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		Imperial Hotel Central Cape Town, Western Cape John PARKER: Design Architect upgrades 1892 and 1901 PARKER and FORSYTH: Architect

Date: n.d. : 1892 : 1901 Type: Hotel Status: Extant Street: Long/Shortmarket Sts   Click to view map Coordinates: Alt: 34m

Parker had designed water-closets for the hotel in 1892. After Ohlssons Cape Breweries bought it in 1901, he did a major upgrade (Walker 2015: 13). In later years it was painted green and in 1958 the name was changed to the Green Hansom Hotel. When Rennie inspected the hotel in Nov 1977, it was still known as that. In more recent times it became a backpackers lodge called “The Purple Turtle”, with a bar & nightclub with the same name on the ground floor. The building was painted pink circa 2000, and then purple in 2011. The building currently (2020) displays no name and is painted grey. No longer a backpackers lodge, it offers longer-term rental accommodation. The “Purple Turtle” bar/club still exists. There is now also a small supermarket on street level. Books that reference Imperial Hotel Parker, Howard. 2015. John Parker, 1866-1921 : architect and mayor of Cape Town. Wellington, New Zealand: Howard Parker. pg 27 ill, 28 ill Rennie, John for CPIA. 1978. The Buildings of Central Cape Town 1978. Volume Two : Catalogue. Cape Town: Cape Provincial Institute of Architects. pg 141 item 56.1 Walker, Michael. 2015. Old hotels of Cape Town (1890-1911), The : A history long forgotten, seldom told. St James: Published Privately. pg 1, 7, 13-14, 13 ill, 72