Rhodes Cottage Museum

Rhodes Cottage Museum is open to visitors weekday mornings on Monday to Saturday. The museum is manned by volunteer curators so if not open please phone 082 425 3092. To check seasonal opening hours or book a group visit or tour please call 021 788 1816.

Monday 10h00 - 14.00
Tuesday 10h00 - 14.00
Wednesday 10h00 - 14h00
Thursday 10h00 - 14h00
Friday 10h00 - 14h00
Saturday 10h00 - 14h00

Entrance by donation

Cecil John Rhodes, born in Britain on 5th July 1854 was a colonial empire builder, and a one time Prime Minister of the Cape Colony. He purchased, in 1899, a section of property along the Main Road, Muizenberg which included the cottage and site now known as Rhodes Cottage Museum.

His health at this stage of his life was not good - he wanted to live near the sea and enjoy the fresh breezes from the south. Rhodes was a man of simple tastes and the furniture in the cottage was plain and sparse. He preferred this cottage to his other residences, including his Groote Schuur mansion in Rondebosch.

On the site was an existing cottage, which consisted of three large bedrooms and a living room, quite suitable for his bachelor lifestyle. In the grounds is a smaller cottage, (originally a fisherman’s cottage according to writer Lawrence Green) used over the years by different caretakers/curators and staff.

Cecil John Rhodes passed away in the cottage on 26th March 1902. The site remained in the possession of the Rhodes’ Trustees until it was donated to the Northern Rhodesian Government in 1932, and then to the City of Cape Town in 1937 on condition that the land and the buildings be regarded and kept as a Memorial to Cecil John Rhodes and that the land and buildings preserved by the City of Cape Town and kept in good repair.

On 27th January 1938 Rhodes Cottage was declared a National Monument in the Government Gazette because of its “historical significance”.