When Historical Homes of South Africa Limited was founded, saving an old building took private courage and private money. Today, says Mariza Lubbe, who chairs the HHSA board, the ground has shifted. “Legislation has overtaken the philanthropic. The law now protects much of what once had to be rescued. Our role now is to create more awareness around that legislation, and around why heritage deserves protecting at all.”
For Lubbe, the case rests on four pillars: its importance to Remgro, whose ties to HHSA reach back to Anton Rupert himself; nation building through a shared heritage that belongs to all South Africans; accessibility, so that heritage is not locked away; and longevity, so that what survives today survives tomorrow.
The company’s own structure tells that story of endurance. Registered on 31 March 1966 at Rupert’s urging, HHSA drew some one hundred shareholders, among them several of the country’s largest institutions, names that still read like a roll call of South African business. Over time those institutions have remained on the register to provide quiet, patient support rather than to chase a return. “If we start something, we try and keep to it,” Lubbe says. It could be the company’s motto.
If we start something, we try and keep to it.
Keeping to it does not mean standing still. The recent launch of the HHSA website, together with QR codes at the properties themselves, lets a passer-by scan a plaque and hear a building tell its own story. “It makes the houses more relevant. We have to stay abreast of technology.” She describes it as an evolution: heritage not embalmed, but leveraged, put to work in the present so that it earns its place in the future.
Awareness is also the engine of growth. The question the company keeps asking, she says, is how to expand what it is already doing: preserving heritage, and then telling that story widely enough that others take it up. “Building awareness is the initiative through which we grow. People cannot value what they have never been shown.”
None of this comes at the cost of atmosphere. The quality Lubbe prizes in HHSA’s properties is what she calls “a subdued elegance, the sense of place” that no reproduction can fake. Asked to name her favourite property, she does not hesitate: “The Krige Cottages, particularly 41 Dorp Street in Stellenbosch. Walking in from Dorp Street, you are instantly struck by the property’s timeless heritage charm and exceptional quality. Every room has a welcoming character, while the lush garden at the back creates a peaceful oasis in the heart of town.”
This is a history that outlasts each of us. There was life before us, and there will be generations after. The question is what we leave for them.
Her closing thought reaches beyond any single building. “This is a history that outlasts each of us. There was life before us, and there will be generations after. The question is what we leave for them.” Awareness, she believes, is where the answer begins: people protect what they know, and they come to love what they understand.