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Mon Bijou
Tulbagh, Western Cape

Louis Michel THIBAULT: Architect (ascribed)
ANDREWS and NIEGEMAN: Architect
Edwin Douglas ANDREWS: Architect Restoration (1949)
GABRIËL FAGAN ARCHITECTS: Heritage Architect (1970s)
Date:c.1800 : 1949 : 1970s
Client:Catharina de Wet (nee Hugo); Alfred Beit; Hildegard Silberberg
Type:Homestead
Style:Neo-Classical
Status:Restored
Street:36 Church Street

Built as a, then unusual, double-storeyed town dwelling for the local farmer, Jacobus de Wet. Inherited after his death by his widow Catharina de Wet (nee Hugo). After various periods of ownership it was purchased by Sir Afred Beit who, at the encouragement of Dr Mary COOK had the Cape Town architect Douglas ANDREWS 'restore' it taking, as FRANSEN has it 'certain liberties'. After two more changes of ownership it was damaged in the Tulbagh earthquake of 1969. The GABRIËL FAGAN ARCHITECTS did the restoration for then owner, Hildegard Erika, wife of Dr Silberberg.


Books and articles that reference Mon Bijou

De Bosdari, C. 1953. Cape Dutch Houses and Farms, their architecture and history. Cape Town / Amsterdam: AA Balkema. pg 96
Fagan, Gawie & Fagan, Gwen. 1975. Church Street in the Land of Waveren. Cape Town: Tulbagh Restoration Committee. pg 146-148
Fransen, Hans. 2004. The old buildings of the Cape. A survey of extant architecture from before c1910 in the area of Cape Town - Calvinia - Colesberg - Uitenhage. Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers. pg 372c
Lewcock, Ronald. 1963. Early Nineteenth Century Architecture in South Africa : a study of the interaction of two cultures, 1795-1837. Cape Town: AA Balkema. pg 82
Oberholster, JJ. 1972. The historical monuments of South Africa. Cape Town: Rembrandt Van Rijn Foundation for Culture at the request of the National Monuments Council. pg 96-97