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Customs House - Old Granary - Desmond and Leah Tutu House
Central Cape Town, Western Cape

Anton ANREITH: Artist
Herman SCHUTTE: Contractor
Louis Michel THIBAULT: Architect
Herman SCHUTTE: Architect

Date:1814
Type:Customs House
Style:Mannered Neo Classical
Status:Extant
Street:Caledon Square, Cape Town

 


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Coordinates:
33°55'36.55" S 18°25'29.26" E Alt: 15m

Built to designs of LM Thibault, possibly modified by Schutte. The sculptured arms in the pediment were carried out by Anreith. The date on the pediment is 1814.

Built as the Customs House it was later used as a Granary and in 1824 was converted to be the Caledon Square Police. It later housed the Public Works Department.

Transcript of Cape Town Environment and Heritage plaque:

THE OLD GRANARY
AND CUSTOMS HOUSE

The Old Granary was built as a dwelling and warehouse in 1809 by Jacob Hendricks, an ex-VOC baker.

Soon after the Colonial Government bought it for use as a Customs House and the front facade was redesigned with the current pediment carrying the British Coat of Arms and the figures of Neptune and Britannia - attributed to Thibault, Anreith and Schutte. Between 1817 and 1819 it was converted to a granary for the storage of barley and oats used as horse feed.

In 1827 a House of Correction to incarcerate 'riotous and abandoned women' was established here.

Later it was used as a magistrate's court and then offices of the Colonial Civil Engineers and Public Works department.

The building was restored c.2009 - 2014 and in 2015 it became the home of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the Archbishop Tutu Intellectual Property Trust. Renamed the Desmond and Leah Tutu House in 2024. The official ceremony with Mrs Leah Tutu and the Mayor of Cape Town Mr G Hill-Lewis present, took place on 20 February 2024.


Books that reference Customs House - Old Granary - Desmond and Leah Tutu House

Fransen, Hans & Cook, Mary Alexander. 1981. The Old Buildings of the Cape. Cape Town: Balkema. pg 46
Greig, Doreen. 1971. A Guide to Architecture in South Africa. Cape Town: Howard Timmins. pg 91
Pearse, Geoffrey Eastcott. 1957. Eighteenth century architecture in South Africa. London: Batsford. pg 40, Plate 18, Plate 19
Rennie, John for CPIA. 1978. The Buildings of Central Cape Town 1978. Volume Two : Catalogue. Cape Town: Cape Provincial Institute of Architects. pg 337 item 109.1
Shorten, John R. 1963. Cape Town : A record of the Mother City from the earliest days to the present. Cape Town: JR Shorten in association with Shorten and Smith Publications. pg 98 ill.