"When the pandemic rolled around, the young couple-now with three little ones-was ready to find their family home, though still unsure where. One day while in City Bowl, a residential neighborhood in Cape Town, Kienle Gonzalez stumbled across a 1920s Arts and Crafts home at the foot of the mountainside. "I still remember walking in...we were smitten," she recalls. "It had so much character and soul, I just said, 'This is it.'""
"After a conversation with the owners-an elderly couple who had raised three children in the house, the same ages as theirs at the time they bought it-the purchase felt fated. "I felt this responsibility, like I was being passed the baton," Gonzalez says, "because the house had been lived in so well." The kids had come and gone; and the house had seen countless birthdays, and weddings-just as she envisioned for her own family home."
"The lived-in warmth and historic quality came at a slight cost, however. As a Grade 3 heritage home (given to properties with architectural significance), there would be lengthy wait times to get council approval for the renovation process. While Kienle Gonzalez always had a vision of what she wanted, the time was a blessing in disguise, allowing her to perfect the details."
Stephanie Kienle Gonzalez infuses personal style and toothpick art into a 1920s Arts and Crafts heritage home at the foot of a Cape Town mountain. She and her husband fell for South Africa after frequent visits from Manila and chose a City Bowl house during the pandemic to raise their three children. The house had hosted generations of family life, birthdays and weddings, and the purchase felt fated after meeting the elderly owners. Grade 3 heritage status required lengthy council approvals, and the extended timeline allowed Gonzalez to refine and perfect renovation details. Born and raised in the Philippines, she was exposed to design early through her parents' Philux furniture business.
Read at Architectural Digest
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