The Kimberley Club Boutique Hotel

Name: The Kimberley Club Boutique Hotel
Address: 35 Currey Street, Kimberley, 8301, ZA
Telephone: +27538324224
Price range: $$
Rating: 3.9

Home
South Africa
Kimberley
The Kimberley Club Boutique Hotel

The Kimberley Club was founded in August 1881 by leading men of Kimberley who wanted a meeting place

Address

35 Currey Street
Kimberley
8301

Telephone

+27538324224

Website

https://www.kimberleyclub.co.za/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Kimberley Club Boutique Hotel posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your business to be the top-listed Hotel in Kimberley?

The Kimberley Club

The Kimberley Club has a tradition all its own with stories not confined to its buildings – stories of its members and of unique associations. It’s seen the “comings and goings” of some of the foremost personalities in the world – has entertained sovereigns, princes & princesses, Governors and high commissioners and has housed legendary figures whose vision and energy have pioneered new territories.

Founded in 1881 by Cecil John Rhodes and the top men in the diamond industry, a visitor once said “the place was stuffed with more millionaires to the square foot than any other place in the world”. Many historic decisions have been made at the club, affecting not only Kimberley, but Southern and Central Africa and the international diamond industry. History has now been rewritten with the comprehensive renovation and refurbishment of the world-famous club – 120 years of history re-shaping the future. Become a member of the fraternity that has shaped the future of South Africa…live the dream!

Interesting Things About the Kimberley Club’s History

Worldwide, old-style gentlemen’s clubs are going the way of the dinosaurs. But the venerable Kimberley Club & Boutique Hotel has found a way to combine a modern outlook with tradition and history.

Here are things you probably don’t know about this historic gem, which is open to paying guests.

Impact on history There are few social clubs that have had as great an impact on the early colonial history of Southern Africa as the Kimberley Club. Cecil John Rhodes was a founding member and it is said that he sat on the club veranda working on plans to colonise what later became Rhodesia. Another founding member was Dr Leander Starr Jameson, who used the premises as his planning base for the ill-fated Jameson Raid of 1895 into the Transvaal Republic. The raid contributed to the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.

Benefits of membership Another colorful early member was Barney Barnato, who walked the 1 000km from Cape Town to the Kimberley diamond fields because he was penniless. He left 15 years later as a very wealthy man after selling his diamond-mining business to Rhodes. According to legend, Barnato was initially reluctant to sell, but a deal-clincher was that Rhodes arranged membership for him at the notoriously exclusive club.

Open to all In 2005 the Kimberley Club and Boutique Hotel became a combination of members’ club and four-star hotel, as a way to stave off closure due to rising costs and waning membership. The bar, guest rooms, restaurants and other historic facilities are thus open for paying guests to enjoy.

Blackballing of members For many years the club used the popular 18th-century system of voting in members using black and white balls. White balls were a ‘yes’ and black balls a ‘no’ (hence the term ‘blackballed’). If a person applying for membership was blackballed, the members who proposed and seconded his application were expected to resign in disgrace for a year. The wooden ‘voting case’ and the balls can still be seen at the club today, although they are no longer in use.