Casa Labia
Casa Labia (Italian for Labia Castle) is a Manor house in Muizenberg, Cape Town. It was built in 1929 by Count Natale Labia, an Italian aristocrat from Cerignola, Italy.[1] He wanted the building to reflect Palazzo Labia, his family home in Venice.[2][3][4]
| Casa Labia | |
|---|---|
Labia Kasteel | |
 Casa Labia viewed from Main road | |
| Lua error in Module:Infobox_mapframe at line 118: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
| General information | |
| Address | 194 Main Road |
| Town or city | Muizenberg |
| Country | South Africa |
| Client | Count Natale Labia |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Fred Glennie |
| Website | |
| https://www.casalabia.com/ | |
The house is now a restaurant/hotel and can be rented out as a venue.
History
Count Natale Labia was born in 1877 in the little town of Cerignola, near Foggia in Italy. He married Ida, daughter of Sir Joseph Robinson, 1st Baronet, in 1921. They decided to build the house in 1929, and it was completed shortly thereafter in 1930.[5] Angelo Zaniol was brought from Venice to furnish and decorate the house in Italian style. The house was built on a site that was long ago a old battery to protect False Bay from pirates. One of the first guests was King of Italy for his birthday on November 11th of 1930. The family also received guests such as Nicolaas Havenga, South African Minister of Finance and Isidore W. Schlesinger, a well known businessman.[6]
Following Benito Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), the strain was apparently too great on Count Labia and he died of a stress-related heart attack in January of 1936.[4] After his death, a State funeral was held for him. His widow then moved, with her two sons, to the Hawthorndon House in Wynberg. She died in 1961. The house was then leased to the Canadian Government as their embassy in Cape Town, then later to the Argentinean Government. The house was declared a national monument on 10 September 1982. In 2008, the Labia family regained ownership of the property.[2]
Gallery
References
This article "Casa Labia" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Casa Labia. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
- ↑ "Casa Labia Hotel". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "History of Casa Labia". Casa Labia Official Website. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
- ↑ "Casa Labia by Ideas Cartel".
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Italy comes to Cape Town". Cape Town ETC. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
- ↑ "Casa Labia Cultural Centre". Yellow Pages. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
- ↑ "Casa Labia, 198 Main Road, Muizenberg". South Africa History Online. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
