KLIPPE RIVIER HOMESTEAD - Swellendam

In 1725, Jan Loots, one of the first 5 Heemraden of the Drostdy held "de Klippe Rivier gelegen aan de Bruintjies Rivier" on loan. This was the beginning of the story of Klippe Rivier, which originally stretched from the Bruintjies Rivier in the west to the Langeberg Mountains in the East. The Dutch East India Company arrived at the Cape in 1652 with the express purpose of establishing a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope. Jan van Riebeek headed up the operation which was intended to provide passing European ships to the East with fresh water, food and general supplies. Naturally, architectural elements which were fashionable at the time in Holland and Europe were transported, and adapted to suit the Cape climate and terrain. Thus the Cape Dutch Homestead was born - an intriguing  

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and visually stunning amalgamation of influences and adaptations, with a distinctive local character which has no identical anywhere in the world. In other words, these Cape Dutch Homesteads are unique to this specific area of South Africa. Cape Town, was in the 1700s, a port of major significance in world trade, and was visited more often than most colonial towns by governors, commissioners, European aristocrats, and members of the professional classes (including surveyors and architects). The buildings of the Cape were thus fashioned in response to this status, and projected an image of prosperity. The magnificent Cape Dutch Homestead is an obvious result of this glorification. What makes the Cape Dutch Homestead completely unique are the large rooms and the unusual shapes of the homesteads. The sheer size of the rooms can be directly related to the temperate climate; large rooms were cooler. It is also important to note that the early Dutch settlers, unused to such large plots of land (compared to an increasingly cramped Europe), made the most of the newly found space by building large houses.