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Post date: 07/08/2012
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Forms part of a street-scape of other important buildings, including Publicity House and Tatham Art Gallery, both declared national monuments. On Church Street side it is adjacent to the Natal Society Library.
Forms part of a street-scape of other important buildings, including Publicity House and Tatham Art Gallery, both declared national monuments. On Church Street side it is adjacent to the Natal Society Library.
Archive Import
History: The Pietermaritzburg City Hall stands in Commercial Street, between Church and Longmarket Streets. It occupies the site where the Voortrekkers built the ‘Volksraadsaal’ or National Council Chamber of the Republic of Natalia. The ‘Volksraadsaal’ was commenced in 1841 and completed in 1842.
The ‘Volksraadsaal’ was the scene of important and sometimes dramatic events in the early history of Natal. In it the stormy debates took place that led to the Voortrekkers’ submission to the British Government. There, too, Henry Cloete tried to persuade the rebellious Voortrekker women to submit to the British authorities. They responded by locking the doors so that he could not leave and telling him for two hours what they thought about the British Government. It was at the end of that meeting that the Rev. Erasmus Smit’s wife uttered the well-known remark: ‘Rather than submit to British domination, we would walk back barefoot over the Drakensberg’.
After the annexation of Natal by Great Britain the Volksraad naturally ceased to exist and from 1846 to 1871 the Supreme Court held its sessions in the building.
The building was later sold to a butcher and it was eventually demolished when the Pietermaritzburg City
Hall was built on the site.
Visual Description: Multi-storeyed red brick building with roof of copper and corrugated iron. Plastered mouldings and f
Colours:
Site Features:
Condition: good
Construction Date: 1893 (original building); 1901 (present building)
Materials: facebrick : corrugated iron
Catalogue: Pmb, 1987, No: , Significance Category: