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History: The nucleus of this farm consisted of the third of the 4 parts into which Vergelegen was divided after the recall of Willem Adriaan van der Stel; it was bought by Jacques Malan. Malan’s daughter Catharina married Willem Morkel of Onverwacht, and their son, Philip Hendrik Morkel, in 1825 got a regrant of Morgenster (the name was first recorded in 1739, and must have been given by Jacques Malan).
Both the homestead on Morgenster and its complex of outbuildings are among the finest in the Cape. The house is H-shaped with 6 really perfect gables; the front gable ( well rebuilt) is dated 1786.
Visual Description: The house is H-shaped with 6 really perfect gables; the front gable (recently well rebuilt) is dated 1786 and shows the holbol style at its most beautiful, with convex edge mouldings continued onto the gable face and ending as fully developed scrolls, the cap split into 2 equally full-blooded scrolls with a scallop between. There are various small decorations on the gable face: small trees in pots, animals, and a small holbol motif. On the back gable the convex curve has become wavy: a foretaste of the general waviness that a few years later was to make the holbol gable lose its sharply defined concave—convex character. The end-gables are beautifully proportioned holbol examples, with 2 scrolls at the top and a scallop like the front gable. A room has been added to one of the back wings, with a stepped end-gable; it was probably built quite soon after the rest of the house.
The windows in front and at the back are the original sash windows, with the usual half-width ones beside the doors. The front door unfortunately is early to mid-19c; its fanlight is quite a fine one for its date, and its transom still lines up with that of the windows. The back door has a sliding upper half, ie. a drop-fan. The only disturbing note about the house are additions, at one side and at the back.
The farm has a most unusual werf, completely enclosed, but with the homestead placed asymmetrically in one corner. 3 of the outbuildings form a kind of avenue in front of the house, 2 of them with stepped end-gables and one with a pedimented square centre gable. Another outbuilding, beside the house but obliquely placed, has a front gable dated 1779, of holbol type but with unusually flowing outlines and exquisite plaster decorations; its end—gables are similar. Traditionally, this is said to be the older homestead. If there is any truth in this, it can only be that Morkel and his wife ‘camped out’ in it until the homestead was finished; it was certainly never built as a house. There are steps to the loft at one of its ends, the flanking wall of which has mouldings along its edge.
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Condition: Good
Construction Date: 18th Century
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Catalogue: Somerset West Structure Plan, No: 14, Significance Category: