Sea Point (Afrikaans: Seepunt) is an affluent and densely populated suburb of Cape Town, situated in the Western Cape, between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District (CBD). Moving from Sea Point to the CBD, one passes first through the small suburb of Three Anchor Bay, then Green Point. Seaward from Green Point is the area known as Mouille Point (pronounced "mu-lee"), where the local lighthouse is situated. It borders to the southwest the suburb of Bantry Bay. It is known for its large Jewish population, synagogues, and kosher food options.

Sea Point's positioning along the Cape Town coastline of the Atlantic Seaboard - from the Promenade to its wide variety of restaurants, has led to this neighbourhood being named as one of the most popular places in Cape Town to live in[2][3] or invest in,[4] with average property prices well above the median for the city.[5][6][7] In addition, Sea Point serves as a popular destination amongst tourists and visitors, being named by Time Out magazine as "one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world" in 2022 and 2023.[8][9]

Sea Point forms part of Ward 54 in The City Of Cape Town, and is represented by Democratic Alliance councillor Nicola Jowell.[10]

The ratepayers, residents and local businesses in the area are represented by the Sea Point, Fresnaye & Bantry Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association (SFB), a volunteer-led organization financed by donations and memberships.[11] The SFB's mandate includes defending the heritage of the area,[12][13] construction applications,[14][15] providing added security and cleansing above what is provided by the City and State,[16][17][18] and communications with residents and ratepayers, as well as on behalf of these parties with stakeholders such as the City of Cape Town.[19][20][21]

Some of the first settlers in the area were the aristocratic Protestant Le Sueur family from Bayeux in Normandy. François Le Sueur arrived in 1739 as spiritual advisor to Cape Governor Hendrik Swellengrebel. The family's Cape estate, Winterslust, originally covered 81 hectares (200 acres) on the slopes of Signal Hill. The estate was later named Fresnaye, and now forms part of the suburbs of Sea Point and Fresnaye.[22]

Sea Point got its name in 1767[23] when one of the commanders serving under Captain Cook, Sam Wallis, encamped his men in the area to avoid a smallpox epidemic in Cape Town at the time. It grew as a residential suburb in the early 1800s, and in 1839 was merged into a single municipality with neighbouring Green Point. The 1875 census indicated that Sea Point and Green Point jointly had a population of 1,425. By 1904 it stood at 8,839.[24]

With the 1862 opening of the Sea Point tramline, the area became Cape Town's first "commuter suburb", though the line linked initially to Camps Bay. At the turn of the century, the tramline was augmented by the Metropolitan and Suburban Railway Company, which added a line to the City Centre.[25]

During the 1800s, Sea Point's development was dominated by the influence of its most famous resident, the liberal parliamentarian and MP for Cape Town, Saul Solomon. Solomon was both the founder of the Cape Argus and the most influential liberal in the country—constantly fighting racial inequality in the Cape. His Round Church (St John's) of 1878 reflected his syncretic approach to religion—housing four different religions in its walls, which were rounded to avoid "denominational corners". "Solomon's Temple", as it was humorously known by residents, stood on its triangular traffic island at the intersection of Main, Regent, and Kloof roads, a centre of the Sea Point community, until it was destroyed by the city council in the 1930s.[26] The suburb was later classed by the Apartheid regime as a whites-only area, but this rapidly changed in the late 1990s with a rapid growth of Sea Point's black and coloured communities.

Ships entering the harbour in Table Bay from the east coast of Africa have to round the coast at Sea Point and over the years many of them have been wrecked on the reefs just off-shore. In May 1954, during a great storm, the Basuto Coast (246 tonnes) ended up on the rocks within a few metres of the concrete wall of the promenade.[27] A fireman who came to the assistance of the crew was swept off the wall of the swimming pool adjacent to the promenade by waves and was never seen again. The vessel was soon thereafter salvaged for scrap. In July 1966 a large cargo ship, the S.A. Seafarer, was stranded on the rocks only a couple of hundred metres from the Three Anchor Bay beach. The stranding was the cause of one of Cape Town's earliest great environmental scares, owing to the cargo including drums of tetramethyl lead and tetraethyl lead, volatile and highly toxic compounds that in those days were added to motor fuels as an anti-knocking agent. The ship was gradually destroyed by the huge swells that habitually roll in from the south Atlantic. Salvage from the ship can still be found in local antique shops.

The area was historically classed as a "whites only" area only during the apartheid era under the terms of the Group Areas Act, a series of South African laws that restricted urban areas according to racial classifications.[28] Some black and coloured residents continued to live in pockets of the suburb during this era.[29] The Twin Towers on Beach Road were built in the context of a "white housing crisis" in racially segregated Cape Town in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1970s the National Party initiated several planning interventions, including the suspension of the city's zoning rules with regards to building height for developers willing to build housing in white Group Areas.[30]

In the early 1970s, the iconic 23-storey Ritz Hotel was built in Sea Point, with a revolving restaurant.[31] Prior to the development of the V&A Waterfront, Sea Point was known as a "tiny Manhattan by the sea", known for its restaurants and entertainment.[32]

In the mid to late 1990s, the area experienced a rise in crime as drug dealers and prostitutes moved into the area. However, due to the aggressive adoption of broken windows municipal management spearheaded by then area councillor Jean-Pierre Smith, the crime rate declined throughout most of the 2000s.[33] On the morning of 20 January 2003, nine men were killed in a brutal attack at the Sizzler's massage parlour in Sea Point.[34]

• Early map of Sea Point and its infrastructure, c. 1906
• Cape 1st Class (4-4-0T) 1875 no. 4
• Round Church or Solomons Temple, 1906
• Graaff's Pool in 2020, shot on Kodak Ektar 100

Sea Point is a suburb of Cape Town and is situated on a narrow stretch of land between Cape Town's well known Lion's Head to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the northwest. It is a high-density area where houses are built in close proximity to one another toward the surrounding mountainside. Apartment buildings are more common in the central area and toward the beachfront. An important communal space is the beachfront promenade, a paved walkway along the beachfront used for strolling, jogging, or socialising. Along the litoral of the Sea Point promenade, the coastline has varied characteristics. Some parts are rocky and difficult to access, while other parts have broad beaches. Sea Point beach adjoins an Olympic-sized seawater swimming pool, which has served generations of Capetonians since at least the early 1950s. Further toward the city is a beach known as Rocklands.

Adjoining Sea Point is Three Anchor Bay. The beaches along this stretch are in the main covered with mussel shells tossed up by the surf, unlike the beaches of Clifton and Camps Bay, which are sandy. The rocks off the beaches at Sea Point are in large part late Precambrian metamorphic rocks of the Malmesbury formation, formed by low-grade metamorphism of fine-grained sediments. The site is internationally famous in the history of geology. A plaque on the rocks commemorates Charles Darwin's observation of the rare geological interface, where granite, an igneous rock, has invaded, absorbed, and replaced the Malmesbury formation rocks. There are extensive beds of kelp offshore. Compared to the False Bay side of the Cape Peninsula, the water is colder (11–16 °C).

Graaff's Pool, a beachfront tidal pool partially demolished in 2005, was the subject of a short film entitled "Behind the Wall", which contrasted the pool's origin story of Lady Marais, paralysed from the waist down from childbirth, whose husband built the pool for her as a private bathing area in the 1930s, and the Sea Point gay scene, which adopted the pool as a cruising ground between the 1960s and the 2000s.[35]

The suburb is served by the MyCiTi bus rapid transit system. The 108 and 109 services take passengers to Hout Bay, V&A Waterfront and Adderley Street in downtown Cape Town.[36]

• The Marais Road Shul, formally known as the Green & Sea Point Hebrew Congregation, Orthodox Jewish congregation on Marais Road, in 1994 it had the largest Jewish congregation in the Southern Hemisphere[37]
• Beit Midrash Morasha, an Orthodox Jewish congregation on Arthur's Road
• Ohr Somayach, Orthodox Jewish congregation on St John's Road and branch of Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem with a Baal teshuva tradition
• Sephardi Hebrew Congregation, Orthodox Jewish congregation on Regent's Road with a Sephardi tradition
• Chabad Centre of Cape Town, Orthodox Jewish congregation on St John's Road

Reform Jews living in the area are served by Temple Israel, an affiliate of the South African Union for Progressive Judaism, on Upper Portswood Road in neighbouring Green Point

• Common Ground Church Sea Point meets at the same venue as Sea Point Congregational Church, a Christianchurch at the corner of Main Road and Marais Road
• Joshua Generation Church Sea Point, an Evangelical church that meets at Sea Point High School at 5 Norfolk Road[38]
• Life Church (part of the Assemblies of God movement), an Evangelical church on Main Road[39]
• Sea Point Evangelical Congregational Church, an Evangelical church on Main Road
• Sea Point Methodist Church, a Methodist church on Main Road
• Church of the Holy Redeemer, an Anglican church on Kloof Road
• St James the Great Anglican Church, an Anglican church on St James Road
• New Apostolic Church Sea Point, a New Apostolic church on Marais Road
• Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church (formerly St Francis Church), a Catholic church on the corner of St Andrews Road and Beach Road

Schools in the area include Sea Point Primary School and Sea Point High School (formerly Sea Point Boys' High School) founded in 1884,[40][41] and Herzlia Weizmann Primary. The French School of Cape Town opened on 14 October 2014[42] after an R18m upgrade of the primary school of the old Tafelberg Remedial School's campus.[43] The primary school campus of the French school is in Sea Point.[44]

• Life & Times of Michael K, a 1983 novel by J. M. Coetzee begins and ends in Sea Point.[45]
• Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful, a 1983 novel by Alan Paton includes a description of Sea Point: "We are talking of fighting an election in Sea Point. It is probably one of the most favourable constituencies from our point of view, fairly affluent people with guilty consciences, a high percentage of Jewish voters, and a large number of retired business and professional men. There is probably a higher percentage of voters opposed to racial discrimination than anywhere else in South Africa."[46]
• Sea Point Days, a 2008 documentary film directed by François Verster[47]

• John Whitmore, surfer, surfboard shaper, radio presenter, Springbok surfing team manager[48]
• Anthony Sher, actor and writer.
• David Bloomberg, mayor of Cape Town
• Sally Little, professional golfer.
• Saul Solomon, liberal Cape politician.
• Colin Eglin, politician.
• Gerry Brand, Springboks rugby union footballer.
• David Rosen, fashion designer and artist.
• Bob Newson, cricketer.
• Karen Press, poet.
• Jacobus Arnoldus Graaff, businessman and politician, bequeathed Graaff's Pool to the people of Cape Town.
• Louise Smit writer of popular South African television shows, Wielie Walie and Haas Das.
• Arno Carstens singer-songwriter.[49]
• Darrel Bristow-Bovey, writer[50]

The Green and Sea Point municipal council assumed a coat of arms in 1901.[51] The shield was divided vertically, one half depicting signal masts on Signal Hill, the other a golden lion's head, shoulders and forepaws; in the centre, near the top, was a small blue shield displaying three anchors. An imperial crown was placed above the shield.[52] The coat of arms has been incorporated into the emblem of the Metropolitan Golf Club[53]

• The Wreck of the S.A. Seafarer
• Lance Real Estate Sea Point Property Review

• Jews and Judaism in Cape Town
• Orthodox Jewish communities
• Orthodox Judaism in South Africa
• Suburbs of Cape Town

Pinelands is a garden city suburb located on the northern edge of the southern suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa, neighbouring the suburb of Thornton, and is known for its large thatched houses and green spaces. The suburb is primarily residential and is often praised for its peacefulness and abundance of trees. Pinelands is one of the few areas in Cape Town in which sale of alcohol to the public is prohibited, but some clubs have private liquor licenses. It is a popular place for senior citizens to retire to. While there are several retirement homes in the suburb, younger people are increasingly moving in.

The main road is called Forest Drive and the suburb contains two small shopping centres, namely Howard Centre (named after Ebenezer Howard who led the garden city movement) and Central Square. Dutch Reformed, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and Catholic (Society of St. Pius X) churches are located near to Central Square, while Baptist, Church of England in South Africa and mainstream Catholic churches are located elsewhere in the suburb. Pinelands is served by two Metrorail railway stations: Pinelands station on the western edge of the suburb and Mutual station on the northern edge. The suburb is bisected from the north east to the south west by the Elsieskraal River, which has flowed through a large concrete drainage canal since the 1970s. Elsieskraal River also flows through the neighbouring suburb of Thornton, which is a similar residential suburb with an abundance of trees.

The postcodes for Pinelands are 7405 for street addresses and 7430 or 7450 for post office boxes. The telephone exchange codes for Pinelands are predominantly 531 and 532 (within the 021 dialling code for Cape Town).

The layout of Pinelands is based on the then revolutionary Garden Cities methodology of town planning by the British town-planner, Sir Ebenezer Howard. It was originally a Victorian era farm named Uitvlugt that had thousands of pine trees planted in it, and was later deemed an economic failure by the Department of Forestry. In the aftermath of the outbreak of the bubonic plague in Cape Town in February 1901, the colonial health authorities invoked Public Health Act of 1897 and quickly established a location in Uitvlugt forest station (modern day Pinelands). Black Africans living in District Six were rounded up under armed guard and taken to the location of Uitvlugt. This area was initially established primarily to quarantine Black Africans who were forcibly relocated after the outbreak of the disease, furthering efforts of the government at the time to push Black and Coloured communities to the outskirts of the city. This marked the beginning of forced removals in Cape Town in the twentieth century.

Almost 22 years later, the land was then granted to "The Garden Cities Trust" and the founding Deed of Trust was signed in 1919. One of the first members of the trust, Richard Stuttaford (head of the department store Stuttafords), made a £10,000 gift donation to serve as capital, and a loan of £15,000 from the government was invested in Pinelands. The trust brought in an overseas expert, Albert John Thompson, in 1920 to design the area.

The first (thatched) house in Pinelands to be occupied was 3 Mead Way and was built in February 1922. The house and entire street, including The Mead were declared a national monument in 1983. The original township area is currently a proposed heritage area. Pinelands converted to a municipality in 1948 and in 1996 merged into the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The old Pinelands Town Council offices now accommodate the Pinelands Subcouncil.

According to the 2011 census, the population of Pinelands was 14,198 people in 4,917 households. The following tables show various demographic data about Pinelands from that census.[2]

Gender

Ethnic Group

Home Language

Age

Pinelands is part of ward 53 of the City of Cape Town.[3] The ward also includes Thornton, Maitland Garden Village, Epping Industria 1, Ndabeni and part of Maitland; the current ward councillor is Riad Davids of the Democratic Alliance.[4] Of the six voting districts in this ward, three of them cover Pinelands: the voting stations are at the Pinelands Primary School, Pinelands High School, and Pinehurst Primary School. Generally, the majority of voters in the Pinelands area of the Ward vote for the Democratic Alliance.

The following tables show the sum of the votes cast in the three Pinelands voting districts at the most recent national, provincial and local elections.

National election (2019)

Provincial election (2019)

Local election (2021)

Proportional Representation vote

Local election (2021)

Ward vote

Many of the road names in Pinelands have originated from local history or from places in England. One such road is named Uitvlugt (original Dutch) after the historical farm of the same name that covered what is now Pinelands. There are also roads named Letchworth and Welwyn after the first two garden cities in England. Other roads in Pinelands are named after places in the Lake District in England, the Royal Family as well as the names of birds, trees and flowers. Curiously, despite the attitude displayed to the sale of alcohol in Pinelands, there is a section where all the roads are named after well known wine farms.

In Pinelands there are three public primary schools, each of which is commonly known in the community by a colour: Pinelands Primary School ("The Blue School"), Pinelands North Primary School ("The Red School") and Pinehurst Primary School ("The Green School"). Pinelands High School is a public high school, centrally located in the suburb. Cannons Creek Independent School is a private combined primary and high school. Grace Primary School is a Christian primary school embracing a Charlotte Mason education philosophy.[5] There are three private pre-primaries in Pinelands: Meerendal Pre-Primary, La Gratitude Pre-Primary, Learn and Play Centre Pre-School and Old Mutual for their employees. The high school campus of Vista Nova (a school for children with cerebral palsy and other special needs) is located in the suburb. The Pinelands Campus of the College of Cape Town while located in Maitland is on the northern edge of Pinelands and draws students from all over Cape Town.

Pinelands has sporting facilities including tennis and lawn bowling clubs. Other sports include the cricket and hockeyclubs situated at The Oval sports grounds situated on St. Stephens Road just off Forest Drive. Pinelands hockey club was founded in 1937 and is currently one of the largest clubs in the country fielding 12 men’s teams and 7 ladies teams in the Western Province Hockey Union league. Both the men’s and ladies’ first teams play in the Grand Challenge league with the men's team having won the title for the first time in 2006. In 2008 Pinelands Hockey Club produced three Olympians – Marvin Bam, Paul Blake and Austin Smith. Austin Smith was made the South African Men's Captain, having first played hockey for the Red School and the Pinelands High School.

In January 1949, the municipal council assumed a coat of arms, designed by F. de Beaumont Beech.[6] It registered the arms with the Cape Provincial Administration in July 1954[7] and at the Bureau of Heraldry in July 1979.[8]

The arms were : Or, on a chevron Gules, between three fir-cones Sable, slipped and leaved Vert, three annulets Or (i.e. a golden shield depicting, from top to bottom, two black fir-cones with green leaves, a red chevron displaying three golden rings, and another black fir-cone with green leaves). The crest was a squirrel holding an acorn, and the motto was Fides – prudentia – labor.

• Huis der Nederlanden

• The History of Pinelands, Cape Town

• Pinelands Hockey
• The Pinelands Catholic Church Website
• Old and recent photos of Pinelands, Cape Town
• Pinelands Community Directory
• Councillor Brian Watkyns website

• Suburbs of Cape Town
• Garden suburbs

Mowbray is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africaand lies on the slopes of Devil's Peak. Mowbray is at a junction of several major Cape Town highways and has an important multi-modal public transport interchange at Mowbray railway station. Its original name was Driekoppen ("Three heads" in Dutch).

Mowbray is bounded on the west by the M3 freeway, beyond which lies Devil's Peak, and on the north by the N2 freeway, beyond which lies the suburb of Observatory. Towards the east, the built-up area of Mowbray ends at the M5 freeway, beyond which lies the Black Riverand the suburb of Pinelands; however, the official boundaries of Mowbray also include the Rondebosch and Mowbray golf courses, which lie beyond the M5, towards Sybrand Park and Pinelands respectively. On the south, Mowbray borders on the suburb of Rosebank with a less well-defined boundary.

The Liesbeeck River flows from south to north through Mowbray, and separates the suburb into two distinct sections. The western section lies on the lower slopes of Devil's Peak, and contains most of the commercial development in the suburb. The eastern section, known as "Little Mowbray", lies on the low hill between the Liesbeeck and Black Rivers.

The well-known Quaker Peace Centre has its offices in Mowbray.

Mowbray is well-connected to the road network, being bounded (as described above) by the M3, M5 and N2 freeways. Apart from the freeways, the main roads in the suburb are Main Road (M4) and Liesbeeck Parkway (M57), which run north-south; Victoria Road/St. Peter's Road/Durban Road/Klipfontein Road (M18) which runs west-east; and Raapenberg Road (M52) which runs to the north-east towards Pinelands.

For public transport, Mowbray is served by a station on the MetrorailSouthern Suburbs railway line. Next to the station is a large Golden Arrow bus station with routes running out all over Cape Town, and a minibus taxi rank.

State-funded Mowbray Maternity Hospital, the only of its kind in Cape Town, is located on Hornsey Road near Mowbray railway station.[2] Mowbray Maternity Hospital is a referral hospital and provides comprehensive specialised maternity services spanning the three main stages of childbirth; Antenatal care, labour and delivery, and postnatal care.[3]

Rhodes Memorial, built in memory of Cecil John Rhodes, lies on the slopes of Devil's Peak west of Mowbray near the M3 Highway. A national landmark, Rhodes Memorial lies within the Table Mountain National Park and was built with granite from the rock bases on which the mountain rests.[4] The memorial site offers panoramic day time and night time views of the Cape Peninsula and Cape Town and is popular amongst tourists and locals.

The Mowbray Golf Course, adjacent to the N2 Highway, was established in 1910 and is recognised for being amongst the best in South Africa. It is an 18-hole golf course with a combination of links and parklands. The course has hosted the South African Open several times.[5]

The only complete windmill in South Africa was Mostert's Mill. It was built in 1796 and worked until the 1860s. It was restored in 1935 and again in 1995 and was open to the public one Saturday a month. It was destroyed in a fire in April 2021.

• Suburbs of Cape Town

Bishopscourt is a small, wealthy, residential suburb in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is part of the Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality, created in 2000, which includes the greater Cape Town area. It has approximately 350 houses most of which are on more than 4,000 square metres (1 acre) of land.

The suburb includes the official residence of the Archbishop of Cape Town, which is known as Bishopscourt,[2] whence comes the name of the suburb.[3] It is also the location of a large number of foreign consulates and embassies.[4][5] Along with the neighbouring suburbs of Newlands and Claremont, Bishopscourt is located in an area at the foot of Table Mountain that attractions considerably more rainfall than the rest of the Cape Peninsula.[6]

In 2015, it was ranked the sixth richest suburb in South Africa with an average property value of R11 million.[7]

Following the establishment of the Dutch East India Company in 1652, the land that would later become Bishopscourt was originally the site of a farm called Boscheuvel ("Bush Hill"), managed by Jan van Riebeeck, the first colonial governor of the Cape. The farm was known for cultivating a range of imported grapevines, fruit trees, and nut trees.[8]

Between 1959 and 1970, 132 families were forcibly removed from the area under the terms of the Group Areas Act, the apartheid legislation which declared the area to be for white residents only. Following the end of apartheid, a land claim was instituted in 1995, and claimants were granted erven in 2006. Construction of homes for the 86 families that opted for the return of rights to their land began in 2025.[9]

• Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

• Suburbs of Cape Town
• Western Cape geography stubs

Paardeneiland is 'n nywerheidsgebied in Bloubergstrand, noordoos van Kaapstad in die Wes-Kaap, Suid-Afrika, op land wat van die see herwin is. Die sameloop van die Liesbeek- en Swartrivier mond hier in Tafelbaai uit.

Die oorsprong van die naam is nie duidelik nie. Dit dui moontlik op die vroeëre aanwesigheid van sebras, kwaggas of wilde perde. Daar word ook gespekuleer dat perde met laagwater in vergange dae op die eiland gejaag is om daar te gaan wei.

• Suid-Afrikaanse Pleknaamwoordeboek, P.J. Pienaar, Tafelberg-uitgewers, p 312
• Die Burger van 13 April 1949

• Geografie van Kaapstad

The V&A Waterfront, often referred to as The Waterfront and The V&A, is a mixed-use suburb in Cape Town, South Africa, featuring upmarket residential apartments, a major shopping mall, a marina, and multiple large hotels.

The Waterfront sits on the site of the oldest working harbor in the Southern Hemisphere.[1] With Table Mountain as its backdrop,[2] the 123-hectare neighbourhood sees millions of people visiting each year. The V&A Waterfront is Cape Town's most popular tourist destination by number of visitors per year.[3]

The mall is one of Cape Town's largest, and the Waterfront features numerous other retail spaces, including the Watershed, and Alfred Mall. These feature many local entrepreneurs, crafts, art, and sustainable design.[4][5]

The V&A Waterfront (Victoria and Alfred Waterfront) is named after Prince Alfred and Queen Victoria, members of the Royal Family of Britain when Cape Town was part of the Cape Colony. Alfred, while serving in the British Royal Navy, visited Cape Town and ordered construction of a new harbour for the colony.

The V&A Waterfront is a mixed-use property [6] that contains:

Within the Waterfront are offices for Investec, Deloitte, Radisson Hotels, EY, Allan Gray, Pam Golding Property Group, Duracell, British American Tobacco, Red Bull, BP, and Ninety One. The area is also home to Lexus, Toyota, Ferarri, Aston Martin, Audi, and VW dealerships.

The V&A also houses the Cape Business Center for conferences, and Workshop 17 for coworking.

The V&A Waterfront is a central part of the very beginning of the settlement of the city of Cape Town.[14] In 1654, two years after his arrival in this relatively safe bay at the foot of Table Mountain, Jan van Riebeeck built a small jetty as part of his task to establish a refreshment station at the Cape.[14] Fresh water and fresh produce were provided to the ships of the Dutch East India Company on their arduous and lengthy journey to their outposts in Java and Batavia. The sea and the harbour lie at the heart of Cape Town's history.[14]

In June 1858, serious winter storms, which were a common occurrence, wrecked over 30 vessels. As a consequence, Lloyds of London refused to cover ships spending the winter in Table Bay.[14] On a sunny day in September 17, 1860 Midshipman HRH Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's second son, tipped the first load of stone to start construction of the breakwater for Cape Town's first harbour to make it a safe haven all year round for passing ships.[14]

In 1984, Sol Kreiner, Mayor of Cape Town, advanced what would become the V&A Waterfront by forming a steering committee to consider a waterfront scheme: "As Johannesburg has gold, we have a beautiful city as a tourist attraction and we must all work together for a better Cape Town. We have a large cross-section of people who are prepared to sit down and discuss a scheme which will bring back the old city where one can freely walk around, visit the harbour, go for tug rides and learn more about our heritage."[15] Kreiner later became the council-nominated director on the board of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront Company.[16]

The discovery of gold and diamonds in South Africa meant that the first section of harbour, the Alfred Basin, was not large enough to accommodate the increased number of ships, and the Victoria Basin was built.[17] The construction of these two harbour basins took place between 1860 and 1920, and this area of the harbour still has an array of outstanding heritage buildings from this era.

In 1938 work was started to reclaim land between the city centre and the harbour, most notably the new Duncan Dock. The Foreshore (230 hectares) made city expansion possible. In the early 20th century, South Africa depended mainly on imports for many basic articles in daily use, which explains the importance of the harbour to the people who lived here.[18]

In November 1988, Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (Pty) Ltd was established as a wholly-owned subsidiary by Transnet Ltd.[19] Its aim was to redevelop the historic docklands around the Victoria and Alfred Basins as a mixed-use area with a focus on retail, tourism and residential development with a working harbour at its centre.

Today it is a mixed-use development that spans 23 hectares, with 24 million visitors a year. Over 23 000 people work and live within its neighbourhood.

The V&A Waterfront has several distinct districts.[20]

This urban district connects the V&A waterfront to the City of Cape Town.[21] The area contains Battery Park, and a spa and showroom at Waterway House.[22]

Contains a clock tower built in 1882,[23] a retail mall, and the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island ferry terminal.[24]

Contains The Lookout events space, The Grand Beach Cafe, the Breakwater residential development, the Oranjezicht City Farm Market, and boardwalks with ocean views.[25]

This district connects the V&A waterfront and the Atlantic Seaboard,[26] and includes the UCT Graduate School of Business, a golf course, the corporate offices and Deloitte HQ, and an urban garden.[27]

This district includes the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, the Southern Guild design gallery, restaurants, bars, hotels and office space.[28] It sits next to the Cape Town Cruise Terminal, which also houses Makers Landing, a home for budding food entrepreneurs showcasing a mix of South African cuisine.[29]

This district contains industrial space, and a harbour where fishing industries operate.[30] Commercial vessels also berth at this harbour.

The V&A Waterfront has seen development in the Silo district, which currently houses the headquarters of Allan Gray Investment Management at Silo 1 and apartments at Silo 2. The project was completed in 2017 with a Virgin Active gym, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, and the adjoining ultra-luxury Silo Hotel.[31][32]

• Breakwater Lodge (University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business)
• Chavonnes Battery
• Nobel Square
• SAS Somerset
• Two Oceans Aquarium
• Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa

• Official web site
• V&A Waterfront – The Story of its Development

• Redeveloped ports and waterfronts
• Shopping districts and streets in South Africa
• Maritime history of South Africa
• Suburbs of Cape Town
• Tourist attractions in Cape Town
• Time balls

Woodstock is one of the earliest suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa, between the docks of Table Bay and the lower slopes of Devil's Peak, about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) east of the city centre of Cape Town. Woodstock is served by Woodstock and Esplanade railway stations, and has the postal code 7925 for street addresses and 7915 for post office box deliveries.

The area was inhabited by Khoikhoi until the arrival of Dutch in the 1600s. Three freehold farms (Zonnebloem, Leliebloem and Roodebloem) were established on the slopes of Devils Peak in 1692 and as the area became populated it became known as Papendorp - after Pieter van Papendorp, who had settled in the area during the mid-eighteenth century. By the middle of the 19th century, especially after the arrival of the railway line, Woodstock had become a fashionable seaside suburb with cottages next to the sea and a beach which stretched until the Castle of Good Hope. In the age of sail a number of violent storms led to many spectacular shipwrecks along the beach. After a brief stint as New Brighton the residents voted in 1867 at the Woodstock Hotel to change the area’s name to Woodstock.[2]

During the 1870s with the subdivision of the old farms for low cost housing, Woodstock began to grow so rapidly that by 1884, less than a year after becoming a separate municipality, Woodstock was the third largest ‘town’ in the country. Ease of access to the harbour; improved transport; increased industrialisation and a rapidly growing working class population meant that the massive demand for supplies from the British troops during the First and Second Anglo-Boer Wars(1881 and 1899-1902) could be met, and industrial activity flourished, permanently changing the nature of the suburb. The first glass manufactured in South Africa was made at the Woodstock Glass Factory in 1879.[citation needed]

With the massive land reclamation of Table Bay in the 1950s to create the Cape Town foreshore Woodstock beach was lost, and combined with the increasingly industrial nature of the suburb, Woodstock ceased to be a seaside resort. Woodstock however managed to remain integrated during Apartheid and survived being declared a ‘whites only’ area with the attendant forced removals and demolition of houses as happened in nearby District Six. As a ‘grey’ area, many coloured and black people started to move into Woodstock during the 1970s and 1980s, laying the foundation for the urban renewal which was to start in the late 1990s.

Woodstock also became the first suburb in the city where a distinct Portuguese, ethnic community developed.[3] The Portuguese population in the city increased from 228 immigrants in 1936 to 1649 immigrants by 1970.[3] A total of 675 of these immigrants, coming from Madeira, settled in Woodstock between 1940-1980, and the area earned the nickname "Little Madeira."[3] Portuguese fishermen first settled in the suburb in the 1930s and became known as the "pioneers" of the Portuguese diaspora in the Cape. They chose to settled in Woodstock for its location close to the harbour and for its relative affordability.[3]

Notwithstanding the lower parts of Woodstock becoming run down in the second half of the 20th century, with litter, crime and drugs becoming a serious issue, the face of Woodstock has changed dramatically over the last decade. Young professionals have been quick to take advantage of still affordable pretty Victorian semi-detached homes, many of which have been beautifully renovated and restored. Restaurants, media and other businesses, offices, shops and furniture showrooms have sprung up in converted and revamped warehouses, abandoned buildings and even a disused Castle Brewery.[4]

• The Treaty Tree is an old milkwood tree in Treaty Road where in 1806 the peace treaty between the English and the Dutch after the Battle of Blaauwberg was signed. Until 1834 slaves were sold under it and along with convicts also hanged.
• Woodstock cave is a fairly large but shallow cave (it's more of an overhang) halfway up Devil's Peak
• The King’s, Queen’s and Prince of Wales’ blockhouses on Devil's Peak.
• The Woodstock Foundry, 160 Albert Road, Woodstock

• Alpha School Learners with Autism
• Mountain Road Primary School
• St Agnes Dominican Convent Primary School
• Queen's Park High School

The Woodstock municipal council adopted a pseudo-heraldic coat of arms, designed by Mr St Vincent Cripps, in February 1892.[5] The shield was divided horizontally, the upper half depicting a sinking sailing ship and the lower half a man on horseback riding into the sea (both evidently referring to Wolraad Woltemade's heroic sea rescue efforts in 1773. The crest was a dolphin entwined around a crowned anchor; the supporters were two lions (one upright, the other doing a handstand(!)); and the motto was Per mare per terras.

• Upper Woodstock Residents Association
• http://www.ilovewoodstock.co.za
• http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/parks/Pages/TrafalgarPark.aspx
• http://www.theoldbiscuitmill.co.za/
• http://www.oldcastlebrewery.co.za/index.php
• http://www.ruthprowse.co.za/
• http://www.woodstockfoundry.co.za/#modern-organic-thai

• Suburbs of Cape Town
• Portuguese diaspora in Africa

Newlands (Nuweland) is an upmarket suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It is located at the foot of Table Mountain in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, and is the wettest suburb in South Africa due to its high winter rainfall.[2] The neighborhood of Bishopscourt is situated to its southwest, Claremont to its southeast, and Rondeboschto its east and northeast.

Little is known of the inhabitants, likely Khoekhoe clans such as the ǃUriǁʼaekua, of the area prior to the arrival of the Dutch East India Company and the establishment of Cape Town and the Cape Colonyin 1652.

Then governor of the colony, Willem Adriaan van der Stel, was granted land for an estate in 1700 which he named De Nieuwe Land or Nieuwland. The estate was sold in 1791 and changed hands a number of times until 1826. In the 1860s the estate was leased to the British Colonial Government so as to act as a country residence for Cape governors, during which time it is thought that Newlands Village was established.[3]

A railway line to Cape Town central, extended from Salt River, was opened in the neighborhood on 19 December 1864.[3]

It is best known for Newlands Cricket Ground and Newlands Stadium, a rugby union and football venue. It is also the original home of Ohlsson's Cape Breweries, which is still located next to the rugby grounds. The original Ohlsson's Anneberg Brewery site is now location of the SACS grounds. The only remainder of the original brewery is the Josephine Mill, which used a water wheel to grind the grain for the brewery. This is now a historic monument and restaurant. Next door to SACS is the Montebello Design Centre located within the historic stables of Cecil Michaelis's estate and bequeathed to the University of Cape Town.[4][5][6]

The pipeline from the Table Mountain spring which supplies the Newlands Brewery runs under the historic Cardiff Castle Building which is located in Newlands Village.

The Liesbeek River runs through Newlands, past the Vineyard Hotel, and was the original water source used to make the first European-style beer in southern Africa. Friends of The Liesbeek maintain a walk along the river bank, past landmarks in the area.

The distinctive southern half of Newlands, bordering the suburb Bishopscourt, is known as Fernwood, after a farm estate which used to occupy this area. The original manor house of this estate still exists, but is now used as a parliamentary sports club.[7]

In 1967 the first Spur Steak Ranch was opened on Dean Street in Newlands.[8][9]

The neighborhood is the location of a number of notable parks such as Newlands Forest and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens.

Newlands Forest is incorporated within the Table Mountain National Park. The forest is a popular outdoor recreation area which includes surviving remnants of indigenous afro-temperate forest and endangered Granite Fynbos, as well as extensive pine plantations. There are also historic sites including the Woodcutter's Cottage and Lady Anne Barnard's Path. Newlands is home to the indigenous frog species Rose's ghost frog and sandellia, a tiny frog that lives in the waters of the Liesbeek river.[citation needed]

The fresh water springs in Newlands have played an important role in the development and history of the area. The springs are locally renowned for the high quality of the water they produce.[10] It is still a popular practice for Capetonians to collect water at the springs. The main spring is located at the South African Breweries brewery on the corner of Main and Letterstead Road. A second popular spring was located on Kildare Road but was closed during the Cape Town water crisis in 2018 following a physical altercation between water collectors.[11] Other reasons given for its closure by the municipality were that the council found water collection difficult to regulate at the site, and there had been complaints from locals about noise and traffic congestion.[12]

The water at the springs has played an important role in the brewing industry, with South Africa's first licensed brewery being set up in the area at Papenboom in 1694. Water from the springs was also used to power water mills from the mid-1800s onwards.[10]

Newlands is home to a number of schools, including the South African College Schools (SACS) Junior and High Schools as well as Groote Schuur High School and Sans Souci Girls' High School.

The Imhoff sports grounds of Westerford High School (which borders the neighborhood) is also located within Newlands.

The Peter Clarke Art Centre is located in the southeastern corner of the neighborhood.

• Alexander du Toit (1878-1948), geologist
• Cecil Michaelis (1913-1997), artist and philanthropist
• Eric Rosenthal (1905-1983), historian
• Barry Streek (1948-2006), journalist and anti-apartheid activist
• Edward Neville Syfret (1889-1972), naval officer and admiral

• Newlands, Cape Town
• Suburbs of Cape Town

Rosebank is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa, located between the suburbs of Mowbray and Rondebosch.

Rosebank is located on the lower eastern slope of Devil's Peak, stretching down to the Liesbeeck River, and on the other side of the river up to the edge of Rondebosch Common. On the west it is bounded by the M3 freeway. The historic Mostert's Mill is located just next to the freeway. Much of the land between the M3 and Main Road, which runs north-south through the suburb, belongs to the University of Cape Town and is used for residences and sports fields. The area around Main Road is a mixture of university residences, shops and blocks of flats.

Parallel to Main Road, and one block east from it, the MetrorailSouthern Line divides Rosebank in half; Rosebank railway station is the main public transport facility in the suburb. There are no road crossings of the railway in Rosebank; the nearest are the Durban Road bridge in Mowbray to the north and the Belmont Road bridge in Rondebosch to the south. There are, however, several pedestrian subways under the railway.

The area east of the railway, as far as Liesbeek Parkway, contains a mixture of blocks of flats and detached houses; many of the residences in this area are occupied by students from the university. The Cape Town offices of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the South African Bureau of Standards are also located here. Liesbeek Parkway is a dual carriageway which runs north-south through the suburb, running mostly parallel to the Liesbeeck River. East of Liesbeek Parkway and the river is an area of larger houses, with a more affluent population. Also located in this area is Rustenburg Girls' High School.

According to the 2011 Census, the population of Rosebank consisted of 4,963 people in 1,343 households. 45% of the population described themselves as "Black African", 38% as "White", 9% as "Coloured" and 6% as "Indian or Asian". Of those who were asked about their first language (which excluded those in university residences), 65% spoke English, 9% spoke Afrikaans and 6% spoke isiZulu. Notably, 12% spoke a language that was not one of South Africa's 11 official languages.[1] 50% of residents of the suburb live in institutions (principally university residences), 30% live in flats, and 19% live in houses. Over 99% of residents had mains electricity, piped drinking water, a flush toilet and regular refuse collection.

• Suburbs of Cape Town

Observatory is a suburb in Cape Town, South Africa, colloquially known as Obs.[2] Bordered by Mowbray to the south and Salt River to the northwest, the area is best known as a student neighbourhoodassociated with the nearby University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital. It takes its name from the South African Astronomical Observatory headquarters, built in 1829 by the Royal Observatory.[3]

Observatory is situated on the north-facing lower slopes of Devil's Peak. The slope runs into the Liesbeeck River and, as such, much of present-day lower Observatory was a marshy estuary formed by the rivers, where buffalo, hippo, elephant, zebra, jackals, antelope, lions and leopards were once prevalent.[3]

The Raapenberg Bird Sanctuary protects 10 hectares (25 acres) of land along the Liesbeek River.

In 1510, the area was the scene of a raid by the Portuguese, led by Francisco de Almeida, on a Goringhaiqua Khoikhoi village, which ultimately led to the death of de Almeida and approximately sixty of his compatriots during the Battle of Salt River.[4]

Modern-day Observatory traces its origins to the Koornhoop Colony land grant issued in 1657.[5] Between February 1657 and February 1658, fourteen free burghers were granted land by the Dutch East India Company along the Liesbeeck River valley. The then governor of the Cape, Jan van Riebeek, decreed that a fortified building called "Fort Coornhoop" be built as one of several small forts to protect against the Khoikhoi. Part of what was developed as Koornhoop became Uitwyk, which is now known as Malta Farm.[6]

The name is derived from the location and construction of the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope[7] in the area at 33°56′7.13″S 18°28′38.47″E in 1820.[7] The Royal Observatory in Observatory, Cape Town, houses the McClean Telescope. The building was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and was completed in 1897. The original buildings now serve as the headquarters of the South African Astronomical Observatory, with an on-site museum exhibiting various historic instruments and telescopes.

During the years of apartheid, Observatory was one of the few de facto 'grey' suburbs where all races lived together. On the evening of 30 December 1993, three men entered a popular student venue on Station Road, called the Heidelberg Tavern and opened fire, killing four people and injuring five. The three APLA operatives – Humphrey Luyanda Gqomfa, Vuyisile Brian Madasi and Zola Prince Mabala – were convicted in November 1994[8] for what became known as the Heidelberg Massacre. On 16 July 1998, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission granted the three amnesty.[9]

It continues to be a somewhat alternative part of town, with 'New Age' stores including an anarchist store,[10] and several programmes at the Observatory Community Centre. It is served by Observatory railway station on the Southern Line, with regular trains every 40 minutes or so, and every hour on Sunday.[11]

Observatory is the location for much of the short-term accommodation used by increasing numbers of international students attending UCT.[12]

The suburb's proximity to the University of Cape Town (UCT) and its medical school in particular, has always made it popular with both students and faculty. Observatory has long been a vibrant area, as a result of its high proportion of students. There are numerous restaurants and bars, and many neighbourhood staples. Most restaurants and retail shops are located along Lower Main road with a 95-year-old bottle store, Observatory Liquors, situated in the middle. There is also a shopping complex in St. Peter's square, which is located opposite Groote Schuur graveyard.

Observatory is home to many churches. The Anglican parish church of St Michael and All Angels, designed by Sir Herbert Baker and the only one of his churches completed to his design, is a bastion of Anglo-Catholicism within the Anglican community of South Africa and has a strong choral tradition.

Observatory has a soccer and hockey stadium below the station, Hartleyvale Stadium which is flanked on one side by Liesbeeck Parkway and on the other by Willow Road. In this section of land, there is also an outdoor swimming pool that is popular on summer afternoons – between the two there's a circus school.

There are several civic organisations in the suburb. The longest serving is the Observatory Civics Association (OCA) that liaises between the local residents, NGOs, businesses and the City of Cape Town. The Observatory Civics Association is a member of the Greater Cape Town Civic Alliance.[13] The OCA worked with the City of Cape Town to upgrade the Village Green and relocate the World War II memorial from the N2.

In November 2009, the Observatory Improvement District was launched to enhance the suburb with better security and maintenance. The Observatory Improvement District covers almost all of Observatory below Main Road.[14] In 2010, walking and cycle paths were established on the western side of the Liesbeek River.

There are two birdwatching hides on the river, one in the grounds of the South African Observatory, and one in the grounds of the River Club.

Beyond the astronomical observatory is Valkenberg psychiatric hospital, a Victorian heritage building[15] that has recently undergone extensive renovations. Valkenberg houses the mentally ill in secure accommodation, as well as providing out patient care. Beyond Valkenberg is a small hotel, and the Wild Fig restaurant.

The Groote Schuur Hospital looms over the suburb, and is the hospital where Professor Chris Barnard performed the world's first heart transplant, on 3 December 1967. This event is the theme of the Heart of Cape Town Museum, located at the hospital.

As with most of South African urban spaces, crime is a problem, with burglary and muggings. In the past decade there were several murders, however security has now improved with active local civic participation. A pioneering community security organisation, Obs Watch, ran bicycle patrols for years, but became defunct. In 2006 this was formally replaced by the Observatory Neighbourhood Watch, and this intervention has made a significant impact on cleansing and safety in the suburb.[16] Large CCTV cameras have been erected at most of the exits and entrances to Obs.

In 2021, Amazon announced that it would be the main tenant and investor in a 15 hectares (37 acres) site in Cape Town along the Salt, Black and Liesbeek Rivers that is being turned into an expansive complex with residences, shops, a hotel, conference centre and a business park.[17] It is expected to become the African headquarters for Amazon, which hopes to base its expanding operations in Africa. However, in May 2022, a court in Cape Town upheld a judgment in March which stopped work on the sprawling complex until further consultations had taken place with groups representing Indigenous Khoisan communities, who object to building on a site they consider sacred.[18]Construction is currently halted due to fears of displacement, as well as concerns over Amazon's business practices.[19]

• Observatory Community Association
  • Neighbourhood Watch
  • Improvement District
• South African Astronomical Observatory

• Suburbs of Cape Town
• Observatory, Cape Town

1. Goodwin, A. J. H. (1952). "Jan van Riebeeck and the Hottentots 1652–1662". The South African Archaeological Bulletin. 7(25): 2–6. doi:10.2307/3887530. ISSN 0038-1969. JSTOR 3887530.
2. Thunberg, C. P. (1788), Resa Uti Europa, Africa, Asia, Förrattad Åren 1770–1779, vol. Första Delen, Uppsala: J. Edman
3. "History of Paarden Island". Retrieved 27 April 2023.