Ballotina, Tulbagh

Our design-focused showhouse in South Africa.

Originally built in 1815, the historic home was carefully restored to preserve its architectural character while creating a rich and atmospheric interior.

Atelier Vierkant pieces were integrated throughout the house and gardens, adding sculptural forms that reinforce the project's tactile connection to materiality and landscape.

Ballotina was built in 1815 for Elizabeth Wilhelmina Cruywagen, the widow of the Dutch reformed minister, Rev H W Ballot. The design of the house is attributed to Louis Michel Thibault, the first architect of the Cape.

Historian, academic and museumologist Mary Cook bought "Ballotina", and moved to Tulbagh with her family 1945. Cook, an authority on Cape Dutch architecture, stated her motive for buying the house as "intending to preserve an example of Thibault's work - destined otherwise for certain destruction." In 1969, the house was extensively damaged by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, the most destructuve in South African living memory. The state engineer examined the remains of the house and determined that Ballotina should be condemned for demolition. Cook's dedication to preserving Cape Dutch heritage and ceaseless restoration campaign after the earthquake ultimately saved Ballotina, now a living, national historic monument.

The Ballotina showhouse is available for visit.
Please make appointment by contacting us at Louise Vally.

Photos by Kerryn Fisher

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