Page 68 - KBHA BULLETIN 3

65

beach. He subsequently entered the hotel business and also built a number of places that

became boarding houses.

The three places that he built were Strathmore, Girdleness, and Castle Hill. Strathmore and

Girdleness were built before 1915, with Castle Hill following later. All of these names recall
Calder’s Scottish origins: Strathmore is the large valley running towards Aberdeen on the

north-east coast of Scotland; Girdleness is a district of Aberdeen itself; and, Castle Hill is

named after a small village in the same area.

Old Alex had a large family including two sons Alex (A. D. Calder), George (G. W. Calder),

and daughters Elizabeth, Florence, Nellie, and Minnie. Most of them were involved in local
hotel business at one time or another. During the First World War both sons went into

Delville Wood with the SA Brigade and both came out of it, eventually to return to Kalk Bay.

(Bruce Calder, pers. comm.)

Castle Hill

Castle Hill, at the top of Belmont Road, was a 9 - 12 bedroom establishment and it remained

in the Calder family circle until 1953 when Elizabeth Allen (nee Calder) sold up. It then

passed among a succession of owners undergoing numerous name changes: the Sea Breeze
Residential Hotel 1953 - 1959, Belmont Residential Hotel 1960 - 1969, Susan Chandler

Nursing Home 1969 - 1989, and, since 1989, once again Castle Hill. At one time during the

60s an owner kept a pet cheetah in a cage on an adjacent vacant plot.

Castle Hill today is a gem. It has been lovingly restored to its original condition by Carol and

Reg Duff and stands as probably the best example of that era in Kalk Bay.

Strathmore

Strathmore, at the top of Colyn Road, has an unmistakeable architectural similarity to Castle

Hill and began operating as a boarding house / private hotel around 1915. In 1919 it was
being run by Mrs Plimsoll. Later owners were Capt. and Mrs D. Cameron-Swan who arrived

in the Cape from Surrey, England around 1922. A 1931 advertisement (Fig. 4.22) described