Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Silvertrees Bishopscourt, Cape Town, Western Cape Brian George Lewis MANSERGH: Architect

Date: pre 1930 : 1937 Type: Homestead Status: Extant Street: 14 Upper Primrose Ave   Click to view large map Coordinates: 33°59'33.82" S 18°27'13.95" E Alt: 139m

The house stands on a portion of the Hen and Chickens Estate, which was subdivided in the 1920s. This property was acquired by Mrs Mary Meglaughlin, and it was probably she and her husband who built the house, which was first listed in the street directory in 1930. Mrs Meglaughlin died there in 1931. In 1935, the administrators of her estate consolidated the various pieces of land which made up the property, and sold off two portions. They sold the remainder, containing the house, to the British government in 1937, for use as an official residence for their high commissioner. Alterations were made in 1937. According to the website Room For Diplomacy, the 1937 alterations comprised the addition of a porch, a dining room and servants' rooms. This house is the Cape Town residence of the British High Commissioner. (Arthur Radburn, March 2026) The house suffered a serious fire in 1999 but was rebuilt (at the insurer’s eventual expense) in 2001. (Room For Diplomacy)