Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Pellissier House Bethulie, Free State Constant GOSSELIN: Architect

Date: 1834 Type: Homestead Status: Extant   Click to view map Coordinates: 30°29'38.06" S 25°58'31.62" E Alt: 1284m

Now a museum, this building was erected in by the Reverend Jean Pierre Pellissier of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society with the help of C GOSSELIN, a missionary-artisan. He began building the house in 1834. The building progressed slowly because the materials had to be brought from far away. It was ready for Pellissier to move into in August 1835. The Pellissier family increased rapidly and in 1853 Pellissier added two lean-to rooms on one side, and in 1856 he added two more on the other side. Pellissier House is one of the oldest existing buildings in the Free State, and dates from a period when missionary work made an important contribution to the development of the area. Reverend Pellissier, his wife and their five children are buried in the graveyard behind the house. Books that reference Pellissier House Lewcock, Ronald. 1963. Early Nineteenth Century Architecture in South Africa : a study of the interaction of two cultures, 1795-1837. Cape Town: AA Balkema. pg 169 Oberholster, JJ. 1972. The historical monuments of South Africa. Cape Town: Rembrandt Van Rijn Foundation for Culture at the request of the National Monuments Council. pg 216-7 Schoeman, Karel. 1985. Boukunsskatte van die Vrystaat / Free State Heritage. Roodepoort: CUM Boeke vir Stigting NALM. pg 13