{"id":41,"date":"2021-10-25T16:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=22569"},"modified":"2021-10-25T17:43:18","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T15:43:18","slug":"an-opulent-edwardian-home-filled-with-antiques-and-original-features","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/an-opulent-edwardian-home-filled-with-antiques-and-original-features\/","title":{"rendered":"An opulent Edwardian home filled with antiques and original features"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Molly Malsom\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 25 October 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Stonecrest \u2013 one of the most beautifully unaltered Edwardian Arts and Crafts<\/a> homes on the Westcliff Ridge in Johannesburg \u2013 is named after the carved stone crest, high on its red-brick fa\u00e7ade.<\/p>\n

Set above two tall, gracefully arched windows, the crest features a noble-looking hound at its centre. \u2018One early owner, I was told, had 17 dogs,\u2019 says Annabelle Desfontaines, who has lived here for the past 30-odd years and can still remember walking up the driveway for the first time as a young woman with her heart pounding.<\/p>\n

She has a couple of hounds who look very similar to the one on the crest, which adds a strange sense of timelessness to the way she and her family inhabit Stonecrest \u2013 it seems they could always have been here.<\/p>\n

The house was built in 1902 and, apart from a few alterations by none other than the master of colonial architecture, Herbert Baker, in 1911, and later, in 1935, by Cowin & Ellis, it retains the spirit of its age. It\u2019s a classical colonial Arts and Crafts mansion \u2013 part country pile, part suburban grande dame, part castle on a hill.<\/p>\n

The terraced gardens fall away so that the bedrooms feel as though they\u2019re among the treetops and the views carry the eye over Joburg\u2019s urban forest \u2013 The Randlords, Johannesburg\u2019s turn-of-the-century mining magnates and captains of industry, liked to feel they were masters of all they surveyed.<\/p>\n

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A panelled, carved four-poster bed dominates the master bedroom. It is draped in rich, layered fabrics. Persian rugs warm the floors and diaphanous curtains let in gentle light from the high windows.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The house is a wonderfully eccentric maze of rooms arranged over multiple levels. On the ground floor, as well as four reception rooms that lead into one another, there\u2019s a dedicated breakfast room just off the kitchen, and a wing with a series of rooms which Annabelle thinks must have been the butler\u2019s suite.<\/p>\n

There is also a wood-panelled study with a carved stone fireplace<\/a>, which leads through to a huge dining room. Upstairs there are bedrooms, sunrooms, attics and landings. \u2018There are 12 fireplaces,\u2019 says Annabelle, adding that they\u2019re all in working order.<\/p>\n

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The dark wood-panelled study with its carved stone fireplace, deep-buttoned velvet seating and bay windows is one of Annabelle\u2019s favourite rooms.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

These old mansions have usually been renovated beyond recognition; successive generations trying to \u2018priss them up\u2019 says Annabelle. She has done no such thing. And it was the recognition that Stonecrest\u2019s original features and character were intact that had set her heart pounding when she walked up the drive all those years ago.<\/p>\n

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