Gone but not Forgotten

Having read recently some books about 'old Parktown, I am prompted to set down some further impressions and emotions about my five year tenure in that miracle of a suburb, in five different houses. At the time this was predicated by the need for a cheap home for myself, lover and infant son along with a changing circle of friends and a desire for a large house that allowed me to operate a photographic, art studio and darkroom. The fact that Parktown was within walking distance from the city centre and a stone’s throw from shops in Hillbrow made it an ideal choice for impoverished pedestrians and artists keen to borrow some faded grandeur.

My occupancy, initially, of part of a nameless and bland mansion at 5 St David's Place was brief. The house, impressively large, was fronted by a splendid wall and faced directly east, looking out over Parktown's famous oval, then in 1968 more a meadow than a cricket ground.

5 St David's Place

I then found rooms at 'Friedaura', a far larger and perhaps odder mansion situated on the corner of Victoria and St Andrews. It's chief glory was its gates, elaborate wrought and cast iron in flagrant Art Nouveau. These were hung on equally impressive stone gate posts topped with large stone balls, or they...

Huntington Hall, a mansion of profound historical significance in the village of Sabie, was tragically destroyed in a fire on the night of 28th August 2024.

The town of Sabie was started after H.T. Glynn and J.C. Ingle found gold there and formed the Glynns-Lydenburg Gold Mining Company. Huntington Hall, the manor house, used to belong to the owner of the old Glynn’s Lydenburg Gold Mine, H.T. Glynn. The town of Sabie was originally developed around this mine. The colonial structure was constructed in the late 1900s. The history of the house and its people were pivotal to the development of the region.

Huntington Hall before its falling into disrepair and being neglected by its local municipality and community

Below are some excerpts from the book: ‘Game and Gold - Memories of over 50 Years in the Lydenburg District, Transvaal’ by Henry T. Glynn

After the Anglo-Boer War, Lord Milner visited Pilgrims Rest and Sabie; he rode on horseback to Nelspruit from Pilgrims Rest and had relays. He called on us and had lunch at Huntington, with his escort of Colonels. While here my wife mentioned to him that it would be a great boon to the fields if a bridge could be thrown across the Crocodile River at Nelspruit, as the station...

This article first appeared on Lennie's personal blog on 20 September 2020. Click here to view. The main photo was taken by Lize Botes on the night of the fire.

The Potchefstroom railway station was destroyed by fire during the night of 19 September. This is a mere month after the General’s House, a declared historical building, succumbed to the same fate (click here to read more). The current station building was opened in 1919. It was once regarded as the third best railway station in the British Empire for its architectural features and beautiful lay-out.

According to the Potchefstroom Herald, the fire was noticed by a security guard who saw flames coming out of the roof by 23:00. The fire brigade was immediately notified, but when they arrived on the scene, the roof of the building had already caved in. The fire was extinguished by 00:20 but the building was destroyed by then.

The beautiful Cape Dutch gables of the Potchefstroom railway station are starkly silhouetted against the fire that destroyed the station on 19 September (sourced via social media)

101 year old

The Potchefstroom station used to be one of the grand old buildings of the city built in the Cape Dutch style. It is the...

In November 1982, Harry Oppenheimer presided over the opening of a landmark fountain in the heart of the Sandton CBD. The fountain, located on the corner of 5th Street and Rivonia Road in front of the Sandton Civic Centre, was donated to the town by Kay Barlow in memory of her husband Charles Sydney (Punch) Barlow.

Kay Barlow and Harry Oppenheimer at the opening of the fountain (Rand Daily Mail)

Punch Barlow passed away in 1979 and is remembered today as one of South Africa's most successful businessmen. He took the company his father started and grew it into one of the world's largest enterprises (Barlow Rand - known today as Barloworld). Click here to read a 1982 New York Times article unpacking the complexity of the company.

Barlow used his considerable wealth to help preserve South Africa's built environment and natural heritage. He was passionate about birds and made a great contribution to ornithology over the decades. According to various sources published after his death, he even had a few sub-species of birds named after him. This is why Kay Barlow commissioned the talented sculptor Robin Lewis to create two large bronze Fish Eagles to be placed...

The series of articles below tells the story of the controversy surrounding the destruction of the Top Star Dump and Drive-In. The articles were written by journalist Lucille Davie between 2006 and 2010. Despite talk of redevelopment the site remains vacant in 2018. Click here to view more of Davie's work.

Top Star Drive-in fights for its life

October 26, 2006

The Top Star Drive-in, a landmark of the city, has been saved from reclamation by a two-year protection proclamation but this will soon be challenged in court.
 
Published in the August provincial gazette, the protection is a measure to slow down the progressively changing landscape of the southern suburbs of the city, as well as save some mine dumps as heritage items.
 
Sophisticated technology now enables the mining industry to extract fine traces of gold from the dumps, not possible 100 years ago when the dumps were created. Many mine dumps have already been reclaimed, and the remaining soil has been deposited in two huge dumps being created alongside Nasrec.
 
The 50m tall Top Star dump, typical of dozens of dumps immediately south of the city centre, has a special significance for Joburgers because they recall going to the drive-in and watching movies with the city’s skyscrapers as a stunning backdrop.

The back of...

In 1889, just three years after the founding of Johannesburg, the finishing touches were being put on a building that would become one of the city's landmarks for seven decades. It rose almost 30m into the sky and was the tallest building in town until the Markham's Building claimed the title in 1897. Considering it dominated the skyline, it is no surprise that it gained the nickname the 'Eiffel Tower of the Rand'.

The structure I am talking about is, of course, the Palace Building (or Palace Buildings) located on the prime corner of Rissik and Pritchard Streets. It was designed by John Stanislaus Donaldson and was Joburg's first three storey building. Retail dominated the ground floor, offices were on the first floor and the top floor was used for accommodation. Real estate developer, William Gwynne Evans certainly showed immense confidence in the future of Johannesburg by erecting such a commanding structure at a time when most people believed the gold rush would not last.

The Palace Building under construction 1889-89 (Seventy Golden Years)

If you look closely you can see the date 1889 on the facade (Lost Johannesburg)

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While browsing through the book Seventy Golden Years (published by the Johannesburg City Council in 1956 to commemorate the city's 70th birthday), I came across a wonderful advert for Stewarts and Lloyds of South Africa. The company proudly announced that the hitching posts it supplied to the fashionable Athenaeum Club in the early 1900s were still in place over fifty years later. This was despite the Athenaeum being demolished and the reality that horses were no longer the major means of transport.

Stewarts and LLoyds Advert (Seventy Golden Years)

The advert piqued my interest and I wondered if the hitching posts were still there 61 years after the advert and 114 years after being erected. Surely six decades was enough time for a car accident to take them out, for a contractor to mistakenly remove them or for a vandal to steal them?

My first thought was to jump in my car and head out to the corner of Wolmarans and Klein Streets to search for evidence but the thought of getting caught in Joburg’s afternoon rush hour traffic during a thunderstorm quickly squashed that idea. While not as satisfying as a real-world hunt, I opened my browser to check if google maps could assist. I zoomed in via the 3D view and then transitioned to street view. A Mega Bus blocked the view but after some manoeuvring the...

Looking through old editions of the SA Builder is a fascinating experience. Many of the magazines have high quality photographs (and some sketches) and solid descriptions of projects occurring at the time. As one browses through these projects it becomes clear that only a small number of buildings have survived to this day. Below is a random selection of ten buildings from the 1920s and 1930s that were featured in their day but no longer grace the streets of Johannesburg.

1) Reid Bros Building (corner Main and Harrison, 1924)

The building is an example of simplicity and reasonable economy, and was designed by Mr. Gordon Leith. It was designed on a strictly geometrical basis with a module of 11 ft. 6 3/4 ins. The proportion of window space. To wall surface was only determined after exhaustive attempts to arrive at the correct ratio.

A feature of the building is its large projecting cornice, which throws a pleasant shadow on the walls below, and is constructionally an exceedingly fine piece of work.

The builders, Messrs. T. Clark and Sons, deserve every possible praise for the splendid manner in which they executed the work.

Among the originalities of the building may be mentioned the centreless barrel vault spanning the entrance vestibule, the blocks for which were designed by the architect.

Reid Bros Building (SA Builder)

 ...

Some time ago I posted an item on the Heritage Portal about the demolition of the 1904 ERPM Clubhouse and the 1908 (Herbert Baker) extension to the ERPM Clubhouse (click here to view). A stop order was subsequently obtained, and demolition of these two structures was halted, but only after they had been broken down by about 80%.

Ten years ago the above two buildings together with two others on the same site; the old ERPM Recreation Hall (1910) plus the ERPM World War I Memorial (1919) constituted what was probably the best preserved early mining village in South Africa. The Ekurhuleni Municipal Municipality even considered promoting this site as part of a mining heritage tour, but unfortunately the Municipality took no steps to either acquire or to protect the privately owned site of the ERPM Village.

Old photo of the ERPM Clubhouse with notes (circa 2015) from Peter Wood

In the last year, 3 other heritage structures situated slightly to the north of the ERPM Clubhouse/ Mining Village site have been completely demolished. Three houses that once were occupied by managers of ERPM have been torn down and the land they were on is now  being re-developed for dwellings.

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In 1996 the Christian Science Church in Port Elizabeth was illegally demolished. City Councillor Rory Riorden was furious and penned an article for Restorica which we have republished below. Restorica was the journal of the Simon van der Stel Foundation (today the Heritage Association of South Africa). Thank you to the University of Pretoria (copyright holders) for giving us permission to publish.

The demolisher of the [Christian Science Church] in Port Elizabeth will face charges under the National Monuments Act in May this year, for failing to obtain a demolition permit.

Demolition of the building designed by the late Herbert MacWilliams took place while a NMC meeting was in progress to declare it a national monument. The developer was well aware of the architectural importance of the building - it was the only church building in the country designed in the so-called Californian style - but ignored requests to preserve the facade in any new development. 

Demolition in progress (Carlie Norval)

The destruction of the facade of the [Christian Science Church] in Park Drive, Port Elizabeth, was an act of utter barbarism. One can explain it away in a hundred ways: The church had gone unsold for years, and nobody could make a development work while maintaining the complex and difficulty sited facade; the land was now worth much...