Beauvais - Tracey’s Folly

High up on the Linksfield Ridge, sits beautiful Beauvais, a 40-room three-story home built for diamond mining magnate Percival White Tracey. This elegant white house with its distinctive Cape Dutch gables boasts a deep wrap-around veranda, providing a magnificent panoramic view stretching from Northcliff tower in the west to the Kelvin Power station in the east.

Beauvais was designed by architect Allen Wilson. Tracey personally supervised its construction, driving his car along rough dirt tracks to the site on the ridge. The car often broke down and Tracey regularly had to be towed back home by a team of oxen. This led his family to nickname the house “Tracey’s Folly”.

Join your guides Clare and Arjen Van Zweiten as we explore the sensitively restored interior of the house - now the headquarters of Cargo Carriers. We’ll also learn more about the Tracey family and the subsequent owners of this iconic residence.

Please note there are several flights of steps inside the house so a reasonable degree of mobility is required.