Kilian residence receives a blue plaque
Kilian was a prominent citizen in Heidelberg.
Tony Burisch of the Heidelberg Heritage Association awarded the latest heritage blue plaque to Erica van Meygaarden on March 4.
The van Meygaarden’s have been staying at the corner of Fenter and Strydom streets for 17 years.
The property’s first owner was Mr F Kilian.
Petrus Johannes Justus Daniel Kilian, who could have been family, lived on the Boschkop farm, on the outskirts of Heidelberg. Kilian was born in Harrismith on February 24, 1850, and died on November 10, 1941.
In 1868, he moved to Heidelberg and married Regine Geere in 1869. When Geere died in 1874, Kilian married Elsje Meyer. In 1878, he was a widower again.
In 1881, he remarried for the last time to Maria de Lange. Kilian stayed at his farm until 1920 when he moved closer to Heidelberg as he wanted to be closer to his church. Kilian was well known in Heidelberg.
Part of Kilian’s war stories includes fighting in the Basotho War in the late 1850s to early 1860s, the Battle of Amajuba Hill in 1881 and both Anglo-Boer Wars. He died at the age of 91.
Kilian was buried in the Heidelberg Kloof Cemetery together with his wife.
It is estimated that the house was built in the 1890s if the building material that was used is anything to go by.
In the 1980s, apparently, an episode of the TV programme Trompie was filmed at the property with a baboon on the veranda.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela also had a movie filmed at the property. The name of the movie was Mrs M.
