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The first major restorations at the Koopmans-De Wet House extended
over a period of seven years. They were led by
Dr William Frederick Purcell (1866-1919) a zoologist who joined
the SA Museum in 1896. As a young man he had the opportunity to
meet and befriend Marie Koopmans-De Wet who would take great interest
in his work. She would later appoint him as one of the executors
of the joint will.
Dr Purcell became a driving force behind the establishment of the
Koopmans committee and the purchase of the house for the nation.
He voluntarily undertook the large scale renovations of the then
dilapidated house. This labour of love lasted from 1913 until his
death in 1919. His aim was to restore the house to its original 18th century appearance and to subsequently furnish it
as a house museum to be viewed by the public. During restorations
Dr Purcell kept a complete record of all that was revealed in a
scientific and methodological manner. He also personally supervised
the works.
The renovations comprised of removing the age-old plaster from
the exterior walls which revealed the construction of the brick
walls. Based upon careful examinations of these walls Dr Purcell
concluded that the building was constructed in different stages. The
original building would have been erected at the beginning of the
18th century, consisting of a main rectangular building with a part
of a wing on the South. During the mid-18th
century extensive alterations would have been made namely the addition
of the front of the house, as it is today, the northwest wing and
the first floor. Purcell managed to keep most of the old teak ceilings
except in the oldest part (lower hall) where some beams were replaced.
The roof was restored by replacing the flat roof of lime-concrete
with boards and ruberoid. Some structural elements were taken away
such as the staircase leading down from the trapdoor in the pantry
into the kitchen below, the outer closet room adjacent to the music
room, and the additional door below the smoking chamber in the
kitchen. Certain wooden partitions dividing up room were taken away
or replaced by the original brick walls. Most of these elements were
19th century additions. The woodwork inside the house was stripped
of thick coats of paint and varnish.
| A memorial tablet, made of Table
Mountain sandstone was unveiled at the Koopmans-De Wet House in
honour of Dr Purcell a few years after his death. At a small and
intimate ceremony he was described as "one of the best scientific
minds of South Africa". The house as it stands today as a museum
is a fitting monument to his memory. |
As to the interior of the house, his intention was to restore
each room as closely as possible to a condition during some period
of the 18th century. Dr Purcell had the wallpaper on the walls
removed and discovered the older painted decorations. He was fully
aware of the over-painting done in the 19th century
and carefully removed original plaster with signs of the older decorations
on it. Due to a lack of funds only a few rooms could be restored
at the time until they were rediscovered during the late 1970's!
The copious notes on his findings would then prove to be invaluable
to the reconstruction of these murals. Dr Purcell also discovered
that the front of the house had seen several layers of paint and
that the original colour would have been a dark colour. He also
found evidence of the green colour for window frames, shutters and
doors. These findings would subsequently be used for the restoration
80 years later in 1994. From his working notes it is evident that
Dr Purcell spent a great deal of time studying construction materials
and methods. It appears that where possible he tried to adhere to
these methods and had duplicates made according to the original
model.
Dr Purcell died on 3 October 1919 at his home Bergvliet in Constantia.
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