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History: The eastern boundary areas were proclaimed as a new district in 1785 and called Graaff-Reinet in honour of the Governor, Jacob van de Graaff and his wife Reinet. The administrative centre was established in a curve of the Sundays River at the foot of Spandau Koppie. Soon a separate parish came into being. The first Church Council was established in March, 1792, and the Rev. Johan H. von Manger began his ministry to the pioneer cattle-farmers a few months later.
Because of the continued unrest on the frontier, the new Karoo town developed slowly. Small, fiat-roofed houses gradually arose round the church square and along Church and Pastorie Streets.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Pastorie Street achieved a new dignity; at the western end the Drostdy was built and at its eastern end it terminated at the attractive parsonage, the finest building in the town, now known as Reinet House.
This parsonage was built during the incumbency of the Rev. J. J. Kicherer, a zealous, enterprising and god- fearing man who came to Graaff-Reinet in 1806. When the traveller William Burchell visited the place in 1812, the Rev. Kicherer lived in a parsonage ‘on the western side of the (Main) street towards the southern (river) side’, but at that time this ‘large and attractive building, intended for a parsonage . . . was being built in another street’.’ The Dutch Reformed Church was then practically a department of state and the new parsonage was built by the Cape Government, so the plans were very probably drawn in Cape Town where Louis M. Thibault, the well-known architect, was the government building inspector. The building work was certainly done at that time by slaves under the supervision of a builder from Cape Town. The members of the congregation contributed building materials such as stone, bricks and sand; the paving stones for the stoeps came from the nearby Gats River, and according to Burchell the yellow-wood for the beams, floors, windows, doors and wall cupboards, as well as the thatching-grass, must have been brought from the Bosberg and the Baviaans River by ox wagon.
The new parsonage at the bottom of Pastorie Street was the pride of the town. It was built in the Cape Dutch style in the form of an H. It had six gables and high foundations, while gracious curved stairways led to the front and side doors. In the basement under the building there were a coach-house, a wine cellar, slave quarters, store-rooms and spare rooms for visitors
It is not known for certain when Rev. Kicherer moved into the new parsonage, but it was his privilege to be the first to occupy this spacious and dignified building. In June, 1818, his successor, the Rev. (later Dr.) Abraham Faure took occupation of the parsonage but lived there for only four years. He left Graaff-Reinet in 1822, and the Rev. Andrew Murray, one of the Scottish ministers who came to South Africa at the instigation of the Rev. George Thom, took up residence in the parsonage. It was his home for 45 years and the birthplace of his six sons and five daughters. Five of the sons, including the famous Dr. Andrew Murray, became ministers. From this parsonage Mr. Murray served not only his extensive parish, but even the trekboers and Voortrekkers in the distant Transvaal. Here a constant stream of visitors was entertained, including Dr. Livingstone, Robert Moffat and the Rev. Mr. Broadbent.
Mr. Murray’s daughter described the house with great affection: ‘Rising above the brick coping, we come to the front door and, entering, find ourselves in a spacious room, the ‘Kleine voorhuis’, because there was a larger room, the ‘grote voorhuis’ behind it. It was a large dining-room with doors on all sides that gave to a smaller dining-room, bedrooms, etc. In the front part, on the left, was the drawing-room, and on the right, the study. The front stoep, as well as the back stoep, was supported by arches, and under almost the entire house there was a series of rooms corresponding with the rooms above. Many of these rooms were used as bedrooms when the house was full of visitors. Amongst them there were the cellar, immediately below the dining-room, the wood-store, the store for white-wash and the coach-house . .
Behind the house there was an extensive garden; one half of it was a flower garden and orchard, while ‘the other half of the garden was sown with oats for the Minister’s horses, and there was also a lucerne plot for the cow’.
Andrew Murray was succeeded by his son, Charles, who occupied the parsonage up to 1904. He took a great interest in gardening and planted exotic trees, plants and flowers from many parts of the world in the parsonage garden. In 1870 he planted the famous grape-vine of the ‘black oak variety’ which, according to experts, must today be regarded as the largest in the world. The trunk measures about 120 cm in diameter and at one stage the branches extended for a distance of 120 metres.
Early in the incumbency of Charles Murray the dignified old building was almost recklessly damaged. It is said that in about 1866 the district suffered a severe drought and it became essential to collect rain-water from the roofs. Just at that time, also, it became necessary to renew the roof. It was decided to replace the thatching by iron, and in order to conserve more water, the builder recommended that the walls be reduced in height and the gables be removed to facilitate the fitting of gutters. Because the large yellow-wood doors and windows had been affected by the extreme climatic conditions, and because they admitted too much of the blinding Karoo sunlight, they were replaced by smaller doors and windows of standard size.
A new and more modern parsonage was built in 1904. The old parsonage became a boarding-house for girls under the supervision of Ellen Murray, a sister of Charles. In 1907 she gave it the name of Reinet House. The use of the house as a hostel brought about further mutilation; the large rooms were divided by light partitions and later, when it became a boys’ hostel, the walls and woodwork were damaged with pencils, chalk and knives.
By 1944 the building had come to the end of its useful ness and it was vacated. Then it deteriorated rapidly and in 1947 it was proposed to demolish it and build a block of fiats on the site. This proposal met with strong opposition from the older inhabitants of the town and district. An active committee led by Mr. A. A. Kingwell and Miss Isobel Lawrie, a granddaughter of Charles Murray, was formed to save the building. A sum of R4 350 was soon raised, and with this the ruinous old building was bought. The Rev. J. Reineke and Mr. Charles te Water urged the Historical Monuments Commission to proclaim the building as a monument. After the Commission had been assured by the architects, Professor G. E. Pearse and Magda Sauer, that the building could still be restored, it was proclaimed a monument in 1950.
Now the collection of funds for the restoration of the old parsonage gained new impetus. In 1952 the well-known architect, the late Mr. Norman Eaton, was asked by Mr. Charles te Water to act as the honorary architect for the project. He accepted the task with, as he expressed it himself, ‘the deepest realisation of the opportunity it offered to restore, for the benefit and education of future generations, an example of the wonderful creative genius for building that is such an outstanding part of the vital and visual harmony of this period of the country’s cultural heritage—the so-called Cape Dutch period from the eighteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth centuries.
Right from the start the restoration was treated as an impersonal, almost archaeological problem, taking every step as far as was humanly and practically possible to re-create a correct reflection of the original building down to the smallest details so that future students of eighteenth century Cape-Dutch architecture and its methods and ornamentation could use it as a reliable reference, and to enable less technically qualified visitors to obtain correct information.’
Using his vast knowledge and great sensitivity to this architectural style, and with the aid of a photograph taken in 1866 at the ceremony to welcome the Rev. Charles Murray, Norman Eaton restored the old building to be ‘one of the finest and most unique buildings of its time’. In this work he was greatly assisted by the builder, Bart Burger. When the restoration was complete the building was arranged as a museum and in September 1957 it was opened by the Governor-General, Dr. E. G. Jansen.
Proclaimed 1950"
Visual Description: 7 bays H-shaped Cape Dutch style building with pedimented gable. Gables have sash windows. Stoep rests on arches and has wrought iron railing and corner plinths. 2 x 2 arched double door with small panes fanlight. 30 x 30 and 20 x 20 pane sashes with solid half shutters. Fine flared steps to stoep. Dwarf wall along street.
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Condition: Good
Construction Date: Possibly 1806, prob. c1812. Restored after fire (1980). First restored 1953 - 4.
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Catalogue: Rudner 1989 (b), No: 45.3, Significance Category: