It’s the jewel in the Cape Town CBD’s crown. And this year, the recently refurbished majestic Cape Town City Hall, with its historic and cultural importance to the city and all South Africans, is coming into its own yet again.
The day SONA came to the Cape Town City Hall was a proud moment for the Mother City and its CBD. Replacing the great and hallowed halls of Parliament as a substitute venue for the president to address fellow South Africans in what is the most important ceremonial speech of the year, the atmospheric venue was the perfect solution to a crisis caused by a devastating fire.
As Parliament officials aptly stated, the City Hall was “a befitting place considering its historical significance which is embedded in the minds and hearts of South Africans.”
The City Hall is where former president Nelson Mandela stood when he gave his first address as a free man on 11 February 1990 – with Cyril Ramaphosa at his side. He also stood on the balcony in 1994 after he was elected as South Africa’s president. The prominent Mandela bronze statue unveiled at City Hall in 2018 and a permanent exhibition inside, that's accessible to the public, honours this history.
Hours before the SONA on 10 February, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis declared it a proud moment for the City. “SONA is another milestone in this building’s important cultural history and an important moment for Cape Town. In the spirit of the unity that City Hall represents, I am pleased that our offer of the building as a venue for Parliament was accepted by the Speaker and can be used by our President to communicate this year’s SONA to the public. We hope to build on this collaborative spirit in the future.”
A MAGNIFICENT VENUE
Extensive refurbishments, undertaken from 2017 to 2018, by the City of Cape Town to preserve the 117 old venue also gave it an edge for SONA. They were the first major ones since 1947 and weren’t only for aesthetics but to ensure the venue’s compliance with national safety regulations.
These included a revamp of the auditorium seating (where the SONA was held), restoring floors, mouldings and the ceiling, and installing new ventilation and a sound system. The classic pipe organ in the main auditorium, was also repaired, and surrounding function rooms, the main entrance hall and the slate roof also got the attention they deserved.
In 2018, David Hart, from the City of Cape Town’s Heritage Resources Management department, told the CCID that Cape Town heritage architect John Rennie played a significant role in ensuring that the refurbishment was done with utmost care to preserve the integrity of the building.
Said Hart: “The City Hall is designed to make a statement and, with it being almost entirely imported from Britain and Europe in both materials and architectural style, it concedes nothing to its local context; it’s a magnificent declaration of its time, built in a style reminiscent of the French Second Empire. What makes the building special is that not much has changed; it still has a great deal of integrity.”
HOSTING CULTURAL EVENTS
In times gone by, City Hall had an administrative wing that served as the headquarters of the administration of Cape Town and the seat of its mayoralty. Today, its magnificent Grand Hall is the only civic venue with the capacity to host major cultural and social events in Cape Town.
As the home of the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, it still serves this purpose and is available for bookings. In line with its mandate to support and promote the CBD, its businesses and institutions, the Cape Town Central City Improvement District hosted its 2018 (AGM) at the newly revamped City Hall. Given its rich history, it’s also fitting that it’s the new home of Cape Town Tourism and is accessible to the public.
In 2018, Hart said it’s wonderful that City Hall was being restored “so that it can be returned to the people of Cape Town to use”. It’s tremendous that this iconic building is living up to this and continues to cement its position in Cape Town and South Africa’s history. And given its statue, how fitting that it was lit up in blue and yellow recently in support of the war-torn Ukraine and its resilient people.
IMAGES: Morne van Heerden, CCID, Cape Town Orchestra