De Rust - Heidelberg (Gauteng)

-
Date: 1906

Original owner: Frederik Jacobus Bezuidenhout

Architect: Mattheus Carel August Meischke

Builder: Johannes Stephanus Joubert (1870-1949). Also involved in construction of the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Locality: Farm Boschfontein (6 morgen). R42, west of Heidelberg

The 792m² historic mansion known as De Rust (sometimes referred to as the Bezuidenhout mansion or De Rust Homestead). It is an impressive Edwardian-era mansion with 14 rooms (including 4 bedrooms, a men's smoking room, a ladies' lounge, and a spacious entrance hall). It was built as a substantial country residence for the wealthy Bezuidenhout family. The house reflects the prosperity of early 20th-century Transvaal farming families and the architectural tastes of the period. While many old farmsteads in the region are simpler, De Rust was designed to be more elaborate and stately.

Materials and fittings were imported. It has Oregon Pine floors and pressed steel ceilings. The mosaic tiles in the passage were imported from Italy. The steel stoep baulstrades were imported from Glasgow, Scotland. It was one of tthe first private house in the Transvaal with electricity and one of the first to have indoor plumbing/sewerage.

The Heidelberg Heritage Association has awarded it a Blue Plaque.


(Images: Remax)

Locality map

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

John O'Reilly

-
Image
Full name: John Robert "Diamond Jack" O'Reilly Lifespan: 1831 Grahamstown - 1904  Taung Occupation: Travelling peddler, hunter, diamond prospector, farmer John O'Reilly Timeline Personal details John Robert O'Reilly was the eldest son of James O’Neill O'Reilly (or James O'Neil O'Reilly) and Ida Hendriks (Yda Wilhelmina Hendrikz). His father left the family poorly provided for, prompting O'Reilly and his brothers to become traders and hunters. He first married Maria Greaves (1845 - 1884, British Bechuanaland) in 1868, in Colesberg. They had six children. After Maria's death, he married Henrietta Sarah Renou (1867 Port Elizabeth - 1947, Taung) in 1886. The ceremony was officiated by Rector William Thomas Gaul (1850–1927). They had seven children (totaling 13 for O'Reilly). The territory known as British Bechuanaland (annexed 1885, later incorporated into the Cape Colony and Union of South Africa) encompassed areas including Vryburg, Maf...
Read more

Rhenish Mission Church (Sarepta) - Kuils River

-
Image
Aka: Uniting Reform Church, Sarepta Built: 1843 Architect: Unidentified Status: Extant (Source: URC on Facebook) Timeline Location Notes The Rhenish Missionary Society (named after the Rhine River region in Germany) was one of the largest German missionary organizations, formed by amalgamating smaller missions dating back to 1799 and officially established on 23 September 1828. Its first ordained missionaries were dispatched to South Africa by year's end, where they began work in various towns, focusing on conversion to Christianity and community support. In 1829, the Society founded its first congregation in Stellenbosch, with Reverend Paul Daniel Lückhoff as the initial minister. Jana (Johanna) van den Berg (c.1800 - 1860), also known as Moeder Jana , was a formerly enslaved woman who, like many others emancipated in 1838, settled in the sandy dunes surrounding Kuils River - an informal community with little access to formal institutions. She became one of the earliest memb...
Read more

Coert Steynberg

-
Image
Full name:  Coert Lourens Steynberg Lifespan:  1905 Hennopsrivier - 1982 Pretoria Occupation:  Sculptor, medallist. Coert Steynberg. Unidentified photographer. Timeline Biography Coert Steynberg was a prominent South African sculptor and medallist. He worked in a variety of materials, including granite, marble, sandstone, glass, bronze, copper, and wood, and created both large-scale public monuments and smaller, more intimate private works. Early Life and Education Steynberg in Venice, third from left. Unidentified photographer. Born in Hennops River (near Pretoria) in the Transvaal Colony. At the age of four, his family moved to Bethal (Mpumalanga) where he matriculated. Steynberg studied art at Rhodes University in South Africa before advancing to the Royal College of Art in London, where he studied sculpture under Gilbert Ledward . Here he received the August Spencer trophy for best sculpture student. Steynberg spent six years abroad, during which time he toured Europe...
Read more