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Sparks from the chimney fanned by a strong south-easter had set the roof alight and the fire
spread with alarming rapidity. The roof collapsed before the Fire Brigade from Muizenberg
could arrive and the boarding house was completely gutted soon afterwards. No loss of life
occurred but many boarders and guests lost possessions while the proprietors Captain and Mrs
Phipps lost everything. Certain baggage, personal effects and most of the furniture was, however,
saved. Dalebrook House, which consisted of sixteen bedrooms and numerous other apartments
was, at the time of the fire, fully occupied and the Cape Argus reported thankfully that no one
was injured in the blaze other than “ ….. one gentleman who received a nasty burn in dragging a
lady’s iron trunk out of the debris”.
The loss to Capt. and Mrs Phipps was serious as they were not insured and the public responded
most generously after Archdeacon Richard Brooke of the Holy Trinity Church set up a fund to
help the unfortunate couple.
The original wooden Clovelly Golf clubhouse was destroyed by a probable mishap with the coal
stove in the late 1920s (Fig. 4.12) and was replaced with a magnificent new clubhouse when it
was converted to the Clovelly Country Club in the early 1930s. Sections of this clubhouse were
razed to the ground by a fire at noon on 25 July 1955. This time the fire was caused by an
electrical fault. The old dining-room which had a high oak ceiling with wooden rafters, much
like an English baronial hall, was completely destroyed much to the despondency of all the
members, as it was particularly attractive. Many trophies and artifacts, however, were saved and
the only casualty was to head waiter, Softe, who had raised the alarm, and who later found
himself trapped in an upstairs room and in jumping out of the window, broke his ankle.
More recent domestic fires include the gutting of the Olympic Bioscope in 1967, and the
Daintree Women’s Residence at the Bible Institute twenty years later in November 1987.
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