About Us
HUIS LUCKHOFF HISTORY
As early as 1878 the Rev. AD Luckhoff felt the need to do something about the need for suitable accommodation for destitute elderly ladies. Under the Lord’s direction he soon had a group of prominent ladies interested in this project.
They were Mrs Atkinson, Mrs Robertson, Mrs Kotze, Mrs Meyer and his wife Mrs Luckhoff.
Mrs Atkinson was elected as the president and he himself was appointed secretary of the organisation. Friends greatly encouraged and supported them in their efforts.
The decisive factor was a donation of £25 (which they received from Mr MW Meyer) with the promise from MRs Meyer that another donation would be made after she had sold her carriage and pony. Another encouragement was the offer from the management of the “Vroue Fonds” (Women’s Fund), who promised them the interest on a £1200 capital investment. The “Vroue Bond” had already been working amongst the poor of the city for the past 50 years and had envisaged such a home for the elderly ladies for a long time. But due to the lack of funds, they had not been able to materialise this.
But hat was not all. The mangement of the “Vroue Bond” also offered a suitable site in Bree street for the nominal price of £50. A donation from Mts Atkinson clinched the deal. The Dorcas Poorhouse was opened in 1883.
After the Dorcas buildings had bene in use for more than 60 years, substantial sums were required for repairs and maintenance. the Board of Management needed to give serious consideration to whether the time had come to make the change.
The area surrounding the home had deteriorated progressively. In former years, Bree and Loop street had been residential areas, but in recent years the neighbourhood had changed its character. Bree street had become an industrial area. For these reasons the neighbourhood had become undesirable.
The years had brought many changes and new challenges. The State, instituted old age pensions and the Department of Welfare made subsidies available to this kind of institution. All these factors offered a new outlook to this kind of welfare work.
A NEW BEGINNING
The decisive factor to leave Bree street and its neighbourhood and to start afresh at a more suitable site, was the provision of a new law. the National Planning and Housing Commission was instituted with the power to grant sub economic loans, for the promotion of homes for the aged at very reasonable stipulations. The church would also bring their own Church Utility Housing Scheme into being, under the protection of the General Poor Relief Commission of the church, which would serve as a channel to make use of the named sub economic loans.
All these factors together gave the Dorcas Management the liberty to buy a valuable and pleasant estate in Rosebank a suburb of Cape Town for £10 000, and to apply to the Church Utility Housing Scheme for a loan of £80 000.
In the name of the Lord the corner stone for this new home at Rosebank was laid on April 14 1951. And with the Lord’s blessing the inauguration took place early in 1952.
HUIS LUCKHOFF
Huis Luckhoff was rerected by the “Sinodale Kommissie vir die Diens van Barmhartigheid” (SKDB) (“Sinodale Commission for the Service of Mercy”) in 1952 for 130 ladies.
This home was a replacement and a continuation of the Dorcas Poorhouse for Destitute Elderly Ladies, which had come into being in 1883 at Bree Street, Cape Town.
When the old Dorcas property was sold in 1950 a much larger and more suitable home was erected on alarge site in Rosebank.
In this home the residents had a church hom with a Christian emphasis, where devotions are held daily. The Church Council of the Dutch Reformed Congregation in Rondebosch takes the responsibility for a church service in the chapel on Sundays, as well as a weekly prayer meeting. There is also a well established branch of the “Vroue Sending Bond” (“Women’s Mission Bond”)
HUIS PIET DU TOIT
The building site on which Huis Luckhoff was erected was so valuable, spacious and conveniently situated, that the SKDB decided in 1960 to build a flat complex on the site for 30 elderly couples. The 60 residents share in all the privaleges of Huis Luckhoff.
HUIS LUCKHOFF SINGLE FLATS
Late 1985, a complex of 16 flats for single residents was completed. New staff quarters for four resident staff with a common lounge and a restroom for non resident staff were also included.