Kruger House Museum

The house was built in 1883 by architect Tom Claridge and built by Charles Clark using a then-novel building material — milk-based whitewash for the cement render. The result is a low, broad-verandahed cottage in an unfussy Cape Vernacular style. It was deliberately understated: Kruger refused to live in a presidential palace and made a point of being accessible to ordinary burghers, who could walk up to the front verandah and request an audience.

Inside, the house is preserved with most of its original furniture, the family's china and silver, presidential gifts from European heads of state, Paul Kruger's hat, walking stick and rocking chair, and an extraordinary collection of photographs documenting the family's life and the build-up to the South African War. The dining room is set as it was for the family's last evening together before Kruger left Pretoria.

The grounds include a small museum building in the original stables with rotating exhibitions, the railway saloon coach that carried Kruger into exile through Mozambique, a Voortrekker wagon and Kruger's private chapel, where he preached and held family prayers. A statue of Kruger and a memorial garden complete the site.

Across the road is the small Reformed Church (Dopperkerk) that Kruger himself helped to found and where he served as elder for many years. Knowledgeable guides can walk you through the connection between Kruger's particular brand of Calvinism and the politics of the period.

Practical info: open Monday to Saturday from 08:30 to 16:00 and Sunday from 11:00 to 16:30. Entry is around R30 per adult and R15 per child. Kruger House is a five-minute drive from Church Square and is included on our Pretoria Day Tour for visitors interested in the South African Republic, the Anglo-Boer War and the architecture of 19th-century Pretoria.