IF WALLS COULD TALK

It’s not surprising that such prime real estate has an esteemed history, stretching back to 1836 when Cape governor Lord Charles Somerset gifted Michael van Breda a piece of land at Oudekraal. It was in 1929 when the house was built in Sir Herbert Baker-style, with its two white gables still prominent today towering above the Leopard Bar. (There is still a legal maritime requirement that the gables be kept white so that they are visible from the ocean.) It changed hands a few times over the years, and was developed as a hotel in the early 1990s. In 2002, it was acquired by SA’s own hospitalityindustry royalty, the Tollman family’s Red Carnation group, and given its current name.