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Egyptian Building (Cape Town)

Buildings and structures in Cape TownSouth African building and structure stubsUniversity of Cape Town
Egyptian Building. Orange St, Cape Town.
Egyptian Building. Orange St, Cape Town.

The Egyptian Building is the home of University of Cape Town's Michaelis School of Fine Art on that school's campus on Orange Street in Cape Town, South Africa. After its foundation on October 1, 1829, the South African Athenaeum (also known as the South African College and the forerunner of the UCT as well as the South African College Schools secondary and primary institutions) was for a while housed in an orphanage 'Weeshuis' at the end of Long Street. This unsatisfactory situation continued until the late 1830s, when Governor Sir Benjamin D'Urban granted a plot of land to the school that had once housed a zoo at the end of Government Avenue in Company's Garden for use while a new building was constructed. The land could be accessed from Government Avenue through Leeuepoort, built by Louis Michel Thibault and Anton Anreith. The college English professor, James Constantine Adamson, made a rough sketch of the building in the then-popular Egyptian Revival architecture style. Col. G.G. Lewis of the Royal Engineers adopted the proposal and expanded on it once finished with the old military hospital. When construction began on the new building, the site was still surrounded by the abandoned cages that once held animals for Capetonians' entertainment. It had apparently broken down by the time Prof. Adamson opened the college on April 13, 1841. The construction cost £3,000, but the new building was a major improvement on the cramped conditions on Long Street. The history of the building is well described in the Cape Town History Site.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Egyptian Building (Cape Town) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Egyptian Building (Cape Town)
Orange Street, Cape Town City Centre

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N -33.930343697164 ° E 18.413934704613 °
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Address

University of Cape Town Hiddingh Campus

Orange Street
8001 Cape Town, City Centre
Western Cape, South Africa
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Egyptian Building. Orange St, Cape Town.
Egyptian Building. Orange St, Cape Town.
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Nearby Places

Bertram House
Bertram House

The Bertram House (Afrikaans: Bertram Huis), located on Hiddingh Campus, of the University of Cape Town on Government Avenue, in Gardens, is the only surviving unpainted red brick two-story house left from early Georgian architecture in the city. The house has a special place in the history of the South African architecture. In 1962, it was declared a national monument, and today remains a provincial heritage site in accordance with the National Heritage Resources Act (25/1999).In 1839, John Barker, an attorney who had emigrated from Yorkshire to Cape Colony in 1823, purchased the land. He built his family home there from 1839 to 1854 and named it after his wife, Ann Bertram Findlay, who had died in 1838. After the house passed through several families, the University of Cape Town used it for offices from 1903 onward. In 1930, the building became state property, and in 1976, it was placed at the disposal of the South African Cultural History Museum. In 1983 and 1984, the building was thoroughly restored. Ornamental bricks were introduced and slate was imported from Wales to bring the facade to its original glory. At the same time, the interior was repainted in the original dark green and ocher. The lobby is decorated in the Regency style. Since then, it has operated as a museum. The museum is the home of the Anne Lidderdale Collection, which includes Georgian furniture and English and Chinese porcelain donated by some of the leading English families of the early 19th-century Cape. Nowadays, beadwork and postage stamps are exhibited, and the building is known for book launches and music concerts.