Page 133 - Bulletin 21

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Fernandez family but other property owners in the area. A declaration of a building as a slum

gave the authorities carte blanche to demolish and clear the land. The Kalk Bay case was
complex but suffice it to say that the house, which had grown considerably over the years,

survived apart from some minor removals of extensions.

In 1938 Rupert Adams (grandson of Felix Florez) submitted plans on behalf of the family for
a new house to be built, but these were not accepted as the Council was considering what

land it needed for housing development. (Fig. 4.16.)

In 1939 agreement was reached and the triangular area below the Fernandez plot was sold to
Council for £112 10s. Sophia was clearly a very determined person and plans for a big house

– later called Fernandville – were submitted by a well-known architect, J W Allen of
Lakeside and were approved. New plans were then submitted showing a building with 17

bedrooms, 5 reception rooms and 7 bathrooms and things started to go awry. The architect
wrote directly to Council – behind his client’s back – saying the Fernandez had no intention

of building a house but wanted to build flats which would ‘present a danger to the health of

Europeans’. Louis Ladan, who had for so long portrayed himself as the friend and champion
of the fishing community joined in in a similar vein. This did not endear Ladan to the tight

knit community, something that was not forgotten: the Ladan family was very upset when no-
one from the fishing community attended Louis’ funeral service in 1957.

It was a very nasty situation – Sophia wrote again enclosing a photograph which she felt

demonstrated how big the family was – supporting the need for a very big house – and finally
Fernandville was built. (Figs. 4.17 & 4.18.)

The Menigo Family

Most of the lots comprising Die Land were sold from the Estate of Johan Coenraad Wicht in
1892 – many years after he died. There may have been an auction, but in May of that year 11

lots, large and small, changed hands. In very few cases did the purchasers live on the lots they

bought – they were speculative buys. A large erf (89931) was bought by well-known attorney
Gustavus (Gus) Trollip. Within two years it had been subdivided and a portion sold to