Built before the war for Harrison Fraser Watson, a stockbroker and keen sportsman from the Cape Colony. As a British subject he had to leave the Transvaal, returning to the Cape to join the Colonial forces. In his absence Robert Kuranda lived here. He accepted the most unpopular task of commandeering goods, horses and equipment for the Z.A.R. Watson returned when the Stock Exchange re-opened on 24 December 1901.