Pioneering architect Hermann Kallenbach purchased this site in 1909. He and his friend M K Gandhi camped in a bell tent on the hillside until Kallenbach built a thatched stone rondavel. Gandhi stayed here with Kallenbach on occasion, as did Indian statesman G.K. Gokhale during his 1912 South African tour. In 1913 the Mountain View property was a gathering point for Satyagrahis during the third Indian civil rights campaign led by Gandhi. In 1923 Kallenbach and Alexander Kennedy designed the main house on the property for the new owner, A. Verwey.