The Old Government House in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa,[1] was the official residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, Sir Benjamin Pine, who arrived in Natal in 1851.[2] The building was completed in the late 1860s. The Natal Government later bought it from Pine and established it as the Government House.
According to a 19th-century visitor: "Driving up to Government House one is struck by its very homely English appearance: in its outward form there has been not striving after giving it the resemblance of a palace: it is after a cottage type, and reminds me of many a vicarage at home."[3]