| Oranjezicht | |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | South Africa |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Western Cape |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Type3: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name3: | City of Cape Town |
| Subdivision Type4: | Main Place |
| Subdivision Name4: | Cape Town |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Leader Party: | DA |
| Leader Title: | Councillor |
| Leader Name: | Vivienne Walker |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 1.13 |
| Population Total: | 3580 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Racial makeup (2011) |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Black African |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 13.3% |
| Demographics1 Title2: | Coloured |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 5.2% |
| Demographics1 Title3: | Indian/Asian |
| Demographics1 Info3: | 2.2% |
| Demographics1 Title4: | White |
| Demographics1 Info4: | 74.6% |
| Demographics1 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics1 Info5: | 4.7% |
| Demographics Type2: | First languages (2011) |
| Demographics2 Title1: | English |
| Demographics2 Info1: | 65.6% |
| Demographics2 Title2: | Afrikaans |
| Demographics2 Info2: | 22.6% |
| Demographics2 Title3: | Xhosa |
| Demographics2 Info3: | 1.7% |
| Demographics2 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics2 Info5: | 10.2% |
| Timezone1: | SAST |
| Utc Offset1: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code (street) |
| Postal Code: | 8001 |
| Postal2 Code Type: | PO box |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
Oranjezicht (Dutch: orange view) is a suburb in the City Bowl area of Cape Town, South Africa. It was built on the site of the old Oranjezicht farm, which used to stretch at least as far as the Mount Nelson Hotel and supplied the Castle of Good Hope with fresh produce.
In 1708, Nicolaus Laubscher (1651–1721), who had immigrated in the 1670s from the Swiss canton of Fribourg, bought a property on the slopes of Table Mountain that he called "Oranjezicht" because of the good view from there of the Oranje (Orange) bastion of the Castle.[2] Subsequent to his death, the farm was evidently acquired by Pieter van Breda (1696–1759), who arrived at the Cape in 1719 from the Netherlands.[3] "Oranjezicht" was a farm for the next two centuries.Some of the buildings of the farm as well as the old slave bell are still at the location where the farm once stood. The farmhouse was on the property directly to the east of what is now a public park and playground. It was torn down in the 1960s to make way for a bowling green, which was later replaced by the Oranjezicht City Farm, a non-profit community farm project celebrating local food, culture and community through urban farming in Cape Town, in 2013.
The Molteno Dam was built in 1877, to provide water for Cape Town by storing natural spring water from Table Mountain. At the time it was located on the mountain slopes above the infant city, but the city grew around it and it is now in the middle of the Oranjezicht suburbs. It is still in operation today.[4] The Graaff Electric Lighting Works, commissioned in 1895, is located next to the Molteno Dam and was Cape Town's first municipal electrical power plant and the second power plant in South Africa.