Bradclin House was established in 2004 and continues to host a wide mix of guests, both local and International. Living in the 1st Garden City of Pinelands, we are proud of our suburb With a unique atmosphere and easy access to all of Cape Town, this small suburb is a great place to stay or visit.
Our home was built around 1948 and we are only the 3rd owners of this property. Pinelanders tend to stick around! With many alterations over the years the house is totally changed and we now also have our 3 guest units.
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| Camps Bay Tidal Pool |
Our very long standing Councillor, now retired, Brian Watkyns wrote the article below on the history of our suburb of Pinelands. For those interested in history, this is an enjoyable read.
"Pinelands, a suburb of Cape Town, has the unmistakable atmosphere of its own, with thatched roofs tree lined streets and open spaces. Pinelands was the first Garden City developed in South Africa and the third in the world. It was also the first planned town in South Africa, with the original names proposed to be Midwood.
The Garden City concept of creating an urban area with a
rural atmosphere was based on Ebenezer Howard’s concept. Howard’s concept was championed by a
councillor and leading businessman Richard Stuttaford. He persuaded the
Government to grant part of a government owned forest plantation on the farm
Uitvlugt for the purpose of building affordable housing. Partially using his
own funds, he set about building affordable houses – another first for South
Africa. The need for affordable housing had become plain in the aftermath of
the Spanish Flu epidemic and the downturn in the economy.
In 1875, the farm homestead had been used to house one of
South Africa’s first political prisoners, King Langalibalele. Langalibalele was
moved from Robben Island and placed under house arrest at the farm for thirteen
years. In 1901 the area was used to build an isolation plague hospital during
the Bubonic plague which swept the world. Some of the medical staff looking
after the patients died from the plague.
At the time, Rudyard Kipling was visiting Cape Town and was moved to
write a poem: “For those who died at Uitvlugt”. The hospital led to the
establishment of the Valkenberg Hospital.
Around the same time the largest clay brickfields in the Southern
Hemisphere was established where the BP petrol station now stands. While there
were rich deposits of clay, the soil was mainly white sand. For this reason,
camels imported from Tenerife for work in the Kalahari Desert were trained on
the Uitvlugt farm before being sent to their final destination.
In 1922 the first houses were occupied in the town now named
Pinelands. Originally three roads were
built, with care taken to minimise removal of the forest trees. The town
steadily grew in size and within a few years electricity and water borne
sewerage was introduced. A strong Civic Association was created to work closely
with the Local Area Board which legally managed the town. Public transport took
the form of a private bus service to Mowbray and by train from either
Raapenberg station or Pinelands station, and at a later stage Oude Molen
station. Due to the thatched houses, a voluntary fire service was formed until
the Cape Town Municipality could provide the service. When servicemen returned
from active service after World War 2, the provision of housing was seen as
priority. In Pinelands, a new extension
was opened with affordable housing for these servicemen.
By 1948, the town had reached municipality status and the
new Pinelands Municipality replaced the Local Area Board. The first mayor was Frank
Gardener and Deputy Mayor was Mrs Olive
Smith . Four years later, when the apartheid system was being introduced
into legislation, Pinelands Municipality unsuccessfully petitioned the
government not to declare Pinelands under the group areas act. When an
adjoining suburb Maitland Garden Village was threatened by forced removals
under a group areas declaration, Pinelands stood with the residents against the
removals which the government then abandoned.
In 1996, the Pinelands municipality was incorporated as a suburb of the
City of Cape Town, and in 2000 became part of the Cape Town Metropolitan
Council.
Originally no commercial properties were permitted in
Pinelands, but this ruling was challenged and changed over time. The first shop
was a Co Op at Central Square owned and run by residents although a tearoom,
known as the Wattle House, had operated for some years and there was also a
small commercial operation in the Dagbreek area. Pinelands now boasts a highly
successful shopping mall, Howard Centre, which was opened in 1953 and at the time was one of the
first pedestrian shopping malls in South Africa. Pinelands remains one of the
few suburbs in South Africa where there are no liquor outlets.
Accordant with the Garden City concept, Pinelands has a
large number of open spaces and play parks. The Garden of Remembrance – to
honour those who have died in battle – hosts a play area for children and a
small trim park. Coronation Park play area is home to the steam roller that was
used to build the early Pinelands roads, as well as a tractor that was used to
mow Pinelands’ open spaces.
The place of Pinelands in the planning history of South
Africa was first acknowledged in 1982 when the houses, road and open space in
The Mead and Meadway were declared a national Monument. This was marked by the unveiling of a
commemoration stone. Later in 2015, the original area of Pinelands was declared
a heritage area.
100 years after the first resident moved into 4 Meadway, the Pinelands Ratepayers and Residents Association created a Pinelands history webpage to mark the centenary, with stories written by Brian Watkyns who represented Pinelands for 40 years.
You can
find the webpage at https://pinelandshistory.co.za/
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| The view from Bradclin House Pinelands |
