Heritage Venues

About five years ago I stumbled over weeds and litter to get a glimpse of the crumbling Edwardian Lavatory in Newtown. I wondered how many more times I would be able to visit the heritage gem before the forces of neglect consumed her. When Atterbury announced its plans for the massive Newtown Junction development I prayed that this would mean a second life for the historic structure. Thankfully my prayers were answered and the developers along with their heritage consultants kept the building safe and secure during three years of construction.

In a few weeks time a new bar and eatery will call the lavatory home. This kind of adaptive reuse must be applauded. We trust patrons will fall in love with this unique venue!

Below are photographs taken over a period of just over three years. They reveal the changing environment around Newtown's Famous Edwardian Lavatory. Enjoy!

Photo taken in early 2012 showing the poor state of the structure (The Heritage Portal)

A different angle taken on the same day (The Heritage Portal)

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On 19 October 1986, a Tupolov Tu-134 plane travelling from Zambia to Mozambique crashed 65km from Maputo on the South African side of the border near the town of Mbuzini. The plane was carrying Samora Machel, the President of Mozambique, as well as high ranking Mozambiquan government officials and was manned by a Soviet air crew. Of the 44 passengers, 34 including the President died in the crash.

The official Commission of Inquiry into the accident, chaired by Judge Cecil Margo, highlighted pilot error while other reports claimed that a false beacon planted by South African agents was the catalyst for the crash. Speculation and debate on such a painful episode will, no doubt, continue.

In the 1990s a monument to commemorate the crash was commissioned. It was unveiled by Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique in January 1999. Since then the Samora Machel Monument has hosted various commemoration ceremonies and has been promoted as a major tourist attraction. Last month we visited the site and to say we were impressed is an understatement. The monument is incredibly powerful, the museum is enlightening and the staff are welcoming and informative.

The Samora Machel Monument and nearby museum (The Heritage Portal)

Perhaps our positive experience was due to low expectations created by negative online reviews. Many of the reviews on...

Norscot Manor lies to the north of Sandton, west of the William Nicol Drive and just north of the N1 Motorway. The home of the Eriksen family until 1982, Norscot now belongs to Sandton who have developed it as a community centre to serve their northern suburbs, and have already made one wing into a Public Library. Norscot was built in 1936 on a scale few could afford today and was ideally suited to lavish entertaining as well as being the quiet secluded home the Eriksen's wanted. As for its name, NORSCOT, we know that the "nor‟ was for Norway and "scot‟ was for Scotland and that Mr and Mrs Ernst Eriksen lived there with their two children [The family's phenomenal wealth came largely from its success in the motor industry].

The first house the Eriksens lived in in Johannesburg had been the stables of what is now the Hope Home in Westcliff. It was a stone house, designed by Sir Herbert Baker, which they rented from the well-known South African authoress Sarah Gertrude Milne. While there, they looked around for somewhere to build a permanent home. And it was while driving out to the north towards the mountains that they came across the water-melon farm belonging to Chris van der Walt and his brother near what is today the Sandton suburb of Fourways. Thus it was that plans evolved for the building of the second Norscot (their house in Kloof, Natal, had also had that name).

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In 2009 local businessman Gerrit van der Stelt stumbled across a small demolition notice attached to a boundary wall of the highly significant Tait House in Benoni. What followed was a desperate struggle by the community to preserve the historic home. The Heritage Portal is happy to report that not only is the house still standing but it could also become a powerful symbol of the ability of old and new to coexist and thrive.

Tait House (140 Woburn Avenue) is one of the finest examples of Victorian Architecture in Benoni. It was built in 1911 for the entrepreneur WM Tait and designed by Robert Macbeth Robertson, a leading architect of the era. The home forms part of an important group of Victorian buildings to the west of the Benoni CBD. It is therefore understandable that news of the intended demolition galvanized the local community.

Inspired by van der Stelt, the community organised a petition and disseminated a strong case for preservation. Attempts to spur the Provincial Heritage Resources Authority Gauteng (PHRAG) into action failed with numerous phone calls and emails going unreturned.

The community commissioned an independent assessment into the structural integrity of the building after the developer claimed that the house was in danger of collapse. The assessment found the stoep to be a safety hazard but the main house as sturdy as ever.

With no response from the PHRAG and demolition contractors circling van der Stelt grew desperate. He contacted John Robbie from Talk Radio 702 and a secured a...

The recent articles about Vergelegen on the Heritage Portal brought back happy recent memories of our holiday stay in Somerset West over Christmas 2014. As we were there for two weeks we visited Vergelegen three times to enjoy the splendour of the estate, learn a little history, taste wine, develop a discerning palette, get lost in the maze, take a walk in the enchanted oak forest, sniff the varieties of herbs in the herb garden, marvel at the ancient camphor trees, go on a tour of the cellars and let the  grandkids scramble about on the children's play equipment. The walled gardens delight with the vistas of lavender, hydrangeas, agapanthus and roses. The views of the panoramic setting in the valley below the Hottentots Holland mountain in the distance are spectacular.

[Click here to view 'The Story of Vergelegen']

Marvel at the ancient camphor trees (Kathy Munro)

The walled gardens are a delight (Kathy Munro)

The tour of the wine cellars through the vineyards and to a hillside site with an underground circular cellar was extraordinary.  We were offered a personal lesson in wine making and marvelled at the size of the vast oak...

[Originally published 31 August 2015] On Saturday morning we visited the award winning Drostdy Hotel in Graaff Reinet. We had been hoping to see the recently refurbished landmark for some time and a spontaneous stopover on the way back to Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth presented the perfect opportunity. 

Parliament Street Entrance (The Heritage Portal)

The Drostdy Hotel was built in 1804-5 and designed by the renowned architect and engineer Louis Michel Thibault. It served as the headquarters and residence for the local Landrost for many years before being sold off into private ownership. In the late 1870s, after a period of use as a private residence, the building began its life as a hotel. It changed hands (and names) a number of times over the next century and was altered considerably. In the late 1970s the Oudemeester Group, in association with Historical Homes of South Africa, acquired the historic building and began an epic restoration. The firm Munnik Visser Black & Fish Architects was honoured for its work on the project with an award of merit from the then Institute of South African Architects. [Click here to view the heritage impact assessment and other documents which contain extensive history of the complex and some wonderful old photographs.]

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The Rand Club is one of Johannesburg's great landmarks. It has a rich and controversial history and remains a major attraction for the public on occasions when access is arranged. Kathy Munro, Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits, visited the Club recently exploring every nook and cranny and pondering the future of this iconic institution. The Club has been reinventing itself for a number of years but tough decisions lie ahead...

Johannesburg’s Rand Club is an historic city institution that survives on the original site where the first gentlemen’s club was built. It was regarded as an essential institution in the new mining town and following in the style of the Kimberley Club. Founded by Cecil John Rhodes and the early city founding fathers of Johannesburg in 1887, this was a club for the professional men of the town, those with political aspirations, the business leaders. All men of course. It is redolent of the Reform Club of London.

The Club is still an important visible presence in the city and remarkably survives. Reminding us that Johannesburg never hesitated to build in boom times, this is the third Club building, erected in 1904, the architects being Frank Emley and William Leck. The Club expresses a come-of-age solidity and visible success of Edwardian era Johannesburg. It exudes permanence. It was erected on two stands with the main entrance and frontage on Loveday Street. It is a four storey edifice and extends from Fox Street to Market Street. The style is classically Edwardian baroque with a nod towards art nouveau details. The structure was...