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Kommetjie, Cape Town

Kommetje was established in 1902 when a consortium of Cape Town businessmen purchased the farm Kommetje from its owner, J Albertyn, and developed it as a residential suburb of Cape Town. They subsequently renamed it Llandudno. The group included land developer Johannes Gerhardus van der Horst, builder Giuseppe Rubbi, architect Ernst Seeliger, builder Anton Benning, and Government surveyor Henry Teubes. Rubbi, who was born in Padova, Italy, in 1873, trained as a carpenter, and emigrated to the Cape in 1891. There he married his childhood sweetheart, Ines Mattiello, and rapidly became one of Cape Town's largest building contractors

Kommetjie is a village with a unique and special blend of beach, mountains, sea, nature and surf… Beautiful to live in, remarkable for a day trip, and amazing for a holiday! Kommetjie is a village on the West coast of the Cape Peninsula. With around 3000 residents, it has a peaceful rural atmosphere, which most residents wish to maintain. They are friendly and hospitable, but at the same time, fiercely defend their right to determine the pace and nature of their village. This is done in an open and transparent manner and all residents are invited to participate democratically. Most of the residents know one another and they support local ventures where possible and when reasonable. The neighbouring Suburbs are; Ocean View to the East and Scarborough to the South. The town of Fish Hoek on the East coast of the Peninsula is the nearest major centre with municipal offices and a traffic licensing station, as well as a train station linking it to Cape Town. Kommetjie is reached via Fish Hoek, or from Ou Kaapse Weg over the mountain, or along the scenic West coast route along Chapman’s Peak Drive. For many years the area was regarded as a place for picnics and holidays, and families came from Wynberg, Noordhoek and Fish Hoek to camp among the milkwood trees for several weeks at a time over the Christmas season.
Kommetjie celebrated its centenary in 2003, but in reality 1903 only marked the first house being built here. Most of the first homes (along the Kom) were holiday homes only. Many of the Kommetjie streets were named after families who first settled here, including De Villiers, van der Horst, Seeliger, Benning, Van der Poll and Kirsten. Kommetjie Primary used to be known as Slangkop Public School and was opened on the 10th of March 1908.

Modernisation in the 1960s included; developments such as the provision of electricity, water from the Wemmershoek Dam and Ou Kaapse Weg contributed to greater housing activity! .

References
https://www.kommetjie.org/