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Visitors’ Amenities Building, Murray’s Bay Harbour
Robben Island, Western Cape
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Contact Artefacts | MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | Visitors’ Amenities Building, Murray’s Bay Harbour | | |||||
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Click to view map Coordinates: | The Visitors' Amenities Building was one of the early buildings constructed by the Prisons Service - circa 1965 - as a support building to the Maximum Security Prison (MSP). Its prime purpose was to provide a secure and controlled interface between visitors and the prisoners being visited. The Visitors' Amenities Building was constructed with the same construction method used at the MSP - using blue-green Robben Island slate facings to the external face of the wall. Window openings were generally framed with plastered surrounds. The original core of the building was designed as a T-shaped plan with the extended linear stem of the T forming a defined western edge to the harbour precinct. The approach road to the harbour ran through the building at the southern end and this opening was formalised with a tall parapet wall on the east side on which a large Prison Service sign was painted. The roadway opening was originally protected with a pair of swing gates. A small Tuck-shop (Snoepie) and a Warder's office was accommodated adjacent to the roadway opening. The Visitors' Amenities Building was clearly planned by the Prisons Department in accordance with the Apartheid planning principles being used at the time, creating a complete separation between the Waiting and Toilet facilities for 'white' and for 'black' visitors. Separate passages led from the different Waiting rooms to a single linear Visiting Room accommodating ten simultaneous visitor - prisoner interactions. The visitors were physically separated from the prisoners by a central screen with nominal intersecting divisions to demarcate the spaces for each visitor. Ex-prisoners clearly recall the difficulty of communicating under such circumstances. The Visiting Room was later modified by the addition of intercoms. The crossbar of the T-plan accommodated a small courtroom and rooms for contact visits. A small freestanding block on the west side accommodated three single prisoner cells and toilet facilities for the warders. In 1984 two additional free standing buildings were added on the northern side of the Visitors' Amenities Building. The larger of the two accommodated rooms to permit Legal representatives to consult with their clients, rooms for contact visits and a second Visiting Room accommodating six simultaneous visitor - prisoner interactions. The second additional building was a communal cell to accommodate nine prisoners. A small rectangular bronze plaque is mounted on the east wall of the building adjacent to the drive through entrance. The plaque records the listing of Robben Island as a World Heritage Site and this text is transcribed below:
William Martinson, Osmond Lange Architects, September 2019 See the Western Cape Government Website for a list of World Heritage Sites in South Africa. Books that reference Visitors’ Amenities Building, Murray’s Bay Harbour
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