Secret Garden

A clever redesign of this heritage home resulted in a dynamic and modern sanctuary that has a sense of space and the outdoors at its heart

- Kerryn Fischer

Like many couples with a baby on the way, homeowners Victoria and Pete decided it was time to swap their small, inner-city terraced house for a larger home a little further out. But the house they settled on wasn’t your typical suburban dwelling – it was a stand-alone home nestled in the slopes of Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain. The couple were drawn to the genteel location and the huge potential the site offered. For architect Victoria, who was expecting their son Joseph (now 8), it was both an exciting and creative time. “I saw it as an opportunity to flex my architectural skills and challenge the conventional ideas of family living,” she recalls. “I knew it would be far easier to push those boundaries in my own home than with a client.”

And if it was a project they were after, this one fit the bill. When the couple first bought the 1940s house, more than 10 years ago, it needed all the help it could get. The interior was a warren of dark rooms and passages with no connection to the garden or those incredible views. The garden, situated on a lower terrace, was dominated by a large pool that was always in shade. “Although the original home obeyed all the rules in its orientation north towards the sun, it wasn’t a joy to live in,’ Victoria explains.

The first big change was to make the garden level with the house, while ensuring any new additions were in keeping with the home’s heritage-status facade. Victoria’s concept was to create two wings; one would be the original dwelling that faces the street, and the new structure would be built behind it to open onto the garden and make the most of the north-facing sun and vistas.