This unsatisfactory situation continued until the late 1830s, when Governor Sir Benjamin D'Urban granted a plot of land to the school that had once housed a zoo at the end of Government Avenue in Company's Garden for use while a new building was constructed.

The land could be accessed from Government Avenue through Leeuepoort, built by Louis Michel Thibault and Anton Anreith.

The college English professor, James Constantine Adamson, made a rough sketch of the building in the then-popular Egyptian Revival architecture style.

Lewis of the Royal Engineers adopted the proposal and expanded on it once finished with the old military hospital.

When construction began on the new building, the site was still surrounded by the abandoned cages that once held animals for Capetonians' entertainment.