Knysna · built c. 1873
Highfield
A family home in the old village of Newhaven, standing by 1900. It has been two flats, a backpackers' lodge and a ruin, and was restored to a house between 2015 and 2018. This is its story, with the plans and the photographs.
At a glance
- 1873William Page, carpenter and builder, buys Erf 912
- 1900The house is standing, and photographed
- 1951Split into an upstairs and a downstairs flat
- 2000Highfields Backpacker, up to 50 guests a night
- 2015Three years of renovation begin
History
A house with a plaque
William Page, a carpenter and builder, bought the erf in 1873 and the house was standing by 1900. Later owners divided it into two flats, filled it with backpackers and, in 2014, left it to be vandalised. The Knysna Historical Society's plaque tells the short version.
Restoration, 2015 to 2018
Three years to bring it back
The lounge floor became the kitchen cupboards
The original yellowwood floor of the lounge had to be lifted because it was completely rotten. A carpenter hand-crafted the lifted wood into the kitchen cupboards.
A secret door
While the kitchen walls were being re-tiled a secret door was discovered in the wall leading to the downstairs bedroom. It was closed in again, for someone in the future to discover.
The extra showers came out
All the extra showers that the backpackers had put into the bathrooms were removed.
Today
The house now
The house as it is now, and the work done to it since the renovation, in the order it happened.
Rooms
Room by room
Photographs of each part of the house as it was renovated. Or find a room on the floor plan.
