Page 45 - KBHA Bulletin 16

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In the Goles family there has always been a feeling that there was something

suspicious about the fire. In 1919 the structure was rebuilt by the Lazarus brothers to
three stories and named Harbour Mansions - the Olympia Building as it is known it

today. (Figs. 2.12 & 2.13.) This lovely building is well described in Mike Walker’s
book ‘A Statement in Stone’.

Emma Kleinschmidt moved to Mowbray, having sold all of her Kalk Bay property.

Over the years the Lazarus brothers bought various slices of the diagonal ‘road’

shown on the 1900 plan to consolidate their erf.

The Fish Family

The Windsor House complex was home to the Fish family home for many years, and

later to the Prattens. (Fig. 2.14.) William Fish, from Windsor in England, was an early
arrival in Kalk Bay, his wife Carolina Wilhelmina Schouw being from another well-

known local family. William and Carolina had five children and from there the Fish
family grew to be huge. Many of their sons and grandsons were boat owners, skippers

and fishermen. (Figs. 2.15 & 2.16.)

Charles McDonald Fish, William’s son, owned the boat ‘Nobis Sperandum’ (said by

the family to translate as ‘Don’t Worry’ but more likely to mean ‘Our Hopes’) – now
the ‘Ivy Doreen’ – and in 1879 bought part of the land where Windsor House and

Windsor Flats now stand from A. Maderose. It seems that there was only one small

building on the site at that time. Charles had married Maria Johanna Petronella
Bartholomew and they had 12 children. With this brood it is not surprising that the

Fish family built Windsor House and also owned a substantial complex of buildings.

In 1897 Charles gave a portion of the land and a small cottage to his nephew William

Charles Fish who transferred it the same year to his wife Sarah. In 1902 she sold it to
John St. Leger. In 1920 Charles McDonald Fish died and most of the property was

sold to his son-in-law Edward Pratten for a substantial £3,000. By 1923 Edward
Pratten had consolidated his ownership of this big piece of land by buying the St.

Leger portion for £200.