Page 77 - Bulletin 23- 2020

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meant that radio operators from the Simon’s Town base with all their war secrets, were billeted
there.

His oldest son Ernie ‘Bill’ Fraser was a legendary boat builder for many years, building among

other boats the Fernandez family boat Checkers. His room was his workshop and there are many
stories of how it was littered with half assembled engines and parts – his glasses so greasy he

could hardly see though them. (Fig. 3.7).

By 1979, Ernie by now elderly, the house had fallen into disrepair. Following complaints to

Council a team of Jaycees stepped in with volunteers and made major repairs to the house. (Figs.
3.8 & 3.9).

The next house up, number 6 Ladan Road (erf 89944) was called Naaldwyk (after Naaldwijk in
Holland) and was named by its builder Louis Ladan – the familiar design can clearly be seen.

(Fig. 3.10). Like the other erven in the street the lot passed though the hands of several

speculators over the years from 1897 before being transferred to James Harris three days before
he died in 1912. It was bought by Louis Ladan in 1920; the house was built and rented out for

many years to, among others, the Harris family and later the Snoeks.

In 1939 it was bought by Jacob Emdin who may well have been a relative of the Muizenberg
Emdin family. Effectively he owned the whole north side of Ladan Road – see below.

Street directories over the years show that the house was divided, at one time with the back

section as a separate unit. Although the names of many renters appear down the years on this
side of the street they and their stories have disappeared into the mists of time.

In 1951 Emdin sold all of his properties to Sarah Bardac (b. Perliman) a Polish widow who lived

in Wherry Road Muizenberg. She had arrived in Cape Town aboard the Pretoria Castle in 1949.
She had no children and died aged 74 in 1958. Her estate, valued at a considerable £11,451, was

to be divided, after several charitable bequests, between her brother Max in Paris and her sister
Anna in Switzerland. Her sister in fact renounced the inheritance and Max inherited the whole

amount. Sarah was buried at the Muizenberg cemetery.

A 1935 aerial photo of the area shows Ladan Road completed. The complex at the top right
(number 8) is of particular interest. (Fig. 3.11).