Facing the delightful Burgers Park in central Pretoria is this beautifully-preserved Victorian mansion that is now a marvellous house museum. Built in 1886 for a local businessman George Heys, it is a superb example of the tastes and lifestyle of the British colonial middle classes in the late Victorian era.

Melrose House’s most significant moment came during the Anglo-Boer Wars. In June 1900 British troops invaded Pretoria and requisitioned Melrose House to use as their war offices and in 1902 the Peace Treaty of Vereeniging, which ended the Anglo-Boer Wars, was signed in the dining room of Melrose House and an original copy of the treaty is still on display.