Thank you to the Heritage Association of South Africa (HASA) and the University of Pretoria for allowing us to publish this powerful piece on the restoration of Dunluce in 1976. The article was first published in the 1978 edition of Restorica, the old journal of the Simon van der Stel Foundation.
When Dunluce came onto the market in mid-1975 the only interest shown came from a speculator who wished to demolish the house and build a block of flats on the site. In their concern to save the house the owners, Mrs Rosemary Kempen and Mrs June Fannin offered the house and its contents to the Director of the McGregor Museum at a more favourable price. The Museum was in no position to purchase the property but we realized that the case for preservation would be strengthened if we could make a proposal for its ultimate use. To this end we suggested that firms which had been recently established in Kimberley should be approached to buy the house as a manager's residence. At this time our sole purpose was to save Dunluce and not to acquire further property but Barlows Rand Ltd offered to buy the house and its contents for the museum on condition that their manager could live there for ten years with the option to stay on for a further five years. The Trustees of the McGregor Museum accepted this magnificent offer in November, 1975 as well as the funds and the responsibility for restoration.
[[{"fid":"1890","view_mode":"media_adaptive","fields":{"format":"media_adaptive","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Dunluce before Restoration - Restorica...
