Paulshof’s changing landscape
PAULSHOF - The suburb of Paulshof has been propelled into the spotlight following the application to extend the K60 road through the suburb.
The road was first proposed in the 1970s and while debates around the road rage on, Fourways Review investigated how the suburb’s landscape has changed from the 1970s.
Luke Goncalves of The Heritage Portal is studying Paulshof and said that a map from the 1970s indicated that the area was known at Kildrummy.
“A farmer, Mr Laing from Kildrummy in Scotland owned a dairy farm and Laing Street is named after him,” said Goncalves.
Beverley Ballard-Tremeer has lived in Paulshof since the early 1980s and remembers Mr Laing’s dairy farm and said his Jersey cows always came up trumps at the Rand Agricultural Show. “I met him on a few occasions and he told me that buck roamed the area in the 1950s.”
Laing contributed to the suburb that was known as the Garden Village of the north. “The large trees along the seasonal river such as Willows and Poplars, were all planted by Mr Laing. The rest was veld so it is due to the residents that Paulshof is now a suburb of trees,” said Ballard-Tremeer.
There is dispute as to where Laing’s farmhouse was situated. Goncalves said, “I do know that the original Kildrummy farmhouse is located within a housing complex in Jatinga Lane called Forest Lodge. I visited it last weekend. It’s been subdivided into three sectional title units and some of the outbuildings, such as the milking shed, storehouses and stables have been converted into sectional title units too.
Unfortunately a lot of the history was hardcopy documented and was destroyed when a trustees’ house was flooded,” said Goncalves.
Robert Moss built a house in the suburb in the 1980s and remembers Laing’s house on Laing Street where Long Island complex is now situated and remembers uniformed butlers waiting on the household. Ballard-Tremeer also said Laing Street marked the road in front of Laing’s farmhouse.
“The house and surrounding area remained intact, and the ratepayers hoped for a community centre, but out of the blue it was knocked down and the last townhouses built,” said Ballard-Tremeer.
In February 1988, a town official changed the name from Kildrummy to Paulshof. Goncalves said, “The name was chosen to reflect an earlier settler than the Laing family but I cannot find out who this is at the stage.” He said this was met with hostility.
In 1989, 14 percent of the 800 households in Paulshof took part in a referendum and 75 percent voted in favour of changing the name back to Kildrummy. Yet the name never changed.
Ballard-Tremeer said Paulshof first developed between Stonehaven Road and Umhlanga Avenue, known as Paulshof central and has expanded with Paulshof hill, extension 10, east and west.
Fourways review is looking for information on how Paulshof’s street names are Zulu-inspired. To contribute, e-mail daniellap@caxton.co.za
