In a moving speech delivered on November 16, 2024, Eric Itzkin, Deputy Director of Immovable Heritage for the City of Johannesburg, shared the remarkable story of the resurrected dragon pillar in Johannesburg's First Chinatown.
“It always seems impossible until it is done” Nelson Mandela.
Joline Young’s new book, “An uncomfortable paradise” takes us on a journey, part personal, part historical, and a South African history that few know of – early colonial life in Simons Town.
The Tower, a remarkable union of functional engineering and pleasing aesthetics, was designed by the German engineering firm Aug. Klőnne in 1913. It was imported from Dortmund by the Johannesburg municipality, with the assistance of local engineering firm Geo. Küstner, to store and improve water pressure for the burgeoning town, and has since then become an iconic landmark on the Highlands Ridge.
