Groote Schuur mansion museum

This will be curator Dr Rayda Becker’s last tour of Groote Schuur house museum for Culture Connect, as it will soon be closing for much needed repair.

After buying the estate in 1893 Cecil John Rhodes commissioned the young architect Herbert Baker to renovate and convert the house into a Cape Dutch Revival style home and office for him, as well as a place for entertaining in style.

In his will, Rhodes bequeathed Groote Schuur to the Nation. The house I consider to be the closest Cape Town gets to a country house in the British tradition. The exterior remains largely unchanged from the original Baker design, and 80% of the contents of the house are from his time there. For the interior, Rhodes’ agents acquired for him the antique furniture, books and objects that are seen in Groote Schuur today. The items, carefully chosen to reflect the history of the Cape before the British settlement, originate mainly from the Cape, the Netherlands and Indonesia (some have subsequently been discovered to be fake).

From 1910 to 1984, it was the official Cape residence of the prime ministers of South Africa, and continued as the presidential residence. F W de Klerk. the last Apartheid state president, and Nelson Mandela, signed the Groote Schuur Minute here on 4 May 1990 (see image). This historic and unprecedented meeting, resulted in the return of exiles to South Africa and the release of Apartheid’s political prisoners.

The house has been used for film locations – notably: 2009’s Invictus directed by Clint Eastwood. I have friends who remember attending events here, but now it is not used, other than for very occasional tours. The public is only allowed to visit the residence with prior permission being granted by the Curator of the museum.

Dr Rayda Becker has been the curator of Groote Schuur house museum since 2011, mostly on a part-time basis. Rayda was a Fine Arts professor at the University of South Africa. She was the senior art curator at the University of the Witwatersrand where she studied from 1959, and also worked in the new Artworks Office in Parliament in 2001.  Rhodes and his Relics  is the title of her latest research paper.

We’ll meet just inside the main entrance on Klipper Road, by the white gateposts on the right. We’ll park here, then walk five minutes to the mansion. A map, images, Rayda’s bio, info on Rhodes and Baker, list of attendees and other finer details will be sent just beforehand.

R450 per person

To book please email me: kate@cultureconnectsa.com +27 (0)72 377 8014. Please include your ID number when booking (or passport number, stating country of issue), bringing the original to the tour. No bookings after 20 May. It is likely to sell out soon.

Groote Schuur Estate
Klipper Road
Rondebosch, Cape Town

Friday 23 May 2025

9h30 to 12h15

R450 each

Afterwards do join me for a light lunch at Montebello’s Picnic cafe, five minutes drive away (at your own expense)

Image credits: RIBA,  Hidden Cape Town by Paul Duncan and Alain Proust and Our Constitution (others taken by me)