Some of My Dwellings
Apart from my extended sojourns overseas (London, The Hague, Providence) I have lived all over the Cape Peninsula in rented flats and houses, mostly in Camps Bay and the southern suburbs. I have owned three properties over the years.
My first was a small semi-detached cottage in Harfield Village which I bought for R40k in 1983. It was a delightful place with an avocado tree in the back yard, and conveniently located for cycling to work at UCT and nearby shopping. These were good years, finishing my PhD and windsurfing, but an opportunity arose to purchase a plot in Hout Bay so I sold up and set about building a house.
In the mid-eighties plots in a new subdivision of Hout Bay (Hughenden) seemed relatively cheap and my sister Andrea and I both took up the offers. I bought a 1400 square meter plot for R50k and between May and August 1987 I set about clearing the virgin forest and levelling the plot. I wore out several chain saws cutting down pine trees!
Clearing the jungle
Levelling the plot
By October 1987 I had a reasonably level plot with some lovely rock features that I turned into a braai area. At the same time I had contracted an young architect, Willem Otten, to design the house under my specific instructions (I am a civil engineer, after all!).
Making progress...
An early braai: Glynis, Marianne, Simon, Pete, & Rollie
The house took a good year to build and I moved in around July 1988. But there was still a huge amount of landscaping to be done: planting lawns and shrubs and carving out a driveway from the road up to the back of the house.
Nearly there...
The finished house
The entire house was face brick and wood. I built a mezzanine floor to accomodate my spacious bedroom and a bathroom and balcony. On the ground floor there were two other bedrooms and a bathroom (the only rooms in the whole house that had doors!).
My bedroom on the mezzanine floor
The lounge area
As happens, the project came in way over budget - around R150k, as I recall. Never mind, it was a beautiful place to live and I loved being there.
In 1999 I bought a flat in Camps Bay in a newly renovated block that had just been sectional-titled. I did some interior renovations of my own in cherry wood and marble. My next-door neighbour had a plunge pool which provided for many a social event. Indeed, from 1999 until 2004 I hosted a New Year's Eve party every year with a braai on my patio and a great deal of skinny-dipping in the pool (much to the delight of the upstairs neighbours, I think?).
My patio and front garden
The views were something else...
It was while living here that I started writing songs again, and recording my own music (see here ). I lived here for six wonderful years and yet the above pictures are the only ones I have apart from the songwriting one mentioned above. Too busy having a good time, I guess!