LOCATION: Mount Prospect & Timour Hall, Constantia
LEADERS: Alex Dodge & Pat Kramer
Mount Prospect lies adjacent to Groot Constantia in a very desirable area for people seeking comfortable, secure retirement homes.
It currently has a house, two barns and several outbuildings set in a large, neglected plot. Controversy arose in 2015 over a particularly dense development proposal, regarded by many as inappropriate, and the matter is still in contention. One knife-edge decision was not to grade it as Grade II (Provincial Heritage Site). We will discuss on site the reasons for this, and other hotly contested opinions related to the Constantia Heritage Landscape.
Several VASSA members have been involved in the matter, and we hope that they will come along to add their voices.
Mount Prospect
Hans Fransen (2004) wrote: “In a rural area where most farm complexes have been turned into gentlemen’s residences or housing estates, a real plaaswerf is a welcome sight. On Mt. Prospect the homestead is Victorian, with two bay-fronted, boldly projecting stoepkamers- the bays two-storeyed with loft windows. The back, with two flat stoepkamers, faces the werf, which includes two older, but much-altered outbuildings”.
Timour Hall
The property, on the banks of the Diep River, was granted To Johan Lochner of Mannheim in 1784. The name is presumed to have been derived from Timor in the East Indies.
Although the house appears to be Victorian, with a Cape Revival gable, it is a much earlier, late 18th century house. The voor-& agterkamer form the present impressive entrance hallway. The change in appearance is thought to have been made by Mrs. Aletta Smith, a granddaughter of William Duckitt, in the 1870s. At the rear is an irregularly shaped farmyard bounded by outbuildings, one of which is a ballroom.
There is a beautiful garden to picnic in at Timour Hall, should you wish to. The place was once run as a nursery, so the vegetation is fantastic.