Stately Homes and Old School Ties

Gracing the romantic Worcester Street – the home of the first independent schools in South Africa, St. Andrews College and the Diocesan School for Girls – are the elegant residences of the noteworthy of a bygone era. Gothic arches, Victorian bow windows and rose-stained glass Chapel windows, signal the fineries of nineteenth-century British architecture having firmly rooted itself on the Eastern Cape frontier. Besides the Herbert Baker-designed Chapel and White-Cooper houses, reminiscence of the Edwardian era is not far off when one passes by the oldest working Victorian post box in South Africa, or visits DSG’s Edwardian library, once named Victoria Hall, and the Chapel at St Figs, (more properly known as the College of the Transfiguration – a theological school). This tour reminds us of the importance of these church-founded schools and of the businessmen, teachers and students who began their careers along these tree-lined avenues.