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History: Entrances and gates in Government Avenue
On an old map of Cape Town the letter Z indicates “the Entrance to the Company’s Garden”. The entrance was then still situated somewhere near the top end of the present Adderley Street. By 1679 this entrance from the town had already been moved to the back of the slave lodge or the present Old Supreme Court. On a plan of the Garden in Valentyn’s description of his journey published in 1726, the entrance is shown at the lower Corner of the eastern side, that is, in the modern Parliament Street, just above the slave lodge. He writes as follows: “One enters this garden on the E. side through a large gateway . . . This gateway has two pilasters. On the front there is the emblem
G
VOC
1679.
For practical reasons this entrance was later moved to the top of Adderley Street. In about 1788, during the time of Van de Graaff, this entrance was provided with a fine gateway, with a guardhouse to the right, by the architect L. M. Thibault, but. unfortunately it was demolished in the l830’s.
There were also fine gateways at the top of the Avenue. Under the Batavian government Gen. J. W. Janssens instructed the aforementioned L. M. Thibault to bring about certain changes and improvements. First of all he extended the Avenue, which at that time ended at the zoo, to pass through the zoological gardens and enclosed it between walls on both sides. In collaboration with the sculptor Anton Anreith, he provided beautiful gates in each wall to give access to the two sections of the zoo. The gate on the west, famous for its couchant lionesses, led to the camp for predators, while the one opposite it on the east side led to the antelope enclosure and aviary. The gateways were built of bricks, cement and fine lime, and Thibault s total account for these fine works was 300 riks dollars or about R45.
In the course of years the lionesses on the western gateway were damaged, but they were restored at the request of the Commission and the eastern gateway will shortly be restored by the Provincial Administration.
The extension of the Avenue and the building of the two gateways made it necessary for Thibault to give attention to the top entrance. There he built an ornamental Chinese bridge over a stream and a “guardhouse for the new bridge”. In time these structures also fell into disrepair and have disappeared completely.
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