Muizenberg Heritage

17/06/2026

28/05/2026

This monument stands in the grounds of “Bagatelle”, which is situated in Bryn Road behind Mez Wallach. Does anyone know what it commemorates and when it was erected?

10/05/2026

Sometimes historic buildings hide in plain site. A walk down Gill Road from Boyes Drive will reveal the back of the 1912 Bay View Hotel, built after Henry Magor’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1904. Magor’s hotel was the first to have waterborne sewerage in Muizenberg and the Wynberg Times stated that it compared favourably with “the best hotels in Cape Town itself”, so the fire and Magor’s subsequent bankruptcy was a great loss to the burgeoning municipality.

Today the gable end is pushed against the 1930s addition to the hotel, which was apparently designed by the eminent architect Brian Mansergh.

03/05/2026

We’re expecting sunny skies at 10! Come join the tour - we meet corner Alexander Road and Beach Road

28/04/2026

Join us tomorrow at the Fish Hoek library for some tea and chat.

27/04/2026

When Herbert Baker built a cottage on the white sands of Muizenberg in 1899, Beach Road was no more than a sand track. In the following decades though the road would come to be the address of some of South Africa’s most famous personalities. On our tour this Saturday afternoon find out more about them, including the only English speaking founder of the National Party, Professor Fremantle, Sir Ernest and Lady Ina Oppenheimer, the eccentric Anya Pevsner, and the reclusive and enigmatic Florence Schlesinger. Hear about how the deal that made Woolworths one of South Africa’s most successful retail brands was struck in Muizenberg, and how Vergenoeg hosted not only Prime Minister Jan Smuts and his wife Issie, but also British royalty.

The tour starts at 10am Sunday 3 May on the corner of Alexander and Beach Road.

For more information and to book visit Quicket on: https://www.quicket.co.za/events/365244-rags-to-riches-a-walking-tour-exploring-muizenberg-both-modest-and-magnificent/?ref=organiser-profile #/

26/04/2026

From our archive: 20 May 1999

24/04/2026

Not Muizenberg, but our much loved neighbour Kalk Bay. The first photo, a remarkable and evocative one (photographer unknown), shows the steam train passing Kalk Bay beach in the vicinity of Clairvaux Road. We are able to date it with remarkable accuracy. The red-tiled roof building is the Majestic Hotel, built in 1916 by AB Reid & Co to a design of John Parker (second photo, photographer unknown). To its left, the green-roofed building is where the building now housing Olympia Cafe should be situated, but this was only built in 1918 when Leslie and Harry Lazarus commissioned Leon Norman to design a building to include the first local bioscope. Later a cafe was opened on the building's corner by a Greek immigrant, Athos Goles (third photo, by TD Ravenscroft). His Olympia Cafe became synonymous with the building, and the name endured even when it was converted into a deli and restaurant by Kenneth McLarty in 1997. So, the wonderful first photo dates to between 1916 and 1918!

23/04/2026

Uncover the fascinating history and innovative vision behind Marina da Gama, one of South Africa's most distinctive residential areas, in '50 Years On: The Marina da Gama Story,' co-authored by civil engineer Gerald Rosenthal and writer Patrick McKenna.