Historic home demolished
2010-04-01
Lise Beyers
A HISTORICAL house in Paarl has lost its battle against demolition. And now many questions are being asked amongst the heritage fraternity as to the apparent irregular means by which a demolition permit was acquired. The historic building in Cecilia Street, near the Paarl Mall which was built in 1812, belonged to local veterinarian Pietie van Aarde, who sold it in 2004, to allow access from the N1 to the Paarl Mall. The house was purchased by the Mall developers who in turn sold it to Mark Philp whose intention was to develop the property into a vehicle showroom. This plan however fell apart when the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) blocked this development due to the fact that the property is situated at a crucial off-ramp from the N1. Sanral also implied that they might need part of the property at a later stage for the purpose of widening the road. The transaction was thus declared nul-and-void and the property was re-auctioned to a Cape Town businessman, Theodore Bassett. By this time the house had slowly but surely been ruined by vandals who had carried away what they could. Most of the plumbing had been ripped off the walls, including baths and toilets. So too wooden floors, doors and frames and even air-conditioners. When previously questioned about his intentions, Bassett said that he planned to convert these premises into an office park - restoring the vandalised home to its former glory and adding buildings in the old Cape style. But evidently, this is not happening. A demolition order was suddenly granted by the Western Cape Heritage Society (WCHS), after this application was turned down in 2008, as well as the following appeal. According to sources, Drakenstein Heritage Foundation was excluded from the new application, and the application was made irregularly without informing WCHS of the previous unsuccessful application. When Bassett was approached this week for comment about the property, he claimed to be unaware of the demolition. “We have not made a final decision. This is pending as we wait for final permits. “I will have to investigate what is currently going on at the site.”
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