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Mount Granville

In 1934 Justice James Stratford had bought Lots 1 – 4 and on 5 May 1938 he sold Lots 2 (erf

89604) and 3 (erf 89605) at the corner of Main and Quarterdeck Roads, to Helena Carrie

Bazett Ashley-Cooper. Helena was the wife of Austin Henry Ashley-Cooper, a manager at
United Tobacco Co. There were three minor sons – John, Austin and Phillip. Helena had a

long association with Kalk Bay as her father was the splendidly named Reverend Coldstream
Ernest Sampson, minister of Christ Church Kenilworth and one time owner of the large piece

of land where the Bible Institute now stands.

Ashley-Cooper commissioned architect Cedric Melbourne Sherlock to design the family
home, Mount Granville (1 Quarterdeck Road) – and, on the adjoining lot – The Periwinkle (8

Main Road) – see below. (Figs. 3.70 & 3.71.) Nothing much could be found about the

architect Sherlock who perhaps was not as well-known as other architects commissioned in
this area. He is best known for his quite revolutionary (for Cape Town and for its time) 40-

unit block of flats – Holyrood in Queen Victoria Street, which he not only designed, but in
fact owned.

Plans for Mount Granville – a town in County Meath, Ireland – were passed on 24 January to

a value of £1,700 and the builder was Samson Contracts (Pty) Ltd. In August of 1938 Ashley-
Cooper wrote to Council to say the house was complete to the first floor reinforced concrete

slab ceiling. He said the ground floor was built on to the solid rock slab and the ceiling height
was 9ft 6ins (nearly 3m). He had been told that Council were altering the regulations to

increase this height even further. Obviously if built on solid rock with concrete slab ceiling it
would be very expensive to increase roof height. Council saw the sense of this and agreed the

height was acceptable.

Mount Granville was completed on 30 August 1938. But tragedy for the family was not far
away. Helena Ashley-Cooper had little time to enjoy her new home – she died four months