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Woutersen Wessels Vault

1920s architectureBuildings and structures in Cape Town
Woutersen Wessels Vault
Woutersen Wessels Vault

The Woutersen Wessels Vault is a historically significant heritage site likely designed by well-known architect Herman Schutte, who designed the Green Point Lighthouse. According to available records, the vault was built by merchant Pieter Woutersen in the 1820s when it was still practice for Dutch families to bury their dead on their farms and estates. Woutersen was married to Maria de Villiers, who remarried to J. J. L. Smuts, the second mayor of Cape Town, after his death. The vault, an important part of Cape Town's cultural landscape, is in the quiet residential suburb of Braemar Estate, which was established by the Wessels family in the 1930s on their farmstead. It served as a burial site for members of the Woutersen and Wessels family, who were prominent residents in the area. This list includes Adv. M L Wessels, brother of Sir John Wessels, the former Chief Justice of South Africa from 1932 to 1936.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Woutersen Wessels Vault (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Woutersen Wessels Vault
Bertrand Road, Cape Town Cape Town Ward 115

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N -33.9121 ° E 18.41262 °
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Woutersen-Wessels Vault

Bertrand Road
8005 Cape Town, Cape Town Ward 115
Western Cape, South Africa
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Green Point Stadium
Green Point Stadium

The Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa was a multi-purpose sports stadium. Opened in 1897, it had a concrete banked cycle track, also occasionally used for motorsport, with a lap distance of a third of a mile - 586.6 yards (536.4 m) - and inside the cycle track was an athletics track. When it first opened it had seating for 1,000 people, and could accommodate 3,000 standing spectators. Prior to its demolition in 2007, it had 18,000 seats.Jack Rose twice held the world amateur human-paced hour record for cycling in 1898 and 1899, on the latter occasion riding 30 miles 606 yards in the hour at Green Point.The stadium was also used for cricket matches and for football, and was the home ground of Santos Football Club and Ajax Cape Town at different points. It also hosted music events including concerts by Janet Jackson, Gloria Estefan, Michael Jackson, Roxette, Whitney Houston, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, U2, Metallica, Paul Simon, Robbie Williams, and the Coca-Cola Colab Massive Mix. It hosted the 2003 46664 Concert for the benefit of AIDS victims.It was also used by local schools such as CBC, Ellerton, de Kuilen and Sea Point High School to host their annual inter-school athletics competitions. It was partly demolished in 2007 during construction of an adjacent new stadium, the Cape Town Stadium, built on part of an existing golf course for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The main stand of the rebuilt Green Point Athletics Stadium was constructed on the site of the old stadium's main stand. The stadium was completed in early 2013, and can seat 7,000 people.

Somerset Hospital (Cape Town)
Somerset Hospital (Cape Town)

The Somerset Hospital in the Green Point area of Cape Town, South Africa opened in 1864 and has been declared a provincial heritage site.The hospital replaced one of the same name in Chiapinni Street, which had been founded by Dr Samuel Bailey in 1818 as the first civilian hospital in Cape Town. It was named after Lord Charles Somerset the governor of the Cape Colony who gave land for the construction. The Chavonnes Battery was used as an isolation and convalescent wing.The cornerstone for the new hospital was laid on 18 August 1859 by the Cape Governor Sir George Grey. In addition to the appointment of medical staff, nurses were recruited from the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, St Thomas' Hospital in London including Sister Helen Bowden, who in 1877 became the first fully qualified nurse to be appointed as Matron of Somerset Hospital. Subsequently, the hospital established its own nurse training school, becoming the first hospital to train non-white nurses.From 1918 until 1937, when the Groote Schuur Hospital opened it was the main academic hospital of the University of Cape Town. A new West Wing opened in 1973 for white patients. The old building was renamed the north wing, not because of their position but the N meant for non-white patients and the W of West Wing signified that it was for Whites. The high incidence of HIV infections amongst the patients led to the establishment of the hospital as a prime referral centre for the treatment of AIDS and the first antiretroviral distribution centre was established there in 2005.Since then various plans have been announced for the development of the grounds including hotels, offices and residential accommodation. The hospital is also home to the Cape Medical Museum.In 2008 the hospital appealed for funds from local businesses to establish a new trauma unit and a ward for women suffering from a spontaneous miscarriage. In 2010 it opened a new measles ward following a rise in measles cases in Cape Town. In 2010 a studio was built, along with its own lift, on the top of the hospital for use by BBC presenters during 2010 FIFA World Cup matches at the nearby stadium. Additionally in 2010 plans were announced to move the hospital to a new site in the northern sector of the city, to serve the densely populated West Coast region.