The Thousands

When I hear ‘one of the oldest buildings in SA’ I think ‘ghosts’. When I read ‘former Treasury building’ I think ‘money and gold’.  Add these together and multiply by ’19th century’, ‘land grants’ and ‘power’, and the equation in my head equals ‘bloody colonial murder and violence’. Prime ghost territory for the paranoid, this place did little for my phasmophobia. But it was all an illusion. The history suggests something a little more sedate (and less bloody).

The 19th century architects, most likely with a bit of gold dosh for the build, definitely got a few things right, and the conversion to today works. It’s spacious – high ceilings soar above your head. The old brick detailing is left unrendered and bare. Underground tunnels allow you to yield to myths of a beneath the city tunnel network, not to mention unwanted ghostly fantasies. Play colonial war in the cabinet room. Where natural light lacks, it is supplemented by spot lighting.

The Medina Grand Treasury specializes in private apartments and mine was bigger than my house. It’s the kind of place you want to be reading the Financial Times while simultaneously checking your stocks on your Blackberry. The power is still here.