Cool And Collected

Encompassing creativity, comfort and the capers of children, this historical Constantia homestead has room for both contemporary design and family life

- Jessica Ross

There’s a deep irony to artist Brett Murray’s striking typographical piece Silence (the block-lettered artwork’s title is ‘Dissent’), which presides over Trevyn and Julian McGowan’s dining room. This grand Constantia house is many things – at once contemporary living space, gallery for great design and art, chaotic playroom, grungy teen lair and serene oasis – but silent it is not. At any one moment, the rhythmic beat from 15-year old Zachary’s drum kit reverberates off the walls as seven-year-old Ryder and his friends chase tirelessly between tables of collectible art, and the siblings’ parents prepare dinner for eight.

Many houses would struggle to contain the energy of a family this size – a highly creative and dynamic unit comprising the couple and their six kin, Jacob (23), his wife Lanty (both of whom work in the family business), Ruby (17), Zachary (15), Gabriel (11) and Ryder (7) – but this graceful old dame has the strong bones and the stately elegance that only a build from the 1940s can encompass. Its 4m-high ceilings offer soaring proportions and the original wooden flooring delivers a sense of well-trodden history.

Originally part of the Groot Constantia wine estate and later the Alphen property, the homestead was built for the matriarch of the esteemed Cloete clan. ‘I got as far as the second room and knew that this was our house,’ says Trevyn. ‘It had been on the market for three years at that point and nobody had understood how extraordinary it was.’ The room configuration is unconventional, as she puts it, and it doesn’t have the typical set up of bedrooms leading off corridors, ‘which is why I think it didn’t sell quickly – people couldn’t quite imagine it as a family home.’