Andrew Berman has been working on heritage aspects of proposals to develop Fernwood for a number of years. He'll give us an introduction to the history of the estate: although Fernwood house in its present form dates from the late nineteenth century, the estate is illustrated on Thibault’s map, and Andrew will explain developments dating back to the early 1800's.

From a vernacular landscape perspective, the estate is interesting because of the aspects such as: water on site, avenues, views to mountains etc. From a vernacular architecture perspective, the long house is the most well preserved example of early architecture on the estate…

Andrew Berman

Andrew Berman is a Cape Town architect, urban designer and accredited heritage practitioner. He graduated with the degree of B Arch from the University of Cape Town. He is a registered architect since 1986 and also a member of the Association of Professional Heritage Practitioners (APHP). He works in partnership with André Pentz in the practice Pentz & Berman and also Urban Design Services cc. At the Vernac workshop that was held in November 2004, Andrew spoke on Palladian principles in Cape architecture, reflecting an abiding interest he has in classicism which has informed his design philosophy.

Fernwood

According to Hans Fransen (2004) Fernwood, which was used as the Parliamentary Club for many years, was “part of the grant Goed-en-Quaad ‘in the wilderness north of the Liesbeek River’ to Wouter Cornelisz Mostert in 1666; transferred in 1688 to Willem ten Damme and in 1701 regranted as Boshof… The main house is a long single-storeyed building, with its high stoep flanked by bow-fronted stoepkamers. It has a slate roof punctuated by diagonal chimneys with an extension to the right. The building received its present appearance in 1877 but probably contains earlier material”.

DATE:  Tuesday, 15 March 2016
TIME: 19h45 for 20h00                                                    
VENUE: The Athenaeum, Boundary Terraces, Newlands, at the intersection of Mariendahl and Campground Roads