Johannesburg Heritage Foundation runs great tours The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation is the most amazing activist/educational/heritage/tourism organization which, amongst other activities, runs bus and walking tours of Joburg’s historical spaces and places. Once such was the Cathedrals of Industry tour on 4th Sept where Kathy Munro (Jozi historian) and David Gurney (urban planner) led a bus […]
Read More »Gerald Garner of Joburg Places Gerald Garner of Joburg Places is no stranger to Jozi-ites and regeneration issues in this ever-changing city. He has written 4 books on Joburg and has taken walking tours for many years. I first went on a tour with Gerald 4 years ago and have been several times since – […]
Read More »The Sheds@no1Fox gets another revamp Mid-morning on a cold winter’s day is not the ideal time to experience a newly launched industrial-space leisure hub in Jozi inner city, but despite the cold winter chill and the fact that few people know of the reopening, we still had a great time a few week-ends back […]
Read More »Tours with Gerald Garner of Joburg Places:highly recommended The only way to get a real sense of a city is not by driving through as an observer, but by immersing oneself in the sensory experiences of street life and activity. So while the Hop-on Hop-off Red Bus is a great way to orientate oneself to the […]
Read More »Newtown Junction: mixed-use office and retail development A huge mixed-use office and retail development, Newtown Junction, is being built behind Museum Africa where the old potato sheds of the Market building stood. References to the old poultry shed, the original station master’s residence as well as the potato sheds will all be included in the […]
Read More »Jacaranda time is here again During October and November every year Joburg is turned into a riot of deep purple with the Jacarandas in full bloom. From a high vantage point like Munro Drive or the Westcliff steps, the whole of northern Johannesburg from the Parktown Ridge to Sandton, is tinged with a dramatic blanket […]
Read More »Making institutional meaning of place In The Practice of Everyday Life the French scholar De Certeau has a chapter “Walking in the City”. Here he asserts that the ‘city’ is brought into being by official bodies and large institutions which produce systems like street grids, planned urban spaces, precincts, maps etc. And it is these strategies which […]
Read More »Clustered around the lower Rosebank/Parkwood border on Jan Smuts Ave is a number of galleries which offer an exciting range of exhibitions. Showing at Everard Read from 11th April to 4th May are Pappetti’s large scale canvases depicting industrial landscapes, interiors and human figures. Also on at Everard Read from 18th April is a collection […]
Read More »Park Station then: and now … History of Park Station Johannesburg’s first railway station , commissioned by the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek and designed by the Dutch architect Jacob Klinkhamer, was manufactured in Rotterdam in 1895. It was brought out to the Transvaal and was re-erected at Park Halt (as Park Station was known at […]
Read More »Johannesburg Heritage Foundation Tours The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation runs weekly tours usually on Saturday afternoons. What makes them special? They explore interesting parts of Johannesburg They often include unusual places and spaces that are off-the-tourist-route They are often walking tours. They also sometimes do bus tours (like the Parktown Garden Tour on Sun 17th Feb […]
Read More »