Urquhart House was built sometime between 1806-21 on land belonging to Johan Hendrik Greyling in the Cape Dutch style, with a prominent anchor and stars on the front gable. Incredibly, the reason for these decorations is unknown. The building became the Clegg’s Midland Hotel, with an additional wing, and in 1912 Herbert Urquhart, a businessman and the Mayor of Graaff Reinet for many years, bought the building and redecorated in the Victorian style. He was apparently responsible for the heritage development of the town, realising it would not expand industrially. Urquhart House was converted to a museum in 1990 and it was our second visit of the day.
No photographs are permitted inside the house, which has some interesting furnishings – a Victorian Drawing Room with a South African yellowwood foot warmer, and a peach pip floor in the kitchen!
The back of the house overlooks a shady yard which abuts on to Reinet House.
The outbuildings include a Military Museum with interesting information and artifacts from the Anglo-Boer War and the World Wars.
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Walking the street of Graaff Reinet
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