General jan christiaan smuts house

Home to General Jan Smuts for over 40 years, Doornkloof in Irene, Southeast of Pretoria, is a unique museum that reveals much about the life and the spirit of this great statesman.

Soldier, scholar, statesman and philosopher, General Jan Christiaan Smuts was one of South Africa's most remarkable leaders, an enigmatic and multifaceted person who was never fully understood by his countrymen, but despite his fame and many talents, Smuts was at heart a simple man who yearned for peace and simplicity. 

It was at Doornkloof, a modest wood-and-iron farmhouse in the veld outside the village of Irene, that he found the tranquillity he craved; a place where, surrounded by his many children and grandchildren, he could indulge his passionate interest in botany. 

Doornkloof, now called Smuts House Museum, has been preserved for future generations as a living memorial to the man known to everyone as 'Oubaas', housing many relics and mementos