Northwards Mansion Tour
Parktown, October 2004
Northwards Mansion turned 100 this year,
sharing it’s
centenary
with Rolls-Royce. In view of this it seemed fitting that we should
visit this magnificent property, so we arranged for a
private tour for
Rolls-Royce and Bentley friends.
The
40-roomed Northwards mansion is the first large house
that Sir Herbert Baker
designed in Johannesburg. The facade
is made of quartzite rock taken from the
site, creating the
impression that the house rises out of the sheer cliff face.
The first occupants of the house were the Dale Laces,
who lived and entertained
like royalty.
The Goodman’s
arrived in their magnificent 1935 Rolls-Royce Phantom
(by coachbuilders
Windovers), much to the delight of the curator,
Dr Neil Viljoen, who thought he
looked rather distinguished in the
back seat. The tour of the mansion finally
got under way once
we managed to get him out of the car!
It is interesting to note that
Charles Goodman was in fact born
at Northwards Mansion. His Grandfather, Sir George Albu,
owned the property from 1911 to 1959. Charles shared many
childhood memories of the house with us, making the tour
so much more fascinating.
Simon (Bentley S2), Charles (Silver Shadow) and KC (Bentley Mk VI)
Northwards
Mansion makes a great backdrop for photographs,
and we took full advantage!
Pictured here are a
1948 Bentley Mk VI (KC and Jeannette Saayman),
1975 Silver
Shadow (Charles and Jose Trubshaw) and
1960 Bentley S2 (Simon Smith)
The view from Northwards Mansion.
Dr. Neil Viljoen
is a very talented storyteller, and he had us
captivated for over three hours
as we moved from room to
room, enjoying the detail and his vast knowledge of
the
property, it’s history, it’s occupants and the
varied design features.
and enjoy sundowners as the sun
was setting.