Page 168 - Bulletin 21

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water tap and a fireplace. He was washed by his oldest sister Georgina, who washed

him in a zinc bath in the outside toilet.

He went to the Klipschool with all the other children. There was no money for shoes
and he described walking to school barefoot in the winter cold and rain with his toes

blue and stinging. He also said when he was a bit older the family all caught the train
into Cape Town – an amazing experience never forgotten as he had never been on a

train or left Kalk Bay before. On the way back their feet were so sore from the shoes
they took them off and slung the shoes round their necks by the laces.

Clairvaux House

The best known and only surviving buildings of Gerhard van Blerk’s holdings in this part of
Die Land are those that still stand around Clairvaux House. The large original erf (89931) had

been bought by van Blerk from Gus Trollip in 1894. It is from this house that Clairvaux Road

takes its name. It is likely it was named after the home of the Reverend Andrew Murray, the
famous DRC minister from Wellington who holidayed annually in Kalk Bay.

In 1903 plans were passed for additions to an earlier cottage. (Fig. 4.51.) In its early years
Clairvaux House was used by van Blerk as a farmhouse with stables behind and a yard for the

van Blerk cows that grazed on the mountain during the day. A 1904 Health Report provides a

view of a different time:

‘Nicholas Johannes van Blerk - 12 cows graze on the mountain. 50 bottles of milk sold daily.
Bottles washed at Railway Dept. pipes. Milk bottled in the kitchen. Stables clean and airy.’

Clairvaux House was part of a larger complex of buildings that stood on the erf, including the
buildings known as Ruhe and Vrede and the well-known and long standing shop on the

corner of Harbour and Clairvaux Roads – this latter was known as Essop & Co from at least

1930.

After Gerhard van Blerk’s death the properties passed to his daughters Louisa Johanna

Francina van Blerk and Elizabeth Johanna Malherbe (born van Blerk) in 1942. According to