The architect of Kholvad House was anti-apartheid activist, Lionel ‘Rusty’ Bernstein. Initially occupied by Ismail Meer, Flat 13 became “the headquarters for young freedom fighters". When Ahmed ‘Kathy’ Kathrada took over Flat 13 it remained a hive of political activity. After Oliver Tambo left for exile in 1960, Mandela moved his legal practice to Flat 13. Kathrada was subsequently arrested and sentenced in the Rivonia Trial to life imprisonment on Robben Island.

Mandela described it as a place where “the first seeds of non-racialism were sown and a wider concept of the nation came into being”.