Historical Buildings in Worcester

Captain Charles Trappes was responsible for the planning of the town. A dubious character in some ways, Trappes, however, was far in advance of his time when he laid out the wide streets and town blocks with vision and a high regard for squares. Trappes made the early builders put the houses close to the street and soon these builders would develop their own style of gables. An early visitor, James Backhouse found 1300 people living in the rising town in 1840. Bishop Gray said in 1845 that the houses were a great distance from each other.

Most of the character and charm of the old buildings was lost as the consumer driven government and society replaced these buildings with new administrative and retail buildings, based on American consumerism. Fortunately Worcester always had a active historical society and a lot of the original buildings in the Historic Church Street were preserved and restored to their former glory.

Economic factors led to a diverse and cosmopolitan society in Worcester, outside of Cape Town, the only town that would develop as such in the Western Province during the late 19th century, and the legacy of this society can be admired through the architecture employed throughout the town.

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