place in the heart
The Cape Town base of international businessman Mogens Tholstrup and his wife, former model Gretha Scholtz, hints at a glamorous jet-set lifestyle and yet retains the essence of a real South African home
“What have I missed?” asks Mogens Tholstrup, bursting in from a morning run, sweatband on his forehead and a bag of chocolate croissants in hand. An international businessman of Danish extraction, with a long stint behind him as one of London’s society restaurateurs, Mogens is eager to catch up with the conversation that his wife, Gretha Scholtz, and I are having.
What we’re discussing is the beautiful home that the couple shares, a multistorey house that is perched high in Tamboerskloof, with an eagle’s-nest view of the Cape Town City Bowl and fringed by Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak.
Looking for a new Cape Town base a few years ago, the couple decided to view this particular property even though their estate agent doubted that it was what they were looking for. The front door was forbidding; the exterior unpromising. But when they walked in and saw the whole of the Cape Town City Bowl spread out before them, with Devil’s Peak and Table Mountain rearing above it, they “just knew”.
Deal done, Mogens and Gretha then brought in an architect to retain the original multilevel structure while bringing in contemporary touches: longer, wider windows to maximise those stirring views; updates of the kitchen and bathrooms; extensions to the outdoor deck and the replacement of thickly grouted terracotta tiles with sleek marble.
They have houses in several sought-after spots in the world – Switzerland, Finland, the south of France – but this one, originally intended as a lock-up-and-go to replace their former Cape Town bolt hole, is their favourite. And it’s easy to see why. It’s flexible enough to suit every season: a snug nest in winter, a cool retreat for outdoor living in summer – and interesting all year around.
Gretha, a former top model, brought her innate sense of style to the interior, which has serenity amid striking vignettes of drama. The mélange reflects the couple’s varied interests and wide-ranging travels: there are pieces from Scandinavia, Switzerland, South America and of course the Cape. They are avid supporters of local design and art (all the artworks in the house are South African).
Gretha has a keen eye for the unusual; she’s a collector who pursues a passion long before it becomes trendy. There are real coral pieces and collections of animal skulls and horns, ceramic pots, a curiosity cabinet . . . Her next decor theme, she says, will be “green” – not in the eco sense, but involving an imaginative profusion of indoor plants.
Because she favours texture over colour, the decor palette is almost entirely limited to taupe, sand and stone. Brights feature in Mogens’s study, though, where the colour of his cherished Missoni cushions “really works”.
The house is laid out so that they can each indulge their own passions: there’s a well-equipped study for Mogens and a sleek, everything-to-hand kitchen for Gretha, who is a “superb cook”, says Mogens. Her culinary inspiration changes with their travel schedule: currently it’s Asian, alternating with Mediterranean. (Gretha used to travel with her favourite ingredients stashed in her suitcase; now she shops “local and seasonal”.)
Yet it’s not a huge house. “We like smaller places,” Gretha says. “Our home in Finland is about 200m2, for example. It’s more than enough . . . until the pieces I collect get too numerous. Mogens is a minimalist; I’m a maximalist.”
Similarly, their preference is for small-scale entertaining. On a perfect evening they might have a barbecue for a large group on the deck, but usually they prefer to host a dinner for six. “That’s about the perfect number,” says Mogens. “It’s intimate and yet lively and interesting.”
They are both energetic to the point of restlessness: Gretha’s enthusiasms range from gardening (“I love going outside every morning with scissors to trim and tweak”) to photography; Mogens attends to business in most cities they visit, overseeing projects and planning new ones. In fact, they lament that because of their schedules, they often miss out on some of the things to do in Cape Town, although they make time to enjoy the Kirstenbosch summer sunset concerts, get exercise (Mogens is a regular on the rigorous slopes of Lion’s Head) or dine at one of the winelands or city restaurants.
The house unquestionably suits the couple’s peripatetic lifestyle – it has the convenience and ease of maintenance that they were looking for, but it’s undeniably also a place where they truly are “at home”.