Page 140 - Bulletin 17 2013

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Next along the Main Road were the small shops of Pearce and Powell (with Mellville House at

least partly rebuilt in 1902 next door.) (Fig. 3.22.) Past that are Melville House and Belmont
Road, with van Blerk’s shops and cottages on the site of today’s Belmont Court.

George Powell had been a family grocer in Kalk Bay since at least 1892 and also ran the Gala

Café at Rouxville House. He served the community for many years in a variety of public roles.
He was a field cornet, served as a Councillor for the Kalk Bay Municipality, and was a Justice of

the Peace in 1928. He was also the Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths from at least 1895.

In 1902 this branch of Pearces was taken over by Miss Daisy Gell who soon established a

reputation for the quality of her merchandise – with well-received ladies’ hats, lace and

embroidery being made on the premises. Daisy married Walter Gordon Duke in 1907 and when
these buildings burnt down in about 1912 Dukehaven replaced them, named after her husband

Walter Gordon Duke. Daisy ran her shop until ill- health forced her to sell it to Kent’s Stores
who ran the shop for many years from 1919. Dukehaven is largely unaltered today. (Fig. 3.23.)

Apart from having shops on the ground floor with accommodation above, the ground floor of

Dukehaven housed the Post Office from 1916, and soon after that the Births and Deaths Registry

Office. Further along Main Road, beyond Melville House, is Belmont Road and the building on
the other side owned by the van Blerks – the site of today’s Belmont Court. (Figs. 3.24 & 3.25.)

Melville House seems to have been operated as an hotel by James Melville who had won the

Royal Mail contract from Cape Town to Simon’s Town in 1847. Not much is known about him

except that he was recorded as running the Kalk Bay Hotel in 1861. Six years later, in 1867, he
wrote a letter asking the Governor for a piece on land on the beach to open a fish-curing

operation. He says that “he was very useful to them at one time and am now very poor”. His
daughter Elizabeth Rachel had married Thomas Cutting, the ‘king of the coachmen’ and an hotel

operator. On Melville’s death in 1877 Elizabeth inherited the property which in turn was