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As with all Bradclin Properties, attention to detail is paramount and your comfort is ensured. THE GARDEN CITY OF PINELANDS, SOUTH AFRICA The development of Pinelands has a unique role in the history of South Africa as it was the first town-planned area to be established in the country. The idea of a new form of city based on economic and scientific principles was postulated by Ebenezer Howard in his book Garden Cities of Tomorrow, published in The concept, outlined in this book was that an estate could be bought and held in trust, first as security for debenture holders and second, in trust for people of the garden city. He conceived the idea of a planned town with public buildings and a park being built in the centre. Around the park would be situated a great arcade containing shops and other commercial activities. Houses and work areas would be surrounded by gardens and standards of architecture were to be established in order to maintain the beauty of the original site. The shops and factories whilst accessible to workers would be built where they would not spoil the landscape. This concept was a far cry from the sub-human level of housing which had resulted from the Industrial Revolution. Ebenezer Howard's intention was that the community would retain for its own benefit portion of the income derived from commercial sites and by this means be able to establish sites for recreation and leisure pursuits. His ideas led to the formation of the Garden Cities Association and the subsequent establishment of Letchworth and Welwyn, England, the world's first Garden Cities. Immediately after the First World War, conditions in the urban areas of South Africa were deteriorating rapidly. The diamond and gold rush had brought many people to towns, the Great War had caused sharp rent increases and the influenza epidemic carried off thousands of people in the Cape Peninsula alone. In 1900, on the northern border of Pinelands and adjacent to the industrial area, N'dabeni, there were built a number of wood and iron hostel huts first used by the Cape Government to accommodate bubonic plague patients and later occupied by elderly people. Once the site for Pinelands had been determined and the Trust Deed drawn up it was necessary to commence the design and layout of the Garden City and a competition, open to local architects, was held. Although the first prize was awarded to John Perry the designs for the layout and various types of houses were rejected after being referred to Sir Raymond Unwin, the planner of the first Garden City of Letchworth. The architectural firm who had planned the development of Welwyn were then appointed to develop the Uitvlugt housing project and Mr. A. J. Thompson, the first Supervising Architect of Pinelands, was sent out from England for this purpose under a two year contract. Strict building lines were adhered to and as Thompson foresaw that Pinelands would need more than one railway station, attention was paid to the siteing of these with major roads being planned to lead to them. A small civic centre was located in the heart of the township. However, the Administrator of the Cape, Sir Frederick de Waal, had little faith in Pinelands and would not sponsor the loans for properties to be built in the area. Views of Meadway: Original thatched-roofed cottages with Table Mountain as a back-drop to the west. In order to avoid incorporation into the City of Cape Town, the community of Pinelands voted to create an independent municipality of the then Pinelands Local Board. Sadly, with the promulgation of legislation reorganizing local authorities, the independent Municipality of Pinelands was disbanded at that meeting, management control being vested in the Cape Town City Council and later the management of Cape Town Unicity. This change has been accompanied by a distinct change in character and a widely held perception that the (now) suburb of Cape Town and its people has lost considerably more than Cape Town ideologically would ever have gained.