Kathy Munro

On Sunday 16 July, Johannesburg Heritage members, in partnership with the Freemasons of Johannesburg, hosted the blue plaque unveiling celebration at Freemasons Hall, Parktown.

The crowd gathers outside Freemasons Hall (Vincent Carruthers)

Opened in 1957 and designed by Gordon Leith, the building captures Leith’s architectural commitment to the classical and traditional. There is an echo of the Herbert Baker spirit (Leith was a disciple and apprenticed to Herbert Baker). With its imposing Corinthian columns fronting a long ambulatory and the imposing bronze faced double entrance, this is an august but austere building. It has served the Freemasons well for over 60 years. The design of the building underlines a quiet grandeur but also achieves effortless functionality. The craftsmanship and detailing focus on the symbols and insignia of Free Masonry. There is symbolism, allegory and intent behind each object, the classic insignia of freemasonry are building tools such as the square and compass, the trowel and the level. The first masons were the builders creators and craftsmen of European cathedrals. The Freemasons brotherhood is rooted in ancient biblical ritual - pelicans, cornucopias, eagles all have special significance.

Gordon Leith himself was a senior Freemason. He served Johannesburg well as the architect of several important buildings in...

The Johannesburg Heritage is delighted to announce the installation of two iconic blue plaques at Tolstoy Farm near Lenasia and close to Lawley Station. The plaques have been mounted alongside a poster from Indian Opinion, which was the mouthpiece of Mahatma Gandhi’s Passive Resistance Campaign.

The plaques were installed on 18 May 2023 within the series 'Johannesburg City Heritage' by the City of Johannesburg and the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation.

Installation of the blue plaques

The plaques honour Hermann Kallenbach, the early Johannesburg architect, follower and friend of Mohandas Gandhi, who purchased what we now know as Tolstoy Farm; and the Russian Count Leo Tolstoy, the author of War and Peace and the man who was honoured in the naming of Tolstoy Farm. The connecting link with Tolstoy was in a shared belief in non-violence while taking a stand against injustice, whether in the Tsarist empire or in the Transvaal.

The two blue plaques read as follows: 

Hermann Kallenbach (1871-1945)   

Tolstoy Farm (1910-1913) was conceived by Gandhi and his friend Hermann Kallenbach, who named the place in honour of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Gandhi wrote to Tolstoy:  “ No writing has so deeply touched Mr Kallenbach as yours, and he has taken the liberty, after consultation with me, of naming his farm after you”. Kallenbach’s...

Marcus Holmes (1952-2022), a principal partner of the architectural practice Fassler Kamstra + Holmes Architects, passed away on 9th November 2022 in Linksfield Hospital after a short illness (borne with stoicism and anger). He died far too young; he still had so much more creativity to give and work to do. We are left with the image of Marcus as the tall, gangling man (he was over six feet tall),  who wore tight narrow trousers, a broad stylish leather belt and beautiful leather shoes to show off his good looks, long feet and thin figure. For over four decades, he was a vibrant, creative and forceful voice who contributed hugely to the South African architectural landscape. He was an extraordinary person.

Marcus was born in Oxford, England and came to South Africa with his parents in the 1950s. He was educated at St Andrews College in Grahamstown where he obtained a first class matric in 1969. He was a proud product of St Andrews where he shone in science and mathematics.

St Andrews College Clocktower (20 Historic Schools)

He originally thought he would study engineering but instead earned a BArch degree at Wits in 1977. Marcus bloomed and blossomed young; he completed several projects while still a student – Blackroofs, a Baker house in the Valley Road Westcliff, being...

Gold Medals were awarded to Vincent Carruthers and Professor Franco Frescura. The Gold Medal is a prestigious award in heritage and recognizes a lifetime of contributions and work in heritage by men and women who have given unstintingly of their time and expertise to conserve South Africa’s heritage resources and who, in the words of the preamble to the National Heritage Resources Act, have by their example “encouraged communities to nurture and conserve their legacy so that they may be bequeathed to future generations”. Awards are made annually and are the highest honour in the heritage community.

Gold Medal for Vincent Carruthers

The Gold Medal awards have been in place since 1969 and, over a period of 39 years, a total of 74 gold medals have been awarded, initially by the Simon van der Stel Foundation and, since 2011, by the renamed Heritage Association of South Africa. In addition, Gold Certificate awards were introduced in 2015 to recognize organizations making contributions to heritage (3 have been awarded) and since 2017 Certificates of Merit also acknowledge the contributions of individuals (a total of 6 of these have been awarded).

Dr Judy Maguire introduced Vincent Carruthers:

After this morning’s fascinating lecture, Vincent Carruthers scarcely needs further introduction. If I were introducing him to a stranger for the first time...

Rev. Robert Forsyth (30th May 1954 – 27th April 2022), a passionate heritage man, passed away in a motor vehicle accident on 27th April 2022. A memorial event was held to celebrate his life at Misty Hills Country Hotel, Muldersdrift on 9th May.  We mourn his passing. His departure is a great loss to the heritage community.

Robert was the man who developed Kedar Heritage Lodge on the old Paul Kruger farm Boekenhoutfontein in the North West Province into the superb country lodge, fine restaurant, game farm, heritage centre and South African War museum that Kedar is today. He was also the proprietor of Misty Hills, an old country hotel with a long history. Robert has been the man who conserved, preserved and improved these resources in ways that made heritage a living part of modern lives.

Robert was an exceptional human being. He was a man of vision. He was a man of many talents – entrepreneur, visionary, businessman. He left this world a better place and the many people who interacted with him were enriched by the encounter. He was a bold man whose Christian faith underscored much of his life. He built a superb restaurant (Carnivore) and brought Misty Hills to top tourism status. 

Robert was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in Bulawayo. As a young man he trained as a pastor in the USA but returned to the African continent and settled in South Africa. He loved Africa and was keenly interested in history. His unique approach successfully combined a country...

Sometimes one longs for bygone days when one encounters a rare relic of a functioning and proud South African transport system that ran a complex railway and air network effectively as a business enterprise run by government.

I recently obtained a copy of this unusual 1954 railway map of South Africa showing each and every railway station throughout South Africa, South West Africa (now Namibia), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and the Bechuanaland Protectorate (Botswana). The map also shows the principal air routes of Southern Africa. It was issued by the Publicity and Travel Department of the South African Railways and was printed by the Government Printer in 1954. The map was designed and drawn for the SA Railways by the Trigonometrical Survey Office in 1947 and revised in 1953 (I wonder if there were earlier versions of this map?). It folds out measuring 28.5 x 38 inches and folds up into 4 segments across five divisions. It is enclosed within grey paper covers.

The Map

It was meant to be a tourism promotion item with enquiries being directed to the London and New York commercial liaison officers of the South African Railways. At one time such maps must have been handed out as part of the travel planning advice for potential tourists who could have travelled entirely by rail throughout Southern Africa, or have been more...

This small but dense guide book to South and East Africa was produced annually for the Union Castle Mail Steamship Company. It was a publishing success. Here was a happy marriage of publishing, tourism promotion and publicity for the sale of bookings for the sea voyage to Africa. For many it was an adventure of a lifetime; for others a ticket to immigration and taking up a new life in what was still seen as a British colony in Africa (South Africa, Rhodesia or Kenya). This was the Lonely Planet or Insight Guide of its day. I love the cover with the decorative palm trees – it is an immediate icon of exotic Africa – a hint of penetrating the 'dark continent' but by 1914 railways had made Africa accessible to the affluent touring class – the men and women of independent means.

Guide Cover

The title said it all - the readership were the tourists planning holidays of up to six months, the sportsmen going in search of hunting wild game, the invalids in search of sunshine and a dry climate to recover from consumption (tuberculosis) and the settlers who were likely to come to purchase a farm or take up a profession in a growing town. South Africa and the hinterland was seen...

It is with shock, disbelief and sadness that the Heritage Association of South Africa learned of the fire that engulfed the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town on 2nd January.

The damage is a tragic and devastating loss for all South Africans. We mourn with all South Africans. A building of this stature lives through and for its past, its present and its future.

This heritage building came into its own after 1994. As the legislative capital of the country, Parliament represents the essence of democracy.

It was declared a National Heritage Site by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) and given a Grade 1 national status – the highest grade possible. It is a neo-classical building and compares to the official dominion buildings that evolved in Canada and Australia.

The building is filled with treasures of the past of all South Africa’s communities.

Old photos of the Parliament Buildings

In recent years great effort has been expended on ensuring that the building in all its dimensions speaks for all South Africans. Our Parliament is the custodian...

A cooperative effort of the City of Johannesburg, the Westcliff Residents Association and the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation decided to develop and place three blue plaques at strategic points on the stairs to mark the history. Today, the stairs offer an outdoor flight to heaven for athletic runners who come from all over the city to train and give themselves heart attacks! Residents and visitors co-exist.

Westcliff Stairs Blue Plaque (Kathy Munro)

In mid December 2021, two blue plaques were installed on the Westcliff Stairs. The third plaque will follow when a plinth has been constructed. The Westcliff Stairs are public rights of way that run through the suburb of Westcliff and are a feature of great pride to Westcliff property owners. The stairs are a drawcard for visitors and Johannesburg residents. October and November is a particularly popular time on the stairs as Westcliff is a riot of purple jacarandas.

Plaque installation (Kathy Munro)

The photograph below shows the Transvaal Consolidated Land and Exploration Company map of...

In December 2021, the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation and Fran Haslam of Zoo Lake welcomed the installation of a second blue plaque at the Zoo Lake, commemorating the centenary of the Lake. The new plaque, installed on an original giant quartzite rock, gives far greater prominence and visibility to this Johannesburg beauty spot. The Zoo Lake area has been a much loved and well used city green lung for over a century and has always been open to all people.

Blue Plaque installed on the Zoo Lake rocks (Kathy Munro)

The inscription on the blue plaque reads as follows:

In 1890 Eduard Lippert established a forest, known as the Sachsenwald, on part of the farm Braamfontein. Part of this was given to the people of Johannesburg in 1904 for the specific use as a public park and named the Herman Eckstein Park after a leading mining pioneer. In 1906 the City Council built a lake on this section, which was marshland. It immediately became a major attraction...