University Estate is a mainly residential suburb of
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...
located at the foot of
Devil's Peak to the east of the city. University Estate has the
postcode
A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal ...
7925.
Relation to other suburbs
University Estate is bounded by the
De Waal Drive
The M3 is an expressway in Cape Town, South Africa, connecting the upper part of the City Bowl to the Southern Suburbs and ending in Tokai. For most of its route it parallels - though further to the south and west - the M4 (Main Road), which ...
to the south, the
Eastern Boulevard to the north, and Mountain Road to the west. To the south lie the slopes of Devil's Peak within the
Table Mountain National Park
Table Mountain National Park, previously known as the Cape Peninsula National Park, is a national park in Cape Town, South Africa, proclaimed on 29 May 1998, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment of the Table Mountain Chain, and ...
, to the north lie
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
and
Salt River, and to the west lies
District 6 ( Walmer Estate). Pedestrian access to Devil's Peak is possible via stairs to De Waal Drive on Kylemore Road and a short walkway on the median between the highway's inbound and outbound lanes. Upper Woodstock and Salt River are reachable from two pedestrian bridges across Eastern Boulevard.
Demographics
Under the
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
Group Areas Act
Group Areas Act was the title of three acts of the Parliament of South Africa enacted under the apartheid government of South Africa. The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of ...
, University Estate was classed as an exclusively "white" area. Until the early 1990s when
F.W. de Klerk
Frederik Willem de Klerk (, , 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996 in the democratic government. As South A ...
's government repealed the Act in June 1991, the suburb was indeed inhabited solely by whites, a large number of the residents being from the Portuguese immigrant community. Over the following years the suburb became popular among wealthier families from previously excluded racial groups.
Commerce
Since the suburb is zoned almost exclusively for residential use, there are few businesses in the area. Exceptions include 88 Roodebloem Road (a small factory complex adjacent to Eastern Boulevard), a small number of guest lodges scattered throughout the area and some low-impact home businesses. The
Cape Town City Council has also approved the rezoning of and subsequent development plans for the premises of the old Rocklands site, but in early 2010 has had to intervene due to unauthorized demolition of the villa.
City takes action to restore Rocklands Villa
/ref>
Recreation
University Estate has a number of open spaces which are popular among children and dog owners. The play park at the intersection of Rhodes Avenue and Haig Road has see-saws, swings, a merry-go-round, a slide and a jungle gym, which attract younger children. Older children also socialize in this play park, but also make greater use of the undeveloped "quarry" field just south of the factory complex where they sometimes also ride around on quadbikes. Dog owners tend to prefer this "quarry" field or the field at the eastern end of the suburb for walking their pets, or may simply walk around the streets.
The "quarry" field and the open areas between the merging highways on the eastern side are also used by " Bergies" (as homeless people are commonly known in Cape Town) as their "home".
References
External links
*http://www.sa-venues.com/attractionswc/university-estate.htm
*http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20050510071306821C759281&set_id=
{{Cape Town, communities
Suburbs of Cape Town