Louis Thibault, SA’s first professional architect

In the early years of colonial settlement in South Africa, there was very little need for professional skills in the built environment. Such was the small and relatively primitive nature of the few urban centres that had sprung up around the Cape that all civil and building works were fashioned in the simplest manner and undertaken by ordinary builders and artisans. The only exception to this general lack of professional skills were the few military engineers in the employ of the Dutch East India Company who would be seconded to Cape Town from to time to time to maintain or reinforce its defensive fortifications.

It was only in 1783, a full 130 years after the Dutch occupation, that the first formally educated architect and engineer arrived on the shores of the Cape of Good Hope and stayed to pursue a professional career.

Louis Michel Thibault does not only hold the honour of being the first architect-cum- engineer-cum-land surveyor to practise in the Cape, but, more importantly, is considered one of the Cape’s most significant historical professionals, whose influence on the built environment is still very much evident to this day in the form of the distinctive gabled Cape Dutch architecture.

The foundations of Thibault’s illustrious career were established in the early 1770s, when he enrolled at the renowned Academie Royale d’Architecture, in Paris. It was there that he studied under the great Ange-Jacques Gabriel, who was not only considered the leading professional of his day but was also chief architect to King Louis XVI. Gabriel, an architect in the classical Palladian tradition, had a strong influence on the young Frenchman’s architectural style, especially in his earliest years. He graduated with distinction in 1776, aged 26.

As it was common for architects to be competent in a field of engineering, in 1781, Thibault became a protege of Colonel Charles Daniel de Meuron, commander of a Swiss mercenary regiment, to learn the skills of a military engineer. It was while under his sponsorship that, towards the end of 1782, De Meuron’s regiment was engaged by the Dutch East India Company to defend the Cape against a possible attack by the British. Being one of the most brilliant lieutenants in the regiment, Thibault was among the troops sent to the trading post at the Cape. He maintained this post for the next two years, resigning his commission in August 1785 to join the Dutch East India Company.

While the rationale for such a move is not entirely clear, it is certain that Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff, who was appointed governor of the Cape in 1784, was aesthetically inclined and wanted to uplift the architectural style of the little trading outpost. Van de Graaff was, no doubt, aware of and impressed by Thibault’s skills, for, soon after resigning his commission, he was appointed inspector of public buildings.

Between 1786 and 1790, Thibault was not only responsible for designing all new public buildings and a number of private houses but was also professor of mathematics and military science at the School of Cadets, in Cape Town. It was during this period that he met and started working in collaboration with Anton Anreith. The two, who had a life-long professional association, are considered to have had the greatest influence on the Cape Dutch style of architecture.

Unfortunately for Thibault, by 1790, the Dutch East India Company had become virtually bankrupt and all work on public buildings and fortifications came to a halt. What must have been more distressing was the fact that, following the British annexation of the Cape in June 1795, Thibault lost all the privileges of his military rank and became a mere ordinary civilian under foreign rule. What saved his career, at least from an official perspective, was the appointment of Sir George Yonge as governor in 1799. Yonge recognised Thibault’s talents and insisted that he continue in a government post as architect of military works under his aide-de-camp.

Despite the fact that he swore allegiance to Britain, he was reinstated inspector of public buildings when the Dutch reannexed the Cape in 1803 and was, once again, responsible for the design of all new buildings. Unfortunately, the end of Dutch occupation of the Cape in 1806 largely saw the end of Thibault’s illustrious career, at least from an architectural perspective. Because the new colonial government preferred their own Georgian style of architecture, they rather commissioned British architects to design both public buildings and private residences. As he had very few commissions, he was compelled, at the age of 57, to embark on a new career as a land surveyor. His final years were largely spent surveying properties between Cape Town and Simon’s Town. Despite his long and full career, it is said that, by the time Thibault died in November 1815, he was largely destitute.

During his 32-year-long career, Thibault served under four very different administrations and, thus, his style of architectural work sits awkwardly between the Baroque aesthetic of the Cape Dutch and the Georgian style of the English.

The style introduced by Thibault – and Anreith – was typified by white-washed, single-storey gabled homes, as well as flat- roofed pedimented double-storey houses and public buildings, most of which had a trademark ‘T’, ‘U’ or ‘H’ interior layout.

Unfortunately, there are few records that provide absolute proof of all the buildings Thibault was solely responsible for designing. However, of the buildings still standing today, he is known to have worked on the Freemason’s Grand Lodge de Goede Hoop, the Drostdy, in Tulbagh, the Customs House in the Buitenkant (now the Department of Works offices), the conversion of the façade of the Slave Lodge, and the wine cellar at Groot Constantia. Of the magnificent houses and homesteads of the era, Thibault is credited with designing the Koopmans-de Wet House in Strand street, Stellenberg, in Kenilworth, Groot Constantia, the Manor house on the Uitkyk Wine Estate, and Ballotina, in Tulbagh.