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History: When he built the “warehouse”, Martin Melck kept the eventual need for a parsonage in mind and took care to have possession of the land to the east of the church. At a later stage he transferred it to the church and after his death a parsonage was built on it. Building commenced in 1781. It is generally accepted that the well- known Louis Michel Thibault was the architect and that the sculptor Anton Anreith was responsible for the moulded architraves of the middle windows, the swan on the front of the building and the carving of the front door.
This fine building, another example of the fruitful collaboration of Thibault and Anreith, is less strictly classical in style than the Koopmans de Wet House, but nevertheless shows the influence of the French Renaissance. It is one of the finest examples of eighteenth century architecture at the Cape and the only surviving example of a typical Cape Town house with a dormer room or “belvedere” with four windows that formerly looked out over the whole of Cape Town and Table Bay.
The first occupants of this large house were the Rev. Andreas Kolver, his wife Anthonia and their eleven-year-old son. Except for minor renovations, the house stands today just as it did in Kolver’s time. It is characterized by large, spacious rooms, small Batavian bricks in the entrance porch and lobbies, broad teak boards on the ground floor and yellow-wood on the upper floor, a great teak beam over the hearth and a cool, restful little courtyard behind the house.
Until 1891 the building served as a parsonage. It was then let by the Church as a dwelling-house and in 1894 it became a boarding-house. From then on it was known as Bloemfontein House, and in 1929 certain clubs and societies in Cape Town, fearing that it might be destroyed, formed a company to take over the lease.
The church authorities restored the building. In 1932, having been named Martin Melck House, it was opened for the use of various cultural bodies. It is now used for the sale of antiques.
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Catalogue: Rennie, Vol 2, No: 035.04, Significance Category: