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9/2/068/0024
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Post date: 07/08/2012
Archive Import
History: Pinehurst, one of the best known of the so called ostrich palaces stands on the western side of the Grobbelaar’s River almost in the centre of Oudtshoorn. It is now a part of the men’s hostel of the Teachers’ Training College.
Ostrich farming started in the Oudtshoorn district in the 1860’s. This unique luxury industry was amazingly successful until it reached a climax in the beginning of this century and suddenly collapsed in 1913. The unprecedented prosperity which resulted from this industry had the effect that many farmers built excessively pretentious houses on their farms, today referred to sarcastically as ostrich palaces”. Pinehurst is one of the best known and most attractive of these houses.
Pinehurst was built for F. J. T. Edmeades. It was designed by the eminent architect J. E. Vixseboxse who went to the Transvaal as an architect in 1888 where his work included the market building in Johannesburg and President Kruger’s house in Pretoria.
In 1893 he resigned his appointment as government architect and returned to private practice. Consequently he was a very experienced architect by the time he designed Pinehurst in 1911. It is said that he personally supervised the building of Pinehurst, faith fully assisted by Edmeades for whom the building was a labour of love and the achievement of an ideal.
Pinehurst not only represents a particular period in the history of Oudtshoorn and the surrounding area but is an example of outstanding craftsmanship. Built of sandstone, the stonework is regarded as among the best in South Africa. The interior is finished in teak and shows workmanship of the highest quality. Rightly Dr. B. Biermann has written of Pinehurst: ""Here we have to deal with a museum piece which is perhaps without equal anywhere else . . . not so much on account of its uniformity of style as its quality and workmanship and the fabulous amount that must have been spent on it."
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Construction Date: 1911
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Catalogue: Oudtshoorn, No: 097, Significance Category: