Melrose House is a stately

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

and museum located opposite Burgers Park in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

History

Built in 1886 by the prosperous Pretoria businessman George Jesse Heys, it was named after the famous Melrose Abbey in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Melrose House gained fame during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

(1899–1902) when Lord Roberts requisitioned it as the headquarters for the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

forces after Pretoria was invaded in June 1900. For more than 18 months, instructions for the British forces in the field were issued from here. The use of the house as a military headquarters ended when the

Treaty of Vereeniging The Treaty of Vereeniging was a peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the Second Boer War between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State on the one side, and the United Kingdom on the other. This settlement provided ...

, which ended the war, was signed there on 31 May 1902. The Pretoria City Council purchased the house and its contents in 1967 for R300,000 for restoration, culminating in

State President of South Africa The State President of the Republic of South Africa () was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country 1960 South African republic referendum, became a republic on 31 May 1961, outside the ...

Charles Robberts Swart opening it as a museum and declaring it a national heritage site on May 17, 1971.

Museum

Today the elegant mansion is a historic house museum. It is an example of the transition from Victorian to

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

architectural style An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction, building materials used, for ...

s and interiors. The interior is characterised by colourful

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows, paintings by English artists, carpets in rich colours, ornate ceilings and fireplaces, as well as valuable

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

ornaments. The majority of these items belonged to the Heys family itself. Notably the museum contains the room and the table on which the

(which ended the

) was signed. Annual antique markets are held on the premises.

Bibliography

* ''Wêreldspektrum'', 1982, , vol. 18, p. 114 * Fisher, Roger C. (compiler): ''Visuele leksikon van die Suid-Afrikaanse woning''. Cape Town: Unibook Publishers, 1992.

External links

*
Melrose House
360 degree Virtual Tour on Visit Pretoria {{coord, 25.7555, S, 28.1925, E, source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Museums in Pretoria Houses in Gauteng Houses completed in 1886 Historic house museums in South Africa History of Pretoria 19th-century architecture in South Africa