“We specialise in nooks and crannies,” said Ken Rayner of Shepstone Gardens, which occupies a fairytale labyrinth of shady gardens and structural flights of fancy between 4 and 12 Hope Road, Mountain View.
Shepstone Gardens is the home and ever-changing vision of Chris Rayner, who bought 8 Hope Road 37 years ago, and has renovated the site ever since in a frenzy of what his son, Ken, calls ‘obsessive compulsive building disorder’. From the renovation of one historical house, Chris progressed to landscaping its gardens, constructing a tower and chapel, and subsequently buying and redesigning several neighbouring houses. The result is an enchanting hotchpotch of sandstone walls and green tin roofs nestled against the Witwatersrand Ridge in splendid architectural eccentricity.
The Hope Road houses, built in the early 1900s, were commissioned by the Modderfontein Dynamite Company to draw the company’s engineers and managers to this dusty, unsophisticated mining town.
They are built from 350 million-year-old sandstone in a style familiar to Johannesburg’s older suburbs, but according to Ken, it is impossible to tell whether they are “Herbert Baker or Herbert Faker”. Stories abound about their history – including rumours that a labour dispute between the company and the Afrikaans prisoners of war who built the houses involved Mahatma Ghandi himself.
Despite this, the Rayners have not had their home declared an historical site. A heritage listing would limit Shepstone Gardens’ activities as a licensed venue, hotel, and gallery, not to mention Chris’ ceaseless renovations. Instead, the site was opened as a venue seven years ago, and has been busy every day since, as weddings take place alongside the construction that occupies a full-time crew six days a week.
Having run out of local stone, Chris imports Free State sandstone, and has graduated from rough-hewn structures to a smoother, more decorative finish. His latest project is a spectacular miniature castle intended for his own use – but, Ken suggests, there is every chance that this compulsive creator will change his mind before his vision is even completed.
Details: www.shepstonegardens.co.za
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