Hotel site for sale
2009-10-15
THE site of the once famous Bainskloof Hotel was offered on auction on 6 October. However, there was little interest from prospective buyers, offering no more than R300 000 for the site valued at R4 million (according to the auctioneers of Julius Buchinsky, who are still negotiating with prospective purchasers). Numerous well-known persons used to visit the hotel annually, spending at least a week in the mountains to enjoy the exhilarating mountain air. The hotel was opened on 5 April 1926, but sadly, on 14 August 1976 (scarcely 50 years later) an all-consuming fire burnt the historic building to the ground. Very little of the priceless contents of the hotel could be saved. The hotel was built by AJG Schreuder and was later bought by the Lautenbach family who owned the hotel for about 40 years until it burnt down. Constance Lautenbach was 82 years old at the time. “What do we do now,” she said, “I have lost everything - also all my jewellery.” She and the barman at the time, Cecil Traub, were the only people in the hotel when the fire broke out in the early morning of that momentous Saturday. The hotel has never been rebuilt. The site comprises four erven consolidated into one, measuring 4 276m². It is zoned Residential 5 for specific use by a hotel, spa or mountain retreat of similar size to the original hotel, alternatively as four individual dwellings.
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