Your guide to Heidelberg Gauteng
#Grandpa Carl Schultz's House
Heritage Blue Plaque #Nr 34
GRANDPA CARL SCHULT'S HOUSE - 98 Begeman Street
What is the story here?
In 1890 two German families (Mr C.W.F. Schultz, and his widowed sister Mrs. Schubach – now Mrs. Roux) travelled up by ox-wagon from the Cape and settled in Heidelberg. The farmer opened a store on the southern bank of the river (just behind the old power-station), but subsequently – in 1895 – this was moved to the present premises in Market Street.
THE HISTORY OF THE SCHULTZ ESTATE AND MAYOR D.J.M. JORDAAN
PIONEER EMIGRATION AND THE BEGEMAN STREET ESTATE (1890)
Carl Wilhelm Friedrich Schultz (8 May 1854 - 10 October 1930) was born in Germany and immigrated to South Africa as a young child. He arrived with a dedicated party of German settlers at the East London port on 19 October 1859.
The Schultz family initially established a homestead in Hanover before relocating to St Mark’s in the Eastern Cape. In 1890, Carl, accompanied by his two sisters, moved north to permanently settle in the expanding district of Heidelberg.
He married Johanna Augustine Kath (4 August 1857 - 2 August 1933), a union that produced eight children. Both pioneers spent their remaining decades developing the town and were eventually laid to rest inside the historic family plot at the Heidelberg Kloof Cemetery.
Upon establishing his commercial success, Carl Schultz purchased an extensive urban stand, classified as a Burgererf, located at 98 Begeman Street. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this single massive estate comprised a grand main residence, private stables for the family's horses, a full-sized tennis court, sweeping fruit orchards, and manicured gardens.
The primary homestead featured an expansive floor plan including a specialized study room anchored by a massive brick fireplace. Grandchildren and descendants, including his great-grandson Carl, recorded that this specific study functioned as the central hub for multi-generational family reunions.
A cherished family Christmas tradition dictated that the children would sit gathered around this fireplace waiting to hear a distinct rattling sound on the roof plates, which signaled that Father Christmas was about to descend directly down the chimney flue into the room.
Over the subsequent century, the expansive grounds of 98 Begeman Street were systematically subdivided; today, a complex of six separate residential houses occupies the land where the original Schultz orchards and tennis courts once stood. Local historian Sybrand van der Spuy noted that following his marriage, he and his wife, Beverley, lived inside a partitioned-off section of this historic main house.
THE POLITICAL CAREER OF MAYOR D.J.M. JORDAAN AND THE SCHULTZ FIRM
The Schultz family line became deeply intertwined with the civic administration of the town through the marriage of Carl and Johanna’s daughter, Frieda Adolphine Johanna Schultz (28 January 1891 - 19 September 1946). Frieda married David Johannes Mentz Jordaan (31 August 1887 - 4 December 1959), a dedicated local schoolteacher.
In 1911, Jordaan assumed the responsibility of serving as the foundational Hostel Warden for the newly established Excelsior Boarding School Hostel. This historic residential institution originally comprised a row of three houses situated along the Vereeniging Road, representing the first three structures built immediately after crossing the R23 highway corridor.
Jordaan possessed a deep passion for regional politics and civic affairs, but his position as a state schoolteacher presented severe institutional barriers to entering public office. Recognizing the dilemma, his father-in-law, Carl Schultz, proposed a career transition, suggesting that Jordaan abandon teaching to join the family's commercial merchant enterprise, Schultz Ltd.
Jordaan accepted the offer, taking up the specialized corporate post of head debt collector for the firm. Following the established commercial customs of the highveld, Jordaan was required to travel extensively across the rural district twice per year to collect seasonal arrears from the farming community.
This biannual schedule left him with substantial blocks of free time between collection cycles, which he systematically redirected toward managing the town's political infrastructure. Jordaan successfully secured election to the Heidelberg Town Council in 1920.
He rose to become one of the most politically influential figures in the town's history, ultimately serving as the Mayor of Heidelberg on 13 separate occasions. In absolute recognition of his multi-decade civic legacy, the modern residential suburb of Jordaan Park and its primary arterial roadway, Jordaan Street, were permanently named in his honour.
The Jordaan family established their permanent private residence at No. 1 Fenter Street, and upon their deaths, both David and Frieda were laid to rest inside the Kloof Cemetery.
THE SUNDAY EYE INJURY ANECDOTE
Local oral history archives preserve a humorous and telling anecdote regarding the sharp business practices that characterized early Heidelberg. While residing at his 98 Begeman Street estate, it was Carl Schultz's unwavering daily habit to walk down HF Verwoerd Street (then known as Church Street) on his way to oversee operations at his retail shop, which sat at the intersection of Jacobs and Voortrekker Streets—a storefront where Sybrand van der Spuy’s mother was later employed.
On a particular Saturday morning, Schultz caught a sharp speck of windborne dust inside his eye while walking, which caused intense irritation that he could not clear. En route to his shop, he intercepted his personal friend, District Surgeon Dr James O’Reilly, who was walking in the opposite direction toward the hospital from his grand white mansion situated at the corner of Pretorius and Ueckermann Streets.
The two prominent citizens paused on the pavement to exchange standard weekend greetings. Schultz then requested the physician to inspect his eye and attempt to extract the foreign object.
Dr O’Reilly agreed, withdrew a clean handkerchief from his pocket, and skillfully utilized one of the folded corners to lift the dust speck from the eye membrane. Expressing his relief, Schultz thanked the doctor, and both men proceeded along the street to their respective places of work.
At the conclusion of the calendar month, Schultz received a formal professional invoice from Dr O’Reilly’s rooms detailing the transaction. To Schultz's immense shock and indignation, the physician had treated the casual street encounter as a formal medical intervention, adding a specialized surcharge for after-hours emergency operations. The itemized account read precisely as follows:
-
Standard Consultation Fee: 10/- (Ten shillings)
-
After-Hours Service Fee Surcharge: 5/- (Five shillings)
-
Total Due: 15/- (Fifteen shillings)
While fifteen shillings represented a substantial sum in the currency values of the era, the blunt financial invoice ultimately caused significant strain to the personal friendship between the prominent shopkeeper and the District Surgeon.
Sources: The unpublished historical manuscript "The Story of Heidelberg" by Reverend Noel Roberts, Minister of the Anglican Church (1938), compiled from direct interviews with Mr Robert Ueckermann; the Methodist Church Archives meticulously compiled by Janet Wiseman; and oral histories recorded from descendant Carl Schultz and historian Sybrand van der Spuy.
