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People’s Post
RONDEBOSCH
Fountain takes centre stage NETTALIE VILJOEN NETTALIE.VILJOEN@MEDIA24.COM
M
The new Rondebosch fountain was unveiled on Thursday 24 September.
any motorists and pedestrians passing by the intersection of Belmont and Main roads in Rondebosch last week probably did a double-take when they once again saw a fountain standing tall in the middle of the traffic island. A replica of the original fountain, which was smashed to bits just over five years ago, was unveiled on Thursday 24 September. Zahid Badroodien, the City’s Mayco member for community services and health, said the fountain – a horse and dog watering trough, complete with a lamp post – had great historical value. “The replication and accession process took longer than we would have hoped as there were legal requirements that the City had to adhere to,” said Badroodien at the unveiling of the fountain. The original fountain, made out of cast-iron, was donated to the citizens of the then-Rondebosch municipality by the surveyor and railway pioneer George-Pigot Moodie on 25 September 1891. In 2015, the iconic landmark was badly damaged in a motor vehicle accident (“History smashed into pieces”, People’s Post, 25 August 2015). It being a Provincial Heritage Site in terms of the National Heritage Resources Act (Act 25 of 1999), the City of Cape Town recovered the remnants of the fountain and held it in safe keeping. The intention was to repair and restore it to its former glory, however, it was later determined that the
damage was just too extensive. Badroodien said the restoration of the fountain would not have been possible without the generous donations from Max Teichmann of Heritage Castings and the Simon van der Stel Foundation. The foundation gave a monetary contribution while Max Teichmann donated his time and materials. Established in 1990, Heritage Castings is the only remaining foundry manufacturing Victorian-style castings in the country. Teichmann told People’s Post he was approached by the council back in 2017 to get involved in the rebuilding of the fountain. “From the beginning, we didn’t look to make money out of this. Our sole intention was to restore this beautiful piece of art so that it could be put back where it belongs.” He said the challenge lay in that some of the fountain’s parts had gone missing over the years. “The lantern, the crown and the top were all lost. We scoured the internet for images and studied old photos to find out exactly how it was made 127 years ago. We wanted it to be absolutely authentic.” What can only be described as a labour of love followed. Patternmaker Steve Wood, who is 81 years young, spent over 2 000 hours remaking the patterns for the various parts of the fountain. According to Teichman, pattern making is a dying art. “If you want to cast any component, you need to have a pattern. When you cast, you cast mostly into sand, and you need an imprint in the sand when you cast. The pattern is used to create that imprint. Every individual part of the fountain required its own pattern.”
Next up was the casting of all the components in the foundry using time-honoured methods similar to those carried out all those years ago. One difference, however, was that cast-aluminium was used instead of cast-iron. Teichman explained that aluminium is non-ferrous, which means it does not rust or rot as cast-iron does. “Back then, aluminium casting wasn’t available. The raw material for cast-iron is a lot cheaper, but it is also a lot heavier and it is high maintenance.” Teichman’s team then assembled and painted the fountain at the foundry. To ensure the area where the fountain would stand was adequately prepared, Heritage Castings also stepped in to do the paving. If the base was not 100% level, the 5.5mtall fountain would appear to be skew, Teichman explained. With all of the prep work done, the actual installation took less than an hour. As to what’s next, Teichman said he and the Simon van der Stel Foundation were still in talks. Two options are being considered for restoration: either the Queen Victoria Fountain in Sea Point or the De Waal Park bandstand. Jonathan Hobday of the Durban Road Action Group hopes the unveiling of the Rondebosch fountain will also spark the restoration of the Mowbray fountain located in Durban Road. He said it had been on their wish list for the past 15 years (“Fountain desperate for attention”, People’s Post, 16 July 2019). “We have been waiting for ages for it to be properly restored, but we are not aware of anything that is on the go. In the meantime, our horse fountain is going to rack and ruin.”
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