The property in Loop Street is situated between the cross roads Waterkant and Strand and originally consisted of two erven, No4 and No5 Loop Street. The property changed hands at regular intervals until the two erven were consolidated to form erf 1757 Cape Town.  It is presumed that the two houses were demolished shortly after 1900 when the present building was erected with a basement, three storeys and an attic.

 

The building caught fire in 2009 but fortunately the masonry and veranda of the front elevation, some of the ground floor joinery and the steel post and beam structure survived relatively intact.

 

A mezzanine was proposed on the top floor to increase the lettable space. However, it was considered important to keep the original ridgeline of the roof visible from Loop Street.  This increase in headroom was achieved by sloping the roof up from the ridge at a shallow pitch, so as not to be visible from Long Street, and then down towards the back of the site. For views out over Long Street from the mezzanine, a 900mm band of glazing runs the length of the roof between the main roof ridge and the ridges of the two roofs over the building’s two gables.  This was seen to be less disruptive to the elevation than puncturing the roof slope with rectangular windows.

 

A contemporary steel and timber staircase was inserted in the same position as the burnt out original. This is lit by a skylight that also allows natural light to permeate into the surrounding spaces.