Saturday 5 October 2019 was a heritage cum book day of note at the library complex to be found at Solomon Street. The weekend offered booklovers the annual City Library book sale spread over two days, hosted by the Friends of the Johannesburg Public Libraries and the Johannesburg Library and information services.
Today 22 Solomon Street, Braamfontein is the Library’s administrative headquarters but the odd mix of buildings - a blend of workshops, living quarters, and offices presents a puzzle about origins and the several changes in activities on the site.
In the afternoon the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation under the guidance of Mrs Flo Bird, founding member of the JHF and first Chair, led an hour long tour of the interesting old buildings on the site and unveiled two blue plaques on these city properties. Flo introduced the layered history of the complex. The blue plaque signals a heritage site of significance and sets out in an elegant short paragraph a summary history.
At one time at least 1000 workers were housed here. The tour offered a workers perspective of labouring life in the city of Johannesburg that can be traced back a century. Compound living is today recognized as socially undesirable and unacceptable but at one time a single man who came to Johannesburg had to fend for himself, find a job and grab any accommodation possible. There are still remnants of those practices in the economy of the town.
The unveiling of two blue plaques is an opportunity to mark the social history of black working class life in the city. Here is a history that...
