Cape Town City Hall
Cape Town City Hall
This iconic building is more renowned for the balcony where Mr Nelson Mandela made his first public address after being released from the Drakenstein Prison. (He was in 18years on Robben Island prison, 6 years in Pollsmoor and the last 3 at Drakenstein previously known as Victor Verster.)
Personally I thought the Balcony was on the 2nd floor but after doing some research I found out it was the area as you get into the grand hall from the steps outside which actually is the 1st floor as the ground level got other entrances.
Clock tower half the Size of Big Ben in London
Back to the Cape Town City hall situated in Darling Street. This was the 1st Victorian building to be built in Cape Town, some statements say it was the last so quite confusing to which story is to believed. Mayor H Lieberman inaugurated the Cape Town City hall in 1905.
Imported Bath sandstone is showing the wear and tear on front entrance but still stunning. A question is why was the South African sandstone not used and most say it as because of the 2nd world war mining was not the safest outside of Cape Town. However Local Kloof granite (from signal hill quarry) was used for the base work and decorative piers. Other materials used in the city hall, teak frames, Sicilian Marble, terracotta air vents, cast iron pipes and gratings.
The clock rings out the Westminster quarters on 39 bells on the hour on special occasions. Note to self, read up on what this means. The turret clock is also half the scale as Big Ben in Westminster London. (more…)