Admiralty House

The first ever land grant in Simon's Town was awarded to Antoni Visser in 1743, but the original building on the site dates back to the late 1720s. This building was later enlarged and used as a lodging house. It passed into Royal Navy ownership in 1814 when it became the home of the Commander in Chief of the South Atlantic Station. In 1957 it was taken over by the South African Navy and remained the home of the Chief of the Navy until Naval Headquarters moved to Pretoria in 1977. The building recently underwent extensive restoration. Interesting to note that the top left hand window is a fake.
The property was renamed Admirals House in 1957.
Across the road from the main entrance stands a huge pepper tree saved from being cut down by Lady Joy Packer, author and wife of Sir Herbert Packer, the only full Admiral to live in Admiralty House. She wrote "Apes and Ivory" in the sunroom on the north-east corner of the house.
The cannons in the garden are Portuguese from 1600's which came via India and Zanzibar and the figurehead is a copy from HMS Flora. The yellowwood tree to the right of the cannons was planted by King George VI during the Royal Visit to SA in 1947.