Houses of Parliament, Cape Town

Houses of Parliament
The old assembly building viewed from the Company's Garden
Location	Cape Town, South Africa
Architectural style(s)	Neoclassical, Cape Dutch architecture

The Houses of Parliament of South Africa are situated in Cape Town. The building consists of three main sections, with the original building completed in 1884, with later editions added in the 1920s, and again in the 1980s. The newest addition currently houses the National Assembly, being the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa, while the original building houses the National Council of Provinces, which is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa.

The original parliament building was built in a Neoclassical design incorporating features of Cape Dutch architecture. The later additions have been designed in such a way to blend in with the original building. The Houses of Parliament have been declared a National Heritage Site by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), being awarded grade 1 national heritage status, the highest status awarded by SAHRA.

Queen Victoria granted permission for the establishment of a parliament in the Cape Colony in 1853. The first sittings were held in the Governor's residence, the Tuynhuys, after which sittings were held in the Goede Hoop Masonic Lodge. The then upper house was housed in the old supreme court building, which itself had been the slave lodge under VOC rule.

MPs noted that the masonic lodge building was unimposing, and did not command any respect.

Although opposed by then Prime Minister Molteno due to financial considerations, a committee was set up to receive designs for a new parliament building. The committee selected an elaborate design by architect Charles Freeman, and construction began on 12 May 1875, with the then Governor of the Cape Colony, Henry Barkly, laying the cornerstone.

Almost immediately it was discovered that Freeman's plans were faulty. Freeman's errors were compounded by the presence of groundwater, and a recalculation of the budget revealed that the actual costs would be many times the original figure that the government had allowed for. For his incompetence, Freeman was fired, and Henry Greaves was appointed architect in 1876. Freeman's plans were altered to exclude seemingly unnecessarily expensive features such as a central dome, statues, parapets and fountains.