GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — Six organisations concerned with the preservation of heritage buildings in Graaff-Reinet, have expressed their dismay at what they see as the desecration of the façade of a building in Parsonage Street.
According to the Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resources Authority, changing the façade of a building older than 60 years is not allowed without a permit.
Parsonage Street has the flagship museum Reinet House at the east end and the five-star historic Drostdy Hotel at the west end.
Except for a garage at the corner of Parsonage and Church Streets, all the buildings are listed, older than 60 years and painted white with Graaff-Reinet green trimmings. The street is a major tourist attraction.
Pioneers Restaurant is situated at 3 Parsonage Street. During last year it was painted yellow, and some of the plaster has been removed to expose the bricks and stone.
The six organisations concerned, all of which have written letters of objection to the Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality, are the Graaff-Reinet Ratepayers' Association, the John Rupert Theatre Committee, the Graaff-Reinet Heritage Society, the Graaff-Reinet Chamber of Commerce, the Graaff-Reinet Museum, and the Rupert Trust.
The Rupert Trust in 2016 spent R2.1 million restoring Reinet House and Urquhart House, both museum buildings, and at present is restoring the Old Residency Museum at 1 Parsonage Street, directly adjacent to Pioneers Restaurant, at a cost of R1.6 million.
Building Inspector Albert Marx, on behalf of the municipality, has also written to the owners of Pioneers Restaurant asking them to arrange a meeting with the parties objecting to the change of the façade.
At the beginning of October, the Graaff-Reinet Heritage Society requested the Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resources Authority (ECPHRA) permit committee to advise it about what powers the committee and the local municipality have in this instance, where they consider that the restaurant owners have breached the regulations.
Later the same month, questions were asked by Hon Jane Cowley in the Eastern Cape legislature of the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture regarding the functionality and powers of the ECPHRA.
In response, it was stated that "any intrusive work on historic and heritage buildings requires a permit from ECPHRA. Any alteration work without a permit is illegal and must be reported to ECPHRA".
The assurance was also given that "This problem has been reported to the ECPHRA Council that is sitting on October 23, 2017. The Hon Member will be apprised of the decision of the Council on the matter".
Over three months after the meeting, Cowley has received no response whatsoever. Cowley then submitting an oral question, which will hopefully receive a reply in parliament during February - at the time of going to press, Cowley had not yet received any response.
In November, the Graaff-Reinet Heritage Society sent a letter to the Municipal Manager, Dr Rankwana, requesting that the Municipality pursue this matter with the owners of the building at 3 Parsonage Street. There has, however, been no response from the municipality.
Almaré Fourie, an owner of Pioneers Restaurant, responded to the Advertiser's request for comment on the matter.
She stated that Pioneers have always promoted the history and heritage of the town, using as an example the fact that they have a permanent display of framed photographs of more than 20 historic buildings, with information, in the restaurant.
"When the time came to renovate our precious building, we did quite a bit of research before embarking on the costly exercise," said Fourie.
"There were a number of things to consider: How to upgrade our building, how to become more obvious and how to maintain the building's integrity". She pointed out that there are several historical buildings that are painted in colours other than white and green.
"We contacted Peter Whitlock and he said that we can paint our building any colour as long as it is a pastel colour," she continued.
The owners said that when the old layers of paint were removed to fix the cracks, they saw the beautiful stone that was originally used to build this building.
It soon became very clear where the original building was, and how it was expanded through the years. "We were so excited to find this beauty! We immediately realized that the building itself was telling us more about its history than what is written about it in the archives" said Fourie.
"We could now tell our customers more about the building practices and that the building was originally used as servants' quarters for one of the big houses adjacent to the building".
Fourie explained that the preparation of the exposed stone and bricks took time and considerable expense, as all the exposed stone and brick was sealed and protected. The owners claim that patrons have reacted with interest, with no adverse comment from either locals or tourists.
"The only concern came from a letter delivered to us and followed up with a visit from Mr Marx from the Municipality" continued Fourie. "We did ask for a date to sit around a table to discuss the matter, but were not ever informed of any meeting. Had we received such an invitation to a meeting, we would have availed ourselves to be there and also to get our legal representative to attend with us".
The owners feel very strongly that they are being victimized and singled out by "disgruntled persons with personal issues that do not have a place in this discussion", and say that they are always open to any constructive discussions. Various other historic buildings that are in a state of disrepair were cited, such as the old station building and houses in Murray Street, and the owners of Pioneers feel that these are far more of a problem than one "small yellow building".
"Lastly it must be remembered that this building is the property of the owners of Pioneers Restaurant" said Fourie. "As a business it is our duty and purpose to be as successful as possible, as we are employers and deliver a service to the tourists that visit our town. It is good business practice to be as conspicuous as possible. In fact, several people did not know about us until we became more visible. In a very competitive market, visibility is most important."
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