Canigou House
In September 1898 teaching began in a new building for Rondebosch High School, a property which was purchased for £1 900. The demand for increased school accommodation finally caught up with Mr Ramage himself when it was decided that the thatched-roof cottage in which he - and some pupil-boarders - were living would have to be converted into three full-scale classrooms.
The enterprising Mr Ramage immediately took matters into his own hands in 1900 by buying an adjacent property, Canigou Estate, and opening Canigou House as a school hostel, beginning with 15 boarders.
When Ramage bought Canigou he acquired with it a large amount of ground including playing fields, woods, tennis courts, a swimming bath, a large vegetable garden - which the boys worked for themselves in plots - and a poultry run. There was a chapel - which became in turn dining room, common room and library - and a small hedged enclosure that was 'Lady Catherine's garden'. Canigou was truly a school house, where boys boarded, dined and debated - the Friday debating sessions brought boys together from all over the peninsula - and, in the gardens, worked and played together.
The original Canigou, for all its distinguished background and in spite of being the landmark home and focal point of Rondebosch High School for Boys for almost 40 years, was destined to have a limited existence; only memories of it remain among the oaks and the ornamental palms of its successor. Both the school's motto - 'higher and wider' - and the emblem of the spreading tree on its shield also speak of a time gone by, having derived from a stately oak that stood on the Canigou estate.
An inspection committee of 1938 condemned Canigou House as unsafe, with shaky foundations and rotting rafters and floor joists; in 1940 the building was demolished. The new Canigou, built in the early years of the Second World War, incorporated many of the features of the old house, and its gables, windows and wooden panelled interiors included some commemorative tiles by artist Letta Hill that illuminate historic links with the past.
An Era of Expansion
The acquisition of Canigou by Mr Ramage and its purchase by the school heralded an era of expansion in which various sites and properties in the vicinity were leased and bought to accommodate the growing demands of the school.
Oakhurst, adjoining Canigou, was used for boarding purposes until the building became so dilapidated that the boys had to move to Rossclaire and Homewood, two houses adjacent to the school in Rouwkoop Road. Oakhurst was eventually demolished and rebuilt as Mason House, after Sidney Mason, who was principal in the important years of growth from 1904 to 1927.
In his 23 years as headmaster, the mustachioed Mr Mason, known respectfully and affectionately as 'Dad' (and occasionally somewhat less respectfully as 'Old Sniffs') to the boys, not only introduced the school colours of light blue, dark blue and gold, the coat of arms and motto, but also started the Old Boys' Union and the school magazine which through its correspondence columns was later to provide a dramatic record of the valour and experiences of Rondebosch boys through the two world wars.