A BLEND OF OLD AND NEW

The new owners of a golden oldie have transformed their house into a magnificent blend of old and new

Does every home have just one set of owners who are perfectly and uniquely suited to it? It’s a romantic notion perhaps, but sometimes it seems to be true. For example, this heritage house in Joburg’s northern suburbs and its owners — Jane Waters and Brandon de Beer — must surely have been destined for one another.

Jane explains that while the full history of their home’s origins isn’t known, it is clear from deeds records that the building is about 170 years old, and it seems it was probably originally a hunting lodge on one of the large farms in the area. Such farms predated the existence of the city itself, of course — the huge metropolis that is contemporary Joburg was founded a mere 135 years ago.

Having grown up in a 600-year-old cottage in the UK, Jane is attracted by all things historical, she says. She married Brandon, a South African from the lowveld, and six years ago the couple were in search of a new house for themselves and their teenage daughters, Otilie, Edith and Freya. While on holiday, Jane received a call from a friend who told her she had found Jane’s dream home. On her return to Joburg, they went to view it. “Before I had even opened the gate, I knew,” she says.

After falling instantly in love with the historic house, Jane discovered that the structure had been through a number of iterations during its existence, and that the Waters family would be the seventh to live there. “There was a Mrs Badenhorst here at one time, who grew chrysanthemums,” says Jane. The extensive garden is a full acre in size, and its many mature trees, including magnolias and at least eight jacarandas, are testament to various previous occupants with a penchant for gardening.

The walls in the oldest parts of the building are “made from large rocks with sand- and mud-based mortar holding them together”, says Jane. More recent changes and extensions, including those added by Jane and Brandon, feature walls made from modern bricks and mortar — along with complications in terms of properly knitting all the structures together.

When the time came to rework the house and update the interiors, Jane immediately turned to Johannesburg-based interiors and product designers Mia Widlake and Debbie Votin, of Studio 19. “I’ve known Mia for ages,” Jane says, adding that she has long admired Studio 19’s aesthetic and knew that when she renovated her home, they would be the people whose expertise she would call on. “We’ve all become friends as a result of the project.”

Common to her own and Studio 19’s approaches to interiors is the view that old and new elements can work beautifully together. “We wanted to honour the past and respect it, but bring modernity with it,” says Jane — and this is precisely what has been achieved.

For example, the team didn’t try to replace the rotting old wooden window frames with pieces made to mimic their period style, but instead chose resolutely contemporary black aluminium frames, which have blended seamlessly into the structure, while also adding a sleek, modern feel to the spaces.

Praising Mia’s “amazing style and eye”, Jane says she really valued the fact that the designer was “brave enough to go with dark colours in the interiors, which I love”. Jane relished the collaborative nature of the process too, mentioning how she would frequently send Mia photographs of potential furniture items to be used, which served as inspiration points for custom designs. The results of their collaboration are rooms that nod towards the eclectic and moody style of British “maximalist” decorator Abigail Ahern. It’s an overall aesthetic that, as Jane puts it, “makes one feel ‘held’ by the house”.

Jane describes herself as having “a Cancerian’s love of home”, and so having part of her working life situated here recently has not been too much of a burden. Having worked completely remotely during the first months of the Covid pandemic, she is now able to spend about three half days a week at her office in nearby Sandton. For the rest, her newly renovated home office — repurposed and reimagined by Mia — is now a wonderful place to work. So good, in fact, that “though it officially belongs to me, the kids always want to use it too”, says Jane.

The home is also a compelling reflection of its current owners’ personal history. The beautiful old restored wooden cabinets and tables were all inherited from Jane’s stepfather. A high-school headmaster, he is also a vintage furniture buff and, when school supplies were being upgraded, regularly bid for old school book cupboards, work tables and the like at auction. The storage cupboard that has pride of place alongside Jane’s work table in her home office is such a piece, painted in a deep grey and combining its workaday functionality with being an aesthetic pleasure.

This elegant family home is filled with inherited treasures and adorned with a plethora of indoor plants and fresh stems: “I love plants, but it’s from Mia that I learnt the power that a simple vase of leaves has to lift a space,” says Jane. It really does feel as if this unique old house has finally found its ideal occupants. studio19.co