National Heritage Council-Site Information

Railway Station Building

Other Site Details

Classification	\|	A.11.2.4. (Complexes of) Buildings, Public, Railway Buildings
Proclamation No	\|	058/1972
Place	\|	Swakopmund, Theo-Ben Gurirab Ave.
Region	\|	Erongo
Site Environment	\|	Some hundred metres from the city centre.
Instangible Aspects	\|	One of the best examples of the Wilhelminian style in Namibia.
Previous Use	\|	Railway station.
Current Use	\|	Hotel with casino.
Refences	\|	Government Gazette 3685, No. 1909, 1972. Vogt, Andreas, "National Monuments in Namibia", Windhoek 2004, p.162-163.
Legal Status	\|	Declared as National Monument on 27.10.1972 by the National Monuments Council of South Africa (NMC, National Monuments Act 1969, No. 28).

Description

One-storeyed main building winged by two-storeyed tracts on either side. Also a clock tower.

Brief History

The great drought 1897-1898 ander the outbreak of the rinderpest made it necessary to provide the inner country with the essential goods via railway instead of oxwagons. Within 5 years the line to Windhoek was constructed. The construction of the station building according to the plans of the architect Carl Schmidt took place in 1901 after a contract between the "Kaiserliche Eisenbahnverwaltung" (imperial railway administration) and the Swakopmunder Handelsgesellschaft" (trading company) was closed. Because Schmidt's contract had lapsed before the construction was finished and the SWA trading company experienced financial difficulties, Wilhelm Sander terminalised it. He added the clock tower. The station was used until 1994 when it was turned into a hotel with a casino.