The Cottage Hospital

This attractive sandstone corner property was once a hospital and did service during the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918. At that time Dr J A Raubenheimer was the resident doctor. The great numbers of casualties from this dreaded disease were moved to a temporary mortuary set up in the small cream-coloured building on the left in Loop Street. The old oak tree across the street is known as "Die Dokter se Boom" because many a foot-weary patient sat in the shade of its branches while waiting to see the doctor.

The building has had many uses since it was constructed during the affluent years of the two Ostrich Feather Booms of 1880 to 1914. After the death of Dr Raubenheimer in 1923 the building was used as an annex to Van Vuuren’s Boarding House which stood on the open area across the road, now a public parking-area.

In 1940 Colonel C P Nel acquired the building to house his private museum collection which he bequeathed, upon his death in 1950, to the citizens of Oudtshoorn. It then became the C P Nel Museum and the property of the Municipality. The collection was moved to the old Boys’ High School building in 1972 where it became the core of the present very highly-regarded provincial museum.

The old hospital building was then temporarily used as a college and today it accommodates the administrative offices of Child Welfare.