Before & After: The (Potential) Views Were the Most Promising Part of This Cape Town Home

Architect Werner Lotz and interior designer Jenine Bruce reworked the midcentury’s convoluted, split-level plan to connect it with the backyard and the city’s stunning scenery.

As can sometimes happen when couples go house shopping, Bonnie and Antonie Basson saw this midcentury home in the Higgovale neighborhood of Cape Town, South Africa, and had very different reactions. "I hated it," says Bonnie, an attorney, smiling at the memory of that first viewing. Antonie, a business owner in the restaurant industry and firm believer in buying "the worst house on the best street," saw potential. "I said to my husband, ‘You’re crazy to want to take this on. It’s a lost cause,’" says Bonnie.

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Melissa Dalton
Dwell Contributor
Melissa Dalton is a freelance writer in Portland, Oregon, who has been writing for Dwell since 2017. Read more of her work about design and architecture at melissadalton.net.

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