Centre Court

Built around a verdant courtyard, the Hurlingham, Johannesburg, home of antique and jewellery dealer Paul Mrkusic is animated by his vintage art and furniture.

- Graham Wood

Paul Mrkusic and Stefan Prinsloo stumbled on this beautifully designed residence in Hurlingham while they were considering building a home of their own. As often happens in Joburg, in among all the usual suburban jumble of pastiche and pretence, there will suddenly appear an inspired piece of architecture. When they first saw this house, their urge to build seemed suddenly redundant.

Apart from being CEO of the South African Antique, Art & Design Association (SAADA; saada.co.za) and running an online vintage jewellery and antique store – Bancroft Antiques – Paul is a trained architect, so he was immediately attuned to the building’s merits. Designed by Louis Louw Johan Bergenthuin Architects in the mid-eighties, the house appealed to Paul because ‘it has a sort of a timeless 20th century feel to it’, he says. ‘It was built in 1986, but almost has an almost ’50s or ’60s feel. At the same time, it appears up-to-the minute contemporary.’

The abode is one of those masterfully complex designs that manages somehow to present itself as utterly simple and resolved. It was in its pristine, unaltered state when Paul and Stefan found it – down to the brass plaque bearing an architectural award at the front door. Paul loved the fact that there were none of the steel I-beams or pillars that typically betray alterations where rooms have been opened up or joined together – the lines of the ceiling were unmolested. The plaque notes that the house was commissioned by a Dr Loubser, and it seems there was only one subsequent owner, which might explain how it made it through the decades unscathed.