Blue plaque unveiling at 28 Fenter Street
The Heidelberg Heritage Association recently awarded a blue plaque to 28 Venter Street.
Tony Burisch handed over the plaque to the owner, Corrie Du Plessis.
Farm Langlaagte 172, on which Heidelberg was founded in 1859, belonged to OA Strydom and his brother-in-law JL Venter. Fenter Street was named after JL Venter and he would have cared less whether his name was spelt with an F or a V.
Fenter Street leads in a northerly direction towards the luxurious Kloof Estate. It was a sought-after place for gatherings in the Old Transvaal.
Number 28 Fenter Street has been a mainstay in the area.
The dates on the gables indicate 1918; however, the house could be older as the gables were only added onto the property in 1918.
According to Hazel Matthysen (nee Gemmel), an elderly neighbour who has since died, the two outside rooms were used as an English school in 1895.
Most of the houses in Fenter Street were built by Johannes Christian Kriegler, a school teacher, astute speculator and military strategist.
He died during the Second Anglo Boer War in 1900 at the Brandfort Hospital Battle and was laid to rest in the Heidelberg Kloof Cemetery
The current owner, Corrie du Plessis, and his family, are the fourth residents of the premises as far as can be ascertained.
They moved into the premises in November 1994.
