Rondebosch, Cape Town - Conference Venues Rondebosch Cape Town

Rondebosch - Cape Town Suburb

Cape Town Conferences > Cape Town > Rondebosch

Conference Venues in Rondebosch, Cape Town
Belmont Square Conference Centre
Burnley Lodge

Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with a medium-size shopping area and a small business district. Rondebosch is the vibrant student suburb and is approx 5km from the city center of Cape Town. The Simonstown trainline runs from Cape Town through Rondebosch to Simonstown.

On the slopes of Devil's Peak above Rondebosch is the main campus of the University of Cape Town.

The historic Groote Schuur estate in Rondebosch includes presidential and ministerial residences with Cape Dutch origins. The Groote Schuur building is the biggest, rebuilt by Cecil Rhodes according to a design by Herbert Baker after a fire in 1896. The presidential residence, Genadendal (formerly Westbrooke), also dates back to Cape Dutch times.

The centre of Rondebosch is the Main Road, with the Victorian cast iron Rondebosch Fountain being a historic landmark. The area is currently being revitalised as "Rondebosch Village." Historic buildings in the area include the library (formerly the town hall) and St. Paul's Church, which was designed by Charles Michell.

Rondebosch Fountain forms the centre of this suburb. The Fountain is considered the "centre" of Rondebosch and can be visited in its original place, now the busy traffic intersection where Belmont Road meets Main Road. The Fountain was donated to the Municipality of Rondebosch by George Pigot Moodie on 26 September 1891. He died five weeks later at Westbrooke where he lived. It was proclaimed a national monument on 10 April 1964. Contrary to its name, the Fountain is actually an ornamental trough for watering horses. This cast-iron structure was put together from a catalogue issued by Walter Macfarlane & Co, Saracen Foundry, Glasgow. The lamp above the fountain apparently contained the first electric street light installed in Cape Town. For many years fresh flowers have been sold from the side-walk across the road from the Fountain and has become a landmark to the people of Rondebosch and neighbouring suburbs.

A variety of fresh flowers are available all year long, from the indigenous giant proteas and "Snow on the Mountain" in season to the more known Gladiolus hybrids, roses and Dutch Iris. This is well worth a visit.

The home of Simon van der Stel (first governor of the Cape Colony) is now part of Rustenburg Junior School. This building dates back to the 17th century, although it has undergone many alterations over the years. Its summer house, dating from 1760, remains as a monument just below the university.

Rondebosch Common, once a military campground, is declared a national monument and is also an important fynbos conservation area.

The Baxter Theatre in Rondebosch is Cape Town's second biggest theatre complex, after the Artscape Theatre Centre in the city centre.

History of Rondebosch
Four years after the first Dutch settlement at the Cape in 1652, the first experimental crops were grown along the banks of the Liesbeek River (at that stage called the Amstel or Versse Rivier). On the banks of the river, a circular grove of thorn trees, or Ronde Doorn Bosje, was turned into a kraal. In 1657, the first group of Dutch East India Company employees gained "free burgher" (free citizen) status and were granted land along the river in the area now known as Rondebosch.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Rondebosch became a predominantly English-speaking area and was declared a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act. Since the end of Apartheid in the mid-1990s, the area has become increasingly integrated.

Cape Town Suburbs
Bantry Bay, Bellville, Bloubergrant, Bloubergstrand, Brackenfell, Camps Bay, Cape Town Central/City Bowl, Claremont, Constantia, Durbanville, Fish Hoek, Fresnaye, Gordon's Bay, Green Point, Hout Bay, Kenilworth, Lakeside, Melkbosstrand, Milnerton, Muizenberg, Newlands, Noordhoek, Observatory, Parow, Pinelands, Rondebosch, Sea Point, Simon's Town, Sir Lowry's Pass, Somerset West, Strand, Table View, Tokai, Tygerberg.

Map of Rondebosch