The Egyptian Revival Building on a Former Zoo Site

The Egyptian Building is the home of the University of Cape Town's Michaelis School of Fine Art on Orange Street in Cape Town. Its history dates back to the 1830s when the South African College, the forerunner of the UCT, was housed in an unsatisfactory situation in an orphanage on Long Street. This changed when Governor Sir Benjamin D'Urban granted the school a plot of land at the end of Government Avenue.

The land had previously housed a zoo for the entertainment of Capetonians. When construction began on the new building, the site was still surrounded by the abandoned cages that had once held animals. The new building was designed in the Egyptian Revival style based on a rough sketch made by college English professor James Constantine Adamson. Col. G.G. Lewis of the Royal Engineers adopted and expanded on this proposal.

The building was completed at a cost of £3,000 and opened on April 13, 1841. By the time of the opening, the abandoned cages on the site had broken down. The new structure provided a major improvement over the cramped conditions the school had endured on Long Street.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons