Josephine Mill - Now Museum Newlands, Cape Town, Western Cape

Oblique view Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough

Date: 1840 : 1975-1987 restoration Type: Watermill Status: Adaptive re-use

Coordinates: 33°58"16.93" S 18°27'59.18" E Alt: 29m

Notes: "The Josephine Mill in Newlands was built in 1840 by Jacob Letterstedt, a Swede who arrived in South Africa in 1820 as a 25-year-old penniless immigrant. Letterstedt fled Sweden because he had incurred huge debts in his distilling business. In the Cape, he became manager of the farm, Louwvliet for the widowed Maria Dreyer and in 1822, despite the fact that she was 18 years his senior, they married. Letterstedt was an industrious fellow and the 30 000 vines and watermill of their Mariendahl estate on the Liesbeek River soon prospered. "Letterstedt became wealthy and paid off his debts in Sweden, where he was granted an audience with Crown Princess Josephine. In gratitude for this mark of royal favour, he named his new four-storey brick watermill after her. "The mill was innovative in several ways. It had iron-framed industrial windows and a huge iron breastshot millwheel, all imported from Europe. The mill was so successful that it wasn't long before Letterstedt added a brewery to his growing industrial empire. To provide power to the mill and the brewery, Letterstedt built a network of waterways from the Newlands spring. In due course, Letterstedt was appointed Consul for Sweden and Norway and from 1840, he was a councillor for the Cape Town municipality and later, a member of the Cape Parliament. He was a founder member of the Cape of Good Hope Gas Light Company and of Equitable Life." (Staples 2006:46) The English wording on the National Monuments Council plaque reads as follows: This watermill, situated on the site of an earlier mill built by Johan Frederick Dreyer in 1818, was erected in 1840 by Jacob Letterstedt, a Swedish immigrant and 1820 Settler. It was named after Crown Princess Josephine, later Queen of Sweden. The taller extension was erected sometime between 1863 and 1881 to house the steam mill. Anders Ohlsson & Co. leased the property from 1888 to 1896, when Ohlsson's Cape Breweries purchased it. Mrs Kate van der Byl, owner of the adjoining mill house, bought the mill in 1931. Her niece and heiress, Miss Myra East, donated it in 1975 to the Historical Society of Cape Town who restored it between 1975 and 1987. Proclaimed 1980. Now a Provincial Heritage Site The building has housed various restaurants and pubs over the years. See also: SA Venues Cape Town Green Map Links submitted by Adri Alborough via Annelise Lange.

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Directional sign Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Partial view of National Monuments Council badge and plaque Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Oblique view Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough View of chimney Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Facade detail with name Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough View of wheel Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Oblique view of wheel Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Wheel with canal below Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough View through wheel spokes Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Wheel hub Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Detail of cog Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Detail of cogs Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Canal Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Canal outlet Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Detail of pattress on facade Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough Boiler Submitted by Annelise Lange Photographer: Adri Alborough

Plaque of the Historical Society of Cape Town to the then National Monuments Council regarding the mill’s restoration, completed in 1987. Displayed in the foyer of SAHRA’s head office in Cape Town Photographer: Lila Komnick - 2022 Close-up of the wording on the plaque in SAHRA's head office Submitted by Lila Komnick Drawing of the mill by John Rennie. Used on the cover of CABO, the annual journal of the Historical Society of Cape Town Scanned and submitted by Lila Komnick Sketch by Désirée Picton-Seymour No. 64 in a series of postcards of national monuments published by PG Glass