Heritage house for sale
EMMARENTIA – The 1886 home of Louw Geldenhuys is on the market, but will forever stay a very important place of heritage in Johannesburg.
It looks like something out of the Victorian period, where women with long skirts and corsets and men with top hats walked around drinking tea on the wrap-around veranda.
The house of Louw Geldenhuys in Greenhill Road, Emmarentia is up for sale. The house dates back to 1886/7 and was the original farmhouse on the farm Braamfontein belonging to Louw Geldenhuys. It is believed that Geldenhuys built this house for his wife, Emmarentia. This is also where the name of the Emmarentia Dam originated.
Frans Geldenhuys, Louw’s brother’s house is located at Marks Park and is now used as a clubhouse. According to Lucille Davie, author of Joburg’s oldest buildings, Louw and Emmarentia are buried in a small graveyard in Hill Road, which is a few blocks behind the house.
The current owner of the house, who wishes to remain anonymous, said it is important to preserve historic sites in a modern city like Johannesburg. “If you don’t know where you came from, you can’t understand the present,” the owner said. He added that they bought the house in 1992 and that it means a lot to them.
“The house represents our married life. It is also the home where we brought up our daughter. It has been a privilege to live in a home with such grand proportions, while at the same time being unpretentious.” He added that giving up the home is very painful for the entire family.
The owners will be relocating to Cape Town. “We have a ton of memories that we will take with us,” he said.
The home is very large with five bedrooms, two kitchens, a pantry, two sun rooms and much more.
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