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History: Rhodes’s cottage stands on the main road to Simons town, facing the sea between Muizenberg and St. James. It was formerly known as Barkly Cottage. Cecil Rhodes bought it on 27th February, 1899, from the estate of J. R. Reid. At the end of that year the Anglo-Boer War broke out and Kimberley was besieged. Rhodes was in Kimberley during the siege, but when the siege was raised early in 1900 he returned to this cottage at Muizenberg to recover his strength. However, it was after his return from England in February, 1902, that he became most closely associated with the cottage. Almost immediately on his arrival at Groote Schuur he drove down to the cottage in the 12-14 h.p. Wolseley car he had brought with him from England. He was already suffering from the heart disease which was to cause his death. He retired to bed immediately but he could not lie down and had to sit propped up by pillows. The weather was extremely hot and the cottage had an iron roof at that time, so a hole was made in the wall next to his bed to give him more air. While he was in this condition he had to give evidence against Princess Radziwill who had defrauded him of thousands of rand. On 26th March, 1902, just before six o’clock in the evening, he died here in this house.
The cottage remained in the possession of the Rhodes Trustees until 1932, when they donated it to the government of Northern Rhodesia, who transferred it to the City Council of Cape Town in 1937.
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Site Features: Thatched outbuilding
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Materials: Thatch on plastered brick
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