The grounds on which Fairview stands was
first registered in 1864 in the names of Messrs. Swemmer and Meyer,
directors of the first bank in George. When these two gentlemen found
themselves in financial difficulty in 1894, they sold the farm to Koos
and Miems Stander. The Standers had sold their farm at Victoria Heights
so that their 8 children could go to school from home. Two sons became
attorneys, one son qualified in Scotland as a dentist and all 5
daughters qualified as teachers. To get to Wellington Teachers College
the girls traveled by horse-drawn cart to Mossel Bay, from there by
ship to Cape Town and then by train to Wellington! Koos Stander was
Mayor of George from 1926 to 1932 and the house stayed in the Stander
family from 1894 to 1974. In those days it was a big apple and cattle
farm on the outskirts of George; today it is centrally situated in the
suburb of Bergsig and the grounds measure 3800m˛.
In 1994 we
moved back to South Africa after a 13 year stay in Namibia. We bought
Fairview and took up the challenge to restore this historic George
landmark – always bearing in mind that the challenge in restoring and
maintaining any old building remains staying true to the authenticity
of the structure. We therefore removed a garage that altered the square
Georgian shape of the original building. Eight windows had to be
replaced and were meticulously duplicated using the old frames as
templates. The time consuming restoration was contracted out to a
specialist team and took nine months to complete. Waterproofing of the
clay walls proved to be a major challenge, as was the stripping of the
many layers of paint to expose the lovely wood again. All the plumbing
and electric wiring had to be redone, the 4 chimneys and fireplaces
needed radical repairs, and most of the light fittings were removed and
had to be replaced with antique ones again.
The house is now
fully restored to its long lost splendor and elegance and is listed
with the National Monument’s Council as well as the local George
Heritage Trust.
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