THE EARLY FARM HOUSES - THE BAROQUE STYLE

This is one of the earliest Cape Dutch houses to be built. The gable is in the early baroque style with elaborate swirling plaster bands on the front gable. The original roof was of thatch.

The rounded gables started to have more and more convaluted plaster bands, becoming the baroque style in full blossom. This is the front gable at Spier wine farm.







Another fine example of the baroque style is to be found at Vergenoegd, Just to the west of the picturesque town of Somerset West.









The sturdy farmstead at Webersburg is descidedly in the baroque style, with simpler "holbol" gables on the sides of the wings of the h-shaped house.

The house at Blaauwklippen is one of the earliest Cape Dutch farmhouses in Stellenbosch. The windows either side of the door lie neither within the gable nor to the outside of it.

Most of the gables in Franschhoek are in the neoclassical style, the exception being this one at bo la motte, which is an elegent reworking of the original gable.

LATER FARM HOUSES - THE GRAND PENINSULA STYLE

The most significant example of the style is to be found at the famous Groot Constantia farmhouse. This home was in turn based the governer's residence at the time, Newlands House. The gable style is also to be found at Rustenburg farm.
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As referred to above, the Grand Peninsula style consisted of a pretruding middle section sweeping over the front facade up into the gable. The plaster here is rougher and the banding less articulated creating an even more raw country appeal.

THE NEOCLASSICAL STYLE

After the baroque style had run its course, the Neoclassical style began to dominate, featuring pedimented gables supported by pilasters and often flanked with decorative urns. The home at La Dauphine in Franschhoek is one of the finest examples.