Groot Schuur Hospital

The first hospital recorded in South Africa was established for the new settlers. It was at the newly built fort. It consisted firstly of tents and later wooden structures were built. This makeshift infirmary was called the Siekenhuys

The early hospitals at the site, De Kazerne and then De Groote Hospitaal. were mainly dedicated to Cape troops, seamen, and the poor. In 1818, Dr. Samuel Bailey paid for the first civilian hospital and named it after Governor Somerset. It was established to service the sick and needy. Patients included slaves and residents of the local slums who were infected with various chronic diseases.

The turreted yellow castle with a Tudor-style exterior became the Somerset Hospital. This hospital is still in use today.

In the 19th century, Cecil Rhodes bought a large piece of land on the slopes of Devil’s Peak. In his will he bequeathed his residence to the next prime minister; The land was to be used to build a university. When the medical faculty at the university was established in 1912 there was a need for a teaching hospital. This led the University in 1926 to lease about 2500 acres from Rhodes’s former estate to build the Groote Schuur Hospital.

Vintage pictures Groot Schuur 1938 during construction

Beginning in 1943 the clinical training facilities were made open to all races. Although other hospitals were segregated by race, Groote Schuur defiantly served all.

By 1938 the facilities of the hospital had become outdated, A new hospital was planned.  Architect F.D. Strong designed it with its façade of Corinthian columns, cherubs, and Grecian urns in the classical revival architecture of the Groote Schuur Hospital you see today..

In response to overcrowding, funds were raised to help build the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in 1956.

Groote Schuur Hospital  is most famous for the pioneering surgery performed by Christiaan Barnard, when he did the first heart transplant in 19,, Scenes of this are displayed in the Heart of Cape Town Museum.

Main Road, Observatory,

gshproffice@westerncape.gov.za