Who’s Your Daddy?

Who’s Your Daddy?

The Grand Daddy Boutique Hotel stands proudly at number 38 Long Long Street, a local landmark and a popular Cape Town destination for both locals and tourists alike.

While the “old man” may look dashingly handsome, always be dressed to perfection and have a penchant for staying up late, the hotel is officially 124 years old this year!

Although the Grand Daddy has been refurbished and altered a number of times in more than a century, the basic design remains much as it was when it opened in 1895 as Hotel Metropole (though the original 1984 plans named the building as the “Hamburg Hotel”). A newspaper report in the Cape Argus, 1 July 1895, stated that it was “one of the landmarks of the city … five floors high … a tower at the corner rising over 90 feet above the street level. It is of a very imposing and grand appearance, being designed in the old German Renaissance style, introduced for the first time in this Colony.” The upper floor, with its “quaint dormer windows, pediments, Mansard roof, and “capola” and tower were removed in later years and its “red pointed brickwork and artificial stone facings” have long since been plastered over.

GD Metropole Hoetl(Hotel Metropole image, courtesy akpool.co.uk)

The original construction was to a plan by the Dutch architect, Anthony De Witt, who came to South Africa in 1879. William Black, an Australian architect, undertook extensions in about 1900. The prominent verandah that is shown in early drawings on both the Long and Castle Street façades was originally supported by cast-iron columns. During a rebuild, possibly in the 1920s, the verandah was re-erected on four sets of concrete pillars on Long Street only. The projecting concrete balconettes and window hoods on the upper floors also probably date from this time.

We are so pleased that our much-loved hotel still ranks as one of the city’s top hotels and continues its proud tradition of providing fine accommodation and cuisine for The Mother City and still boasts the city’s oldest working elevator!

GD_Hotel2

Contact The Grand Daddy Boutique Hotel
Web. www.granddaddy.co.za
Email. reservations@granddaddy.co.za
Tel. +27 (021) 424 7247