Forgotten Constantia: The Lost Vineyards of Hauptville
A few weeks ago I was guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Cape Town Family History Society. My talk, Forgotten Constantia: The Lost Vineyards of Hauptville, covered the history of Hauptville, a Constantia wine farm, from its humble beginnings as a portion of land granted to Captain Pieter De Waal just south east of his farm Alphen in 1795, through to its ignominious end as it succumbed to suburbia in 1983.
At its peak Hauptville had produced
wine and brandy (from the farms own still) and grapes were exported to Europe.
The first sub division took place when
my great grandfather Jasper Albertus (Bertie) Van Niekerk and Pieter Brink
bought the farm in 1925 and divided it in two. Bertie’s portion included the
Manor House, Haupt Villa, built by PJ
Haupt sometime between 1867 and 1874. A highlight of the Van Niekerk era was my
grandparent’s society wedding. My grandfather, George D’Alton, was a Springbok
rugby player and the Van Niekerks were well connected in the sporting and
social circles of the Cape. So it was no surprise that 500 guests flocked to
Hauptville for the wedding reception on 18 November 1933.
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| Haupt Villa circa 1935 |
The Van Niekerks sold to the Johnstons
in 1939 and they were the last owners of Hauptville. They made significant changes to Haupt Villa, replacing the rotten wooden balconies with concrete ones and moving the north facing front door to the eastern side of the house. An additional tennis court was added to the one built by the Van Niekerks.
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| Haupt Villa showing the Johnstons changes (circa 1940s) |
Over the years various
portions of the land were sold off for residential development. The front
vineyards were expropriated in 1960 to build a school, Norman Henshilwood. An
auction in 1983 was the final nail in Hauptville’s coffin. By then only 2.9ha
of the original farm remained but it was prime land and perfect for
development. The Manor House could not be saved and was demolished, the last
remnants of a once thriving farm returned to the dust.
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| Auction on the lawns of Hauptville - 15 February 1983 |
This is but a summary of the
Hauptville story. Perhaps one day I will be able to consolidate all my research
into a thesis.
I grew up over the road behind Norman Henshilwood. The last owner had a chauffeur and drove a Beach Boys style wooden paneled station wagon. Was so sad when they demolished the mansion. Had no clue of its heritage.
ReplyDeleteThe car was a chevrolet, no chauffeur, maybe family member
DeleteI am a granddaughter of the last resident
ReplyDeleteI am a greatgrandaughter of the last resident, my mother told me of her visits to it in childhood. Glad to be able to read some history of the place.
ReplyDeleteI am Stephanie Johnston, grand-daughter of the last Johnston resident, now living in the McLaren Vale wine region in South Australia. I have early memories of Sunday lunches at my grandmother's, watching our parents and their friends play tennis, riding my bicycle through the vineyards and exploring the scary dungeons underneath the manor house. I have fought hard to prevent suburbia taking over our South Australian wine regions and often think of Hauptville's sad fate when fighting the good fight here.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of weddings, our own parents (Olive and Peter Johnston) got married at Hauptville in 1953, and made a film of their wedding which we enjoying watching from time to time. There is also some footage of our father Peter's childhood there.
ReplyDelete