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House Robinson - Hillcote Hotel
Muizenberg, Western Cape
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Contact Artefacts | MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | House Robinson - Hillcote Hotel | | |||
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Click to view large map Coordinates: | Hillcote Hotel, Main Road Muizenberg opposite the Muizenberg Station. It had originally been JB Robinson’s private home with enormous rooms with high ceilings and with the most wonderful view of the sea, the whole False Bay coast could be seen from the second and third floor windows. (Extract from memories of Monika Harris.) Below is an extract from AH Honikman's book Almost a Century. “I met Mr. Thomas and the Dawsons, completed their working drawings and submitted copies to the City Council for approval. I also received instructions regarding the Muizenberg property that Mr. Hirchsohn had referred to! It presented quite a challenge! Situated in a commercial area on the West (mountain) side of the Main Road, it was directly opposite the railway station - a four-story structure: 3 shops (one unoccupied) at ground level with a fourth floor attic. The upper floors were occupied by a small residential hotel known as "Hillcote", to which the entrance was from another road about eighty feet back from the Main Road and at a level some 15 feet higher. My instructions (in a letter from the owners) were to suggest ways and means of modernizing the entire building and if possible, to provide for direct ground floor access to the hotel! Balconies to both upper floors extended over the wide Main Road footpath and covered the entire fifty-foot frontage. The balconies were supported on cast iron columns resting on the footpath. The letter stated that the hotel would be vacated at the end of March, and that, if possible, building should be completed by the end of November in time for the forthcoming holiday season. “Obviously 'time' was of the essence! My task started with an inspection of the building (for which I took a train to Muizenberg!). The suggested Main Road entrance to the hotel was clearly a practical idea and would occur directly opposite the railway station. Stair access would necessitate cutting through the second floor concrete slab and would consume some six feet of the adjoining shop. Additional bathrooms to the hotel were clearly needed and the entire building required refurbishing and redecoration. Other structural alterations, however, were of a minor nature. Externally, the Main Road facade called for radical change! Apart from the gable ends at the fourth floor level, the cast iron railings and columns covered the entire Main Road elevation. It was characteristic of many commercial buildings of that era. Such cast-ironwork was widely used throughout the British Empire. It provided a lucrative outlet for the Birmingham foundries! To my eye, it was architecturally distasteful - incompatible with my idea of contemporary architecture! I concluded that the client's wishes (and my ideas) could be satisfied only if the old front was removed completely and replaced by a new concrete structure - one that would give the building an entirely new and modern appearance.” Submitted by Barrie Gasson via Steve Herbert. References:
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