Published on the web by Cape Times on June 2, 2008
Manor a picture of neglect two years after special report
The Tokai Manor House, declared a provincial heritage site in 1999, remains in a state of disrepair after years of neglect.
SANParks released a report on the significance and vulnerability of heritage sites in Tokai and Cecilia forests in 2006, and declared the house of high significance and high vulnerability.
The report states that a development management plan existed and a budget had been proposed, but the conservation management planning was not on the same level.
The house, built in 1795, "is vulnerable to natural damage of its current state of disrepair. Maintenance is costly and fragile materials require special attention," the report said.
"At present the Manor House is not very sensitive to human damage, since (the number of visitors) to the house is low.
"It is proposed that the Manor House (be transformed) into a public amenity and (used) as gateway to the forest and mountain.
"A low level of irreparable structural damage (has occurred), but this can be negated by sensitive reconstruction. Extensive consultation between the stakeholders is necessary to successfully negotiate the balance between the use and conservation of the Manor House."
Shane Hindley, a property management official in the Department of Transport and Public Works, confirmed that the house was in a state of disrepair, but was unable to say whether it would be restored.
By Courtney Brooks
Published on the web by Cape Times on June 2, 2008.
By COURTNEY BROOKS
THE Simon van der Stel Foundation, part of Heritage SA, has requested a meeting with provincial Public Works MEC Marius Fransman on renovating the Tokai Manor House, which has fallen into a state of disrepair.
"Six years ago, our foundation organised a deputation to see the then minister who arranged restoration work to the amount of R600 000," chairman Jak Muir said in an e-mail to the Cape Times .
"For a year or so after that, the house was tenanted, and since then it has stood empty and the thatch roof has been damaged by baboons.
"Damp is affecting the walls and once again the house is in disrepair.
"The Manor House and the outbuildings need urgent renovation and a decision to be made about its future use.
"We believe it is one of 10 most important historical houses in the Cape Peninsula .
"We have asked representatives of Friends of Tokai Forest and local ratepayers to join when we meet the minister," Muir said.
SANParks released a report on the historic house in 2006, saying that the house was highly significant and also highly vulnerable, and advising that it be repaired immediately.
Public Works Department spokesperson Al-ameen Kafaar could not confirm if the meeting had been scheduled.
courtney.brooks@inl.co.za
Contact information for members wishing to approach the Minister is:
Minister Thoko Didiza
Mail: Private Bag X9155, CAPE TOWN , 8000
Street:4th Floor, Room 437, 120 Plein Street , CAPE TOWN
Tel:(021) 462 4184-7
Fax:(021) 461 6962
Mail:Private Bag X890, PRETORIA , 0001
Street: AVN Building , 6th Floor, cnr Skinner and Andries Streets, PRETORIA
Tel:(012) 310 5911
Fax:(012) 310 5182
Media Liaison Officer - Mr Thamsanqa Mchunu
Mail:Private Bag X890, PRETORIA , 0001
Street: AVN Building , 6th Floor, cnr Skinner and Andries Streets, PRETORIA
Tel:(012) 310 5142 / (021) 462 4184
Fax:(012) 310 5182 / (021) 461 6962Cell:079 519 6997
E-mail: Thamsanqa.Mchunu@dpw.gov.za
Private Secretary - Ms Dorah Davhana
Mail:Private Bag X890, PRETORIA , 0001
Street: AVN Building , 6th Floor, cnr Skinner and Andries Streets, PRETORIA
Tel:(012) 310 5178 / 5083
Fax:(012) 310 5182Cell:082 373 3725
E-mail: dorah.davhana@dpw.gov.za
Didiza's speech on 21/05/2008 at the launch of the National Infrastructure
Maintenance Strategy (NIMS)
Plus Table Mountain National Park Forum Steering Committee members
Beverley Croutes - Cultural Heritage - Bcrouts@sahra.org.za
Sheryl Ozinsky - Tourism - sherylozinsky@iafrica.com
Attached is the document : Heritage Significance and Vulnerability Assessment of Tokai and Cecilia ( Annex A) and Comments (Annexure G)
This can also be downloaded from the SANParks website http://www.sanparks.org/parks/table_mountain/library/documents.php
(see page 4 colomn 2 and page 5)
Table Mountain National Park Forum Steering Committee members
Tokai Manor House
The lands around the Tokai Manor House once formed part of Simon van der Stel's grazing rights. In 1792 the estate was sold to Johan Andreas Rauch, who had been head of Armoury and since 1775, superintendent at Groote Schuur. Only five months later, the German "burger chirurgijn", Andreas Teubes, became the new owner. When the Teubes bought the property, it was described as situated "under the so-called Prinskasteel".
Early maps also refer to this area as Prinskasteel, after a river which runs through it. The name is a corruption of the feminine Prinseskasteel, a cave high up in the Constantiaberg, now called Elephant's Eye, which is reputed to have been the stronghold of a Hottentot chieftainess.
Whilst Teubes was owner, an additional grant of land was made to him in 1795 and this is the first time the estate as referred to as Tokay. It is named after an area in Hungary which produced a sweet, mellow, aromatic wine, famous in Europe in the 18th century, called Tokay Essence.
The Homestead
In 1795 Teubes engaged the gifted architect Louis Michel Thibault to design the Manor House, a building which has been described by Desirée Picton-Seymour as "perhaps the most outstanding homestead in the Peninsula ". Its pedimented, square front gable bears the unmistakable stamp of Thibault's work. It is considered by many to be one of the earliest of its kind at the Cape . Cook and Fransen describe the gable as "a masterpiece in its own right". The homestead is raised well above the customary ground level, having a very high front stoep, with massive round pillars. Unusually, too, the stoep seats face inwards, towards the manor, and not out over the view.
The Manor House was completed in 1796, in time for the marriage of Teubes' daughter, Alida, to Nicolaas Roussouw of the next-door farm, Steenberg, now a golfing estate. The cost of building this splendid house may have ruined Teubes, for, in 1799, he became bankrupt and was forced to sell the estate. From this date, the property had two hardworking, though short-term German owners: Jan-Frederick Herwig, followed by Johan Casper Loos. Robert Brown, the world- famous botanist, spent two nights at the Manor House in 1801, during a plant collecting trip on foot, while his ship H.M.S. Investigator was being revictualled at Simonstown. Brown was on his way, as part of a British expedition, to circumnavigate and explore Australia . In 1802 a new master, of another ilk, took over. This was Petrus Michiel, son of Hendrik Oostwald Eksteen, of nearby Bergvliet Farm. http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/6676/tokai.htm
