Sea Point’s Winchester Hotel is celebrating its centenary this year. The 100-year occasion has come with a careful, yet glorious, renovation. What started out as an apartment block in 1922 on a sleepy beachfront, has become an ongoing icon on Cape Town’s most popular promenade.

Before the architects and creatives at GAPP and Source IBA unveiled The Winchester’s new sparkling contemporary makeover late last year, SLOW was privileged to make a documentary piece following the journey.

You can watch that here:

Naturally, some imagery was left on the cutting room floor. But none as special as what came from what they called the Green Folder. In here we discovered several dozen of photos and architectural plans, bedrooms and bathrooms with a few questionable colour palettes. Dates were uncertain. Car models and fashion suggest late 90s early 00s at most.

But the biggest giveaway is the sense of style of the time. Not necessarily where The Winchester was at the time, but where we were.

So, with a unique sea breeze sense of anemoia — missing a time you’ve never experienced — here are 30 unseen photos. For your enjoyment, all of these were scanned in and cropped only.