mall, Cape Town, South Africa.Work on the building began in 1969 and was completed in 1972. As of 2019 it is the second tallest building in Cape Town. The 34-degree diagonal twist, which puts it on a north–south axis, reduces sun loads on the façades, thereby reducing pressure on the air-conditioning system. To further shield the façades, a pre-cast screen is mounted on every floor, allowing good air flow and cutting off direct sun rays. This unique orientation also means that all the offices have views of either the mountain or the harbour, and that none stare straight into the façades of the surrounding buildings.At 11:55pm on October 1989 a bomb exploded outside the building causing no casualties or injuries.In 2006 the building was sold along with two other office buildings in Cape Town for R300 million and was at the time the largest Grade A commercial property in the city.Flanked by John Skotness' Mythological Landscape steel-and-bronze sculpture, the piazza below is a popular public space for office workers and visitors to the city. The building provides a focal point for Thibault Square.In 2008 the building was acknowledged in a national survey by the South African Institute of Architects to be one of the country's "good buildings".