Van der Bijl House stands on land that originally formed part of the farm Oude Molen which was allocated to Douwe Steyn in 1683. In 1783 a portion of the land, which at that time belonged to Mauritz Herman Otto Wocke, was sold to Cornelis Michiel Smuts. Shortly thereafter Smuts divided the land in smaller erfs, and in 1787 this specific erf, with a residence on it, was sold to Paulus Johannes Fick. While in the ownership of Jacob Fredrick Binder, some of the buildings were destroyed by the devastating fire that destroyed large parts of Stellenbosch in 1808.

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