A tunnel that’s mentioned to have run from a mansion reverse Graaff’s Pool in Sea Point, Cape Town, is the topic of native folklore. The blocked-off archway can nonetheless be seen in the present day and plenty of tales, which have been reshaped and retold over time, encompass its origin.
GRAAFF’S POOL ORIGINS
The excessive, white concrete wall surrounding Graaf’s Pool was partially eliminated in June 2005. Alderman JP Smith, a Sea Point ward councillor at the time, led the cost for the wall’s destruction, saying it promoted “anti-social behaviour” by obscuring felony actions, together with prostitution and drug use, from public view.
News24 reported that Smith needed to break the wall additional down to the rock floor and restore the space to its authentic state.
The City of Cape Town mentioned Graaff’s pool was in-built 1870. In a media release about the demolition, the native authorities mentioned the pool was named after Jacobus Graaff and commented on the tunnel’s legend. “Legend has it that it was originally built as a wading pool. There was a tunnel underneath the road and the grandmother used to be wheeled to bathe in the tidal pool.”
Much hypothesis surrounds the origin of the tunnel. One principle is the Graaf household constructed it to enable them to stroll down to the seashore and bathe in the sea with out interacting with frequent people. The pool was donated to the City Council in 1929, in accordance to Cape Town Etc.
Another principle is that the tunnel was constructed by Mr Pieter Marais, a rich businessman with ties to the wine business, in 1903 and named it Villa Bordeaux after the well-known wine area in France.
Marais’ spouse, who grew to become often known as the Lady of Bordeaux, fell unwell after the demise of her solely baby shortly after childbirth and was confined to a wheelchair.
Marais reportedly constructed the tunnel for his spouse to entry the seashore whereas being hidden from the public due to the stigma and lack of understanding of incapacity at the time.
The Villa Bordeaux was offered to the Graaf household when Marais fell on onerous occasions in the early 1900s, and the mansion was finally demolished in 1959. Bordeaux Residential Apartments, one of the largest blocks of flats in Sea Point, now stands at the spot.
MANY TALES OF THE TUNNEL
The story of the woman in the wheelchair is probably the most well-known story connected to the obvious tunnel and is shared through native historical past pages on social media.
After the pool grew to become a public amenity, its exclusivity remained. It grew to become a male-only facility in the Nineteen Seventies and was completely utilized by males who sunbathed in the nude. Women had been solely allowed to use the pool a lot later in 1994 when the “men only” indicators had been eliminated, in accordance to the City.
Andre Malan’s architectural thesis, Below Bordeaux, Hidden Histories in Sea Point, offers with the lore surrounding the tunnel.
“Exactly how much is truth and how much fantasy is not as important as the existence of the story itself,” he wrote.
Malan wrote that the excluded had been compelled to think about what occurred behind the wall. “Projections of their forbidden desires overflowed into conversations, novels and newspapers.”
The thesis presents one other “more plausible” account of the Sea Point tunnel, which denies that it ever reached the Villa Bordeaux.
In 1966, a Cape Argus journalist, John de Nobreaga, tried to debunk the tunnel story and titled the article The Tunnel That Never Was.
In the article, De Nobreaga mentioned the partially coated archway, which is seen in the present day, is the stays of a subway for the previous railway line that ended on the different facet of the tracks.
In 2012, a brief movie impressed by Graaff’s Pool titled Behind the Wall was launched. Its makers mentioned the pool has change into a landmark in folklore and native consciousness and has served varied marginalised teams.
WATCH THE FILM BELOW:
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