Contact Artefacts
please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.
Menu
HomeUpfront
Now Up
Books
Towns
Structures
People
Firms
Lexicon
House John Perry
Kenilworth, Cape Town, Western Cape
 |  |
Contact Artefacts | MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | House John Perry | | |||
| ||||||
| Cumming-George 1933 MR. JOHN PERRY'S house has some rather unusual features. The windows, placed without uniformity, give a distinctive air, the staircase window on the front elevation being high and narrow and glazed with Flemish glass. The tiled roof is simple and unbroken save for the solid chimney stack which rises at one end. The most distinctive feature of the house internally is the entire absence of doors to all living rooms. Arched openings are used instead of doors, it being claimed that by the free passage of air, draught is lessened and almost eliminated. An archway leads into the lounge, and between the lounge and the dining room, one central arch with arched screens of clear leaded glass spring from dwarf walls. Space and vision has been the object without the sacrifice of comfort or the creation of too bare an aspect. Wherever doors are used the framework is of steel with teak or glass panels whichever is appropriate. Upstairs a wide landing is used as a lounge and opens to the small corbelled balcony above the entrance. Three good bedrooms run parallel with the back of the house with windows that catch the morning sun. The bathroom has its bath planned well away from the wall, a hand-basin with toilet cupboard above, and next to the hand-basin a porcelain shelf almost wide enough to be termed a table, having an oval mirror on the wall above. Both bathroom and kitchen premises have quarry-tiled floors and curved skirtings. 2026: The property has a heritage grading of 3C ("significant in the context of a streetscape or direct neighbourhood"). The city council describes the house as "a fairly good architectural example which has been slightly altered with additions", "has a fairly good interface with the street as is obscured by its boundary wall" and "contributes to the streetscape and area". The council also notes that the house has some intact elements such as its windows, front door and form. (Arthur Radburn, March, 2026) References:
|