Maré’s house in Strydom Street receives blue heritage plaque
FK Maré’s house at 60 Strydom Street received a blue heritage plaque on September 17.
The house can be described as being typical of mid-Victorian architecture. Strydom Street is named after the original owner of the land on which the town of Heidelberg stands, Ockert Andries Strydom.
The first Deed of Transfer registered against this piece of ground, erf 161, was dated December 26, 1865, to OA Strydom.
In 1875, erf 161 was transferred from the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek to Albert Walsh for 10 shillings sterling, the transfer being signed by Joubert, (the Republic’s State President).
Within two months, the plot was sold at a considerable profit to FK Maré, who had been the first magistrate of Heidelberg, since 1866.
The house was presumably then built. Maré and his family lived in this house until 1879, during which it was said Paul Kruger (a friend of the Maré family) was a frequent overnight visitor.
The property was to remain in the hands of the Maré family for the next 100 years. By 1875, Maré had also acquired the four adjoining properties, erven numbers 160, 174, 175 and 176.
In August 1879, the house was leased to Standard Bank for £7 per month. The bank manager appointed was Frederick Watt Standen, a bachelor who lived in two of the rooms, two other rooms being used for banking purposes, and the remaining two being rented out to a lodger.
In 1880, Standen was joined by PH Mynhardt of the Pretoria branch. These two men operated the British-owned Standard Bank for the duration of the first Anglo-Boer War. After the war, business in the Heidelberg area slumped and it was decided to close the Standard Bank’s Heidelberg branch.
Accounts were transferred to Pretoria and the money was sent to Standerton. Standard Bank reopened in Heidelberg on Ueckermann Street in 1886, from where it has traded ever since.
In 1903, the Maré land was again subdivided and a portion of the ground was sold to WAE Schultz.
The remaining ground, house and stables remained the property of the Maré family until 1984, when the property was bought by the Methodist Church. In 1989, the property was declared a national monument.
