Page 157 - Bulletin 22 2019

154

The buyer was Glen Charles ‘Jerry’ Fish prominent member of the well-known Fish family that

had been in Kalk Bay for generations. (Fig. 3.51.) Jerry had gone to sea as a 13-year old as many
did and had his first boat the Violet Glen given to him when he was 17. In later life he owned the

Geraldine, named after his daughter. Jerry died in 1999 but his wife Edith, renowned at the fish
market and for her fish cakes and pickled fish, lived on at the house where I interviewed her in

2002.

Gordon Cottage, 16 Harris Road, Erf 89959; bought from the estate for £615.

Gordon Cottage was probably built in 1897 as a rental property. The lot was bought by William
Frederick Auret in 1896. When he went insolvent in 1911 it was bought, along with Essex

Cottage by James Harris. After his death it was sold in 1913 for £615 which included furniture.
The buyer was Harriet Ferguson who sold on a few years later (1920) to Golda Brown, born in

Latvia and who also owned a house in Windsor Road. Her purchase was a spec. buy as she sold
the house on the same day to Maud Esther Mackenzie. Maud’s husband Kenneth was a senior

bank manager born in India and this wealthy couple lived in Rondebosch. Gordon Cottage stood

vacant for years and may have been used as a seaside cottage by the Mackenzies. Of the ‘Harris’
houses this one had the lowest value increase when looking at the 1924 Municipal Valuation.

While most nearly doubled in value in 12 years, Gordon Cottage only increased in value from
£615 to £650. (Fig. 3.52.)

Successive street directories show it as vacant until bought by the Roberts family who owned it

from 1958 to 1972.

The present owner, Malcolm Andrew Keith Bryer, bought it in 1983 and completely renovated
the house to its current beautiful condition.

Essex Cottage, 18 Harris Road, Erf 89958; bought from the estate for £450 including furniture.

Essex Cottage probably dates from 1897 and was bought by William Frederick Auret, and then
by Harris in 1911. (Fig. 3.53.) After his death it was sold to John Delbridge in1913, the last