Genadendal Residence is the official

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

residence of the

president of South Africa The president of South Africa is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of South Africa. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the South African National Defence F ...

, situated on the

Groote Schuur Groote Schuur (; ) is an estate in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1657, the estate was owned by the Dutch East India Company which used it partly as a granary. Later, the farm and farmhouse was sold into private hands. Groote Schuur was later acqu ...

estate in

Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch ...

. It has been the official residence since 1994 when

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

took up residence here rather than the main Groote Schuur manor house. The mixed Victorian- Georgian residence, formerly known as Westbrooke, is named after the town of Genadendal – itself an

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

word meaning "Valley of Mercy", until it was changed to the current name in 1995. The residence first came into existence in the early 18th century as a grain barn, and was converted into a residence in the mid-1800s.

References

Presidential residences in South Africa Residential buildings in Cape Town Cape Dutch Revival architecture in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-struct-stub

See also

References