Rustenburg House, together with its Summer House, Main Road, Rondebosch.

When the VoC granted land in Rondebosch to the first free Burghers, Governor Jan van Riebeeck reserved a piece of this Land to be used as an Orchard by the Company. In February of that year the first bricks were made for a House on this Site, and this was probably completed by 1663. The Farm, later known as Rustenburg, was used by successive Commanders of the Cape as a country Residence, where they could Entertain important Visitors, one of them being Commander Hakius, who died here in 1671. In 1683 Simon van der Stel made it his preferred place of Residence, and used to ride into Cape Town on Horseback whenever he was needed to attend to official Business. He also devoted himself to the propagation of oak trees and the planting of vines, and although it eventually fell out of favour as an official Residence, by the middle of the 18th Century it retained its place as a model State Farm. A Second Storey was added to the House in about 1780 when the Façade was also altered by the addition of four fine Pilasters. By 1794 the House was reported to have fallen into a "ruinous" condition, although when the British invaded the Cape in 1795 it was considered to be important enough to be used as the Site of negotiations between the two parties. The terms of Dutch surrender were Signed here on 16 November 1795. During the short-lived Occupation that followed, General Dundas took up residence at Rustenburg, but when the Cape was returned to Dutch administration in 1804, the Farm, including its House and Summer House, was sold to Johannes Hoets. In the middle of the 19th Century the House was destroyed by fire, and although many parts of the original building were retained during the course of reconstruction, it was redesigned in a neo-classical idiom. During the early years of the 20th Century, the Building came into the possession of the Cape School Board, who in 1939 attempted to have it Demolished. This was prevented ultimately by the intervention of the HMC. The two Buildings were declared separately as National Monuments  under old NMC legislation on 22 August 1941, and 3 June 1960 respectively.