Then and Now

It took a house plan to get Marc Latilla hooked on history.
 
The pony-tailed author, DJ and music professional recently launched his book, Johannesburg Then and Now. It’s a treasure for Joburg enthusiasts: a leisurely stroll down what the early gold prospectors built on a stretch of veld over 130 years ago, juxtaposed against what those buildings and sites look like now. The Then and Now books are a worldwide series, profiling cities like Melbourne, Rome, Charleston, and Cape Town.

Book Cover

Latilla bought a 1912 house in Melville 17 years ago, and wanting to make renovations, located the plans. But studying them triggered memories of old buildings he’d lived in - he was born in Bertrams, one of Joburg’s oldest suburbs.
 
“I realised that I have lived in heritage buildings. I always loved old properties. It all came together when I saw the plans of my Melville house,” he says.
 
Curious to find an old photo of his house, he studied “random books on old Joburg”, and checked at Museum Africa under Melville. He did not find any but in the process discovered that “many old houses and buildings were gone forever but at the same time, I saw that many were still around. I wanted to find as many as I could and show...

The Balcony Building (numbers 58-62 Main Road) is today mainly associated with The Factory Shop, which was opened in this building in 1983 and has expanded over the years to occupy most of the building. It was owned by a Swiss national, Jörg Friedrich, who managed it until 2013. The present owner, Fransien Koegelenberg took over at that time and has expanded the business further.  Fransien was kind enough to show me the interior of the building.

Recent photo of the Balcony Building (Robin Lee)

At present a real estate corporation named Homes International Real Estate Corporation is on the corner of Main Road and St. Peter’s Lane. Fabio’s Restaurant is around that corner and faces onto the Lane, but, structurally it is part of the Balcony Building. Previously, a leather goods shop called Hakbak Leather rented the premises. It was followed by two restaurants in succession before the present restaurant opened for business

For nearly sixty years, Alex Grant: Pharmacy occupied one shop on the ground floor. The shops on either side changed over time. An image from about 1925 shows three of these shops. On the right of the pharmacy as one faced it was a business called Anglo Parisian. It advertised itself as selling French model gowns and novelties. So far I have been unable to find out more...

Clarendon Circle was a landmark intersection of the north east route into Johannesburg. It was a circle of note located where East Avenue crossed Empire, Bruce, Twist and Klein Streets. There was an island on East Avenue separating the traffic lanes with an attractive line up of palm trees and shrubs.

Today Clarendon Circle is no more and the fingerprint of the history is captured in the name Clarendon Place which was the new name for East Avenue. The old Clarendon Circle disappeared into an amorphous, chaotic crossing marked by what we call robots and others around the world call traffic lights. This article explores the history of place and location.

Location of Clarendon Circle (A mid 1950s tourist map of Johannesburg)

Clarendon Circle was named in honour of the Earl of Clarendon, George Villiers (1877-1955) who served as Governor General of the Union of South Africa from 1931 to 1937. He was the chief representative of Britain in South Africa. George Villiers came from an aristocratic English family with ancient roots. His full name was George Herbert Hyde Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon. He was a British Conservative politician and sat in the House of Lords. He also served as Chief Scout of the Boy Scout movement during his tenure as Governor General and filled many other...

In 2011 bold plans for the demolition of the Village Walk Shopping Centre and the redevelopment of the valuable site were announced (Village Walk is located in the heart of Sandton opposite the Johannesburg Stock Exchange). Many commentators were excited yet cautious when renders for a massive three billion rand mixed use development (shops, offices, hotels and gym) were released. Tenants were given notice and demolition was expected to take place in mid 2012. Shortly after this the project was shelved with Momentum Properties CEO Vuyani Hako conceding that the initial plans had been too ambitious (and expensive).

More modest plans have since been drawn up and it appears as though contractors will begin dismantling parts of the site very soon. With this in mind we decided to go Inside Village Walk and record the site for posterity. [Originally published February 2014]

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In a recent newsletter we carried a link to an archived article on the Significance of Northcliff Hill. The response was impressive to say the least with a large number of views and incoming emails. One of the emails we received was from Rod Kruger who sent in a wonderful combination of 'Then and Now' photographs.

The 'Then' photograph was taken by the photographer H.F. Gros around 1885, the year before the establishment of Johannesburg. The 'Now' photograph is a more recent pic from Rod Kruger's private collection.

The photos could generate quite a discussion on the history and growth of Johannesburg!

Then

Now (2014)

When first published these two photos generated quite a discussion. Below are a few screenshots from social media threads.