Johannesburg, July 28 - The thatch-roofed house in which Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi stayed here as a young lawyer is up for sale and its owner says the response following global publicity was 'absolutely phenomenal'.

'I'm an optimist, and the interest being shown by local and international potential buyers following publicity makes me confident that a new buyer will also retain it in the same state that it has been for so long,' Nancy Ball told IANS.

She described the response to the proposed sale as 'absolutely phenomenal!'

Ball is retiring to Cape Town and has put the house up for sale to someone who would have the same interest in its historic value.

The thatch-roofed house in the northern Johannesburg suburb of Orchards was designed and built by architect Hermann Kallenbach, a close confidante and follower of Gandhi as he developed his Satyagraha philosophy during his stay here by leading locals against oppression.

Gandhi and Kallenbach lived at the house for three years from 1908.

'The house has a special quality and I have also been in touch with the previous owners before the 28 years that we have lived in it. They all decided to maintain it as it was originally built,' Ball said.