Louis Michel Thibault, born September 29, 1750, was a French-born South African architect, engineer, and surveyor who studied at the Académie Royale d’Architecture in Paris. After further studies in military engineering, he became a protégé of Colonel Charles Daniel de Meuron, who led a Swiss mercenary regiment commissioned by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to defend the Cape Colony. Thibault joined the regiment but soon settled in the Cape Colony in 1785 after marrying a local woman.
As an inspector of public buildings with the VOC, Louis Thibault met and collaborated with Anton Anrieth, contributing to a rich architectural heritage in Cape Town. In 1811, he became a government land surveyor and designed many notable buildings in a distinctive neoclassical style. His work includes the Kat balcony at the Castle of Good Hope, the Koopmans-de Wet House, the wine cellar at Groot Constantia, and Uitkyk in Stellenbosch.
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