Embassy of South Africa, Bonn, Diplomatic building in Bad Godesberg, Germany
The former South African chancellery at Auf der Hostert 3 in Plittersdorf is a three-storey reinforced-concrete skeleton building with a suspended aluminium facade, built 1973–1975 to plans by Ernö Südi and Maria Südi-Simonyi. It stands on a 4,800 m² plot between the Schaumburger Hof and the former park of Villa Cleff. A retractable glass wall on the Rhine side let the garden be used for receptions; the usual representational elements of an embassy are largely absent.
The building opened on September 11, 1975, as South Africa's official diplomatic representation and remained in operation until 1999. The relocation of diplomatic missions to Berlin marked the end of its role as an active embassy.
The building's name lives on in the street address Auf der Hostert 3, in Plittersdorf's old village core, between the Schaumburger Hof and the former park of Villa Cleff. The chancellery was designed by Bonn architects Ernö Südi and Maria Südi-Simonyi, and its representational elements were largely left out. A retractable glass wall on the Rhine side let the adjoining park be used for receptions.
The former chancellery stands at Auf der Hostert 3 in Plittersdorf, a short walk from the Von-Sandt-Ufer bank of the Rhine; the building is empty and fenced off, not a residence, and cannot be entered. South Africa still owns it and keeps it maintained, while a 2014 investor plan for 29 housing units on the 4,800 m² plot had not been started as of May 2025.
Bad Godesberg is home to nine former embassy buildings, and this one is less known because it ceased diplomatic operations relatively early. Together, these structures stand as silent reminders of Bonn's international importance during the Cold War era.
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