» South African History

More on walking tours of Joburg’s inner city

liz — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:57:52 +0000

Gerald Garner who wrote Spaces and Places Johannesburg as well as Johannesburg 10Ahead, has recently started walking tour of Jozi’s inner city. On 28th Jan a tour will leave from Mary Fitzgerald Square at 9 am. Billed to see the public art in Newtown, Turbine Hall, Chancellor House, the Anglo American campus, the Ashanti Hotel and Dogon apartments, Main Street Mall, Gandhi Square, The City Hall, Ernest Oppenheimer Park and, time permitting trendy Braamfontein. You will definitely need your walking shoes. See www.joburgplaces.com

Cost R230 per person To book email gerald@joburgplaces.com Tel 082 894 5216

Heritage tours run by Parktown Westcliff Heritage Trust

liz — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:28:08 +0000

The Parktown Westcliff Heritage Trust runs tours to interesting places which are very varied on their offerings. Many of these tours provide access to places that one cannot always get to independently. Sadly however, the guiding style and information provided can be a little superficial and descriptive, with in-depth information often tantalizingly lacking. But enjoy the outings. Here is the programme for the first quarter of 2011.

WALKING TOUR ‘MOUNTAIN VIEW – RIDGE ROAD’   SATURDAY AFTERNOON, 28th JANUARY   Along the peak of the ridge high above Hope Road and Louis Botha Avenue is a lovely and prestigious precinct of fine and historical homes. One of the first was designed by Baker and Masey in 1906 complete with Cape Dutch gables and magnificent garden. Robert Howden was the architect of the house at the east end of Ridge Road – very fine brick on a kopje. Hoogterp also chose to place his client’s house well back from the road to enjoy the magnificent view. Where the tennis court faced the road there is now a delightful pavilion – a flat-pack conservatory from Paris. We also visit the Cross Bath House which proves that a dream can be made to come true. A short excursion into Young Avenue and we return along Steyn Street under the Plane trees looking at the next generation of homes.
MEET               :      Val Hammerton and Flo Bird                                                                                                                                                        PARK               :       In Ridge Road – this is a boomed area so enter from Judith Road at the east end                                                  TIME                :       14h00                                                                                                                                                                                                 DURATION       :     Approximately 2½ hours
COST               :        R70.00 for members and R100 for non-members

WALKING TOUR “LIVING AMONGST THE STARS” SATURDAY, 4th FEBRUARY
Johannesburg’s weather forecasting station, designed by Herbert Baker, was officially opened in 1905 in what is today known as Observatory. The property was donated by the Bezuidenhout family on condition that the land was used as an observatory for meteorological and astronomical activities. Robert Innes, a self-taught astronomer, was given the responsibility of establishing and running the Observatory. His home, known as Innes House, was also designed by Herbert Baker. Learn about the men and women who lived and worked on this site and the role they played in advancing science and technology in early Johannesburg.
MEET               :           Clare van Zwieten and Janet Hughes
PARK               :           Johannesburg Observatory, 15A Gill Street, Observatory
TIME                :           14h00
DURATION       :           Approximately 2½ hours
COST               :           R70.00 for members and R100 for non-members

WALKING TOUR ‘THE LIGHT HORSE REGIMENTAL MUSEUM’ SATURDAY, 11th FEBRUARY Johannesburg’s oldest regiment, the Imperial Light Horse now the Light Horse Regiment – they wisely dropped the Imperial branding.   The two firebrands who started the regiment, Aubrey Woolls Sampson and Walter Karri Davies, decided there were three criteria: volunteers must be able handle a rifle well, they must be able to ride and they must be men. Within the month they found themselves in battle against fellow Jo’burgers.   The regiment saw active service in all the wars that followed so there will be enjoyable tales relating to the paintings and trophies – funny rather than sad. After enjoying the memorabilia visitors are welcome to quench their thirst in the bar.
MEET               :           Dennis Adams, William Gaul and Heinrich Jansen
PARK               :           Regimental Headquarter, 9 Southway, Kelvin (from M1 north take the Marlborough Road off ramp and turn right into Marlborough Drive – R60. Southway is on the left)
TIME                :           14h30
DURATION       :           Approximately 2 hours
COST               :           R70.00 for members and R100 for non-members

BUS TOUR ‘JEWISH JOHANNESBURG’ SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 19th FEBRUARY Inspired by memories of Irving Lissoos Judge Ralph Zulman has offered to lead us around his favorite places which reveal the experiences and the role played by the Jewish community in history of Jo’burg. Today when so much emphasis is played on reflecting the demographics of our country we forget that a small community of Jews managed to play such an important part in the civic and cultural life of our city. Jewish architects shaped so much of the City Centre with an enthusiasm for embracing the Art Deco as well as the International Style and venturing into designing blocks of flats in lots of suburbs as well Hillbrow and in town. Mayors, theatre managers, entrepreneurs as well as the doctors and lawyers Jewish mothers    are supposed to prefer.
MEET               :           Judge Ralph Zulman
PARK               :           Sunnyside Park Hotel, 2 York Road, Parktown
TIME                :           14h00
DURATION       :       Approximately 2½ hours
COST               :           R145.00 for members and R175.00 for non-members

BUS TOUR ‘LINNWARE AND SUNLAWNS’ SATURDAY 26th FEBRUARY
Sir Thomas Cullinan not only opened his factory at Olifantsfontein to produce refractories for Iscor, he was keen to promote a studio of ceramics. William Morris said everything in the home should be both useful and beautiful, so The Ceramic Studio created bowls, dinnerware, vases, milk jug and tiles for bathrooms, kitchens and later post offices and even railway stations that upheld Morris’ dictum.   At Sunlawns, home of Pamela Cullinan, there is a wonderful range of the products of the first Ceramic Studio and the more commercially oriented Linnware which we’ll be privileged to see in the house and the garden. The tour passes the old Irene Post Office and the source of the clay at Olifantsfontein. .
MEET               :           Brigid Ward (herself a potter) and Flo Bird
PARK               :           Sunnyside Park Hotel, 2 York Road, Parktown
TIME                :           11h30 – PLEASE BRING A PACKED PICNIC LUNCH TO ENJOY IN THE GARDENS AT SUNLAWNS
DURATION       :       Approximately 5 hours
COST               :           R180.00 for members and R210.00 for non-members

‘ EMMARENTIA HIKE’ THE DAM, THE PIONEERS AND THE HISTORY In association with the Book Fair and starting from Marks Park SUNDAY MORINING, 4th MARCH This is a serious hike around Emmarentia, during which we will be focusing on the history of the suburb as one of the original farms on which Johannesburg was established. We will be visiting Louw Geldenhuys’ farm house, as well as that of his brother, Frans. We will pay our respects at the family cemetery, and we’ll walk around the farm dam. Time permitting, we will call in at Jan van Riebeeck Park, a.k.a. the Rose Garden. At some point, we’ll tip our collective cap to the iron-age pioneers who used this pass in their annual migration to the cooler grasslands of the south, and some of whom established their iron works on the northern slopes of Melville Koppies. We return to the Marks Park Sports Club where refreshments will be available and the Book Fair will be in full swing.
MEET               :           Alex Parker and Ed Coogan
PARK               :           Marks Park Sports Club – entrance in Judith Road
TIME                :           9.00am – PLEASE NOTE EARLY STARTING TIME
DURATION       :        Approximately 3½ hours
COST               :           R70.00 for members and R100.00 for non-members
PLEASE WEAR SUNHATS, GOOD WALKING SHOES AND SUN CREAM. CARRY WATER

BUS TOUR ‘1922 STRIKE REVOLT ON THE RAND 90TH ANNIVERSARY’ SATURDAY, 10th MARCH
“It was a struggle of whites fought in the name of race, but largely turning upon the right to be heard, to have some control over the overweening power of employers. A struggle too for dignity. A world of huge political funerals, defiance at the gallows, a last stand against overwhelming odds.” The words of Jeremy Krikler in The Rand Revolt. The fight wasn’t between white miners and black mineworkers; it was between white miners and their employer backed by the white government. We can’t cover it all, but we’ll visit the battle sites, see the bullet holes and lay flowers on the graves of men from both sides. Light refreshments are included
MEET               :           Winnie Job and Flo Bird
PARK               :           Sunnyside Park Hotel, 2 York Road, Parktown
TIME                :           12 noon – PLEASE NOTE EARLY STARTING TIME
PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING A PACKED LUNCH WHICH WILL BE EATEN ON THE BUS
DURATION       :        Approximately 4½ hours
COST               :           R145.00 for members and R175.00 for non-members

WALKING TOUR ‘ST PATRICK’S DAY IN PARKVIEW’SATURDAY AFTERNOON, 17th MARCH
The wearing of the green will start with Kilkenny Castle and Major John O’Hara the man who gave Parkview all its Irish Street names. His house reflects something of strong character. With true Irish spirit he rose in wrath from his sickbed when he heard the Otto Beit money for the founding of a University had been given to Cape Town, called a protest meeting in the City Hall and promised Milner Park for the site of the University of the Witwatersrand. We follow Kilkenny Road to see some old houses, homes of Jo’burg pioneers like Pritchard, Charles Greig, and move up to Wexford for the home of Orlando Leake. Some beautifully proportioned little houses, as well as some very eccentric ones and then come the Westcliff homes designed by Gordon Leith.
MEET               :           Raymond Cardoso and William Gaul
PARK               :           In Kilkenny Road near the corner of Wexford Road
TIME                :           14h00
DURATION       :         2½ hours
COST               :           R70.00 members and R100.00 for non-members

WALKING TOUR ‘ART DECO IN THE CITY’ SUNDAY MORNING, 25th MARCH Art Deco burst on Johannesburg with all the vigour and confidence of the economic recovery after the Great Depression. It is exuberant, even boisterous boasting curving balconies to match the gleaming bumpers of the automobiles and racing for the sky with towers and topped with flag poles. More restrained versions did appear, tamed by the Modern Movement and Le Corbusier, but streamlining and ship’s architecture only make the steel windows more elegant. Deco Moderne is perhaps the best description for these hybrids. It’s the Jazz Age, ocean liners racing to cross the Atlantic – its fun and its still there. The buildings in Jeppe Street are certainly shabby, but the pavement life isn’t. Starting with the elegance of London House and Howard House, the brass work in Maritime House (office blocks) the tour moves north past His Majesty’s and up to the residential buildings Anstey’s, Manners Mansions, Castle Mansions to Astor Mansions.
Wear good walking shoes. Jo’burg pavements are dicey.
TOUR LEADERS:      Brian McKechnie and Clare Eisenstein
MEET               :           In Loveday Street on the corner of Main Street
PARK               :           Park in Loveday Street in front of the Rand Club.
TIME                :           10.30 AM – PLEASE NOTE EARLY STARTING TIME
DURATION       :        2½ hours
COST               :           R70.00 members and R100.00 for non-members

PLEASE NOTE THAT UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED ALL BOOKINGS CAN BE MADE THROUGH COMPUTICKET. YOU CAN BOOK EITHER AT A COMPUTICKET OUTLET OR ON-LINE. FOR INTERNET BOOKINGS USE THE ADDRESS www.computicket.com WHEN BOOKING TICKETS, PLEASE USE EXACT NAME OF TOUR AS IT APPEARS ON THE PROGRAMME WHEN PAYING CASH PLEASE ALWAYS ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE THE CORRECT AMOUNT. IT WASTES TIME IF TOUR LEADERS HAVE TO GIVE CHANGE
BANKING ACCOUNT DETAILS – NEDBANK PARKTOWN, PARKTOWN & WESTCLIFF HERITAGE TRUST, ACCOUNT NO 1944023011 BRANCH CODE 194405
FOR COMPUTICKET TELEPHONE BOOKINGS: (011) 340-8000
TOURS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
FOR QUERIES CONTACT OFFICE ON TEL NO (011) 482-3349 (WEEKDAYS 9AM – 1PM) OR SEND AN E-MAIL TO mail@parktownheritage.co.za

A destination guesthouse: Satyagraha in Orchards

liz — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 09:04:23 +0000

Ghandi's statue in Ghandi Square Central Joburg

Ghandi’s philosphy of Satyagraha (non-violent non-cooperation) was born in South Africa and more specifically in what was then the Transvaal, in the first decade of the 20th Century. Ghandi arrived in Johannebsurg in 1893 and stayed at various places during the 12 years he was in Johannesburg. For more on this see Eric Itzkin’s excellent book Ghandi’s Johannesburg. One of the places where Ghandi lived in Johannesburg has been restored by a French Travel Company as a guest house and heritage resource – a really wonderful example of adaptive re-use and sustainable heritage. The Kraal at 15 Pine Road in Orchards was built by the famous architect Hermann Kallenbach who was a great freind of Ghandi’s. C ompleted in 1908 Gandhi and Kallenbach lived there until the end of 1909.

Free tours of the house are available, with or without lunch. It is open from 8am to 5pm, Mondays to Sundays. Book a 45-minute tour on 011 485 5928.

September is heritage month – keep the weekend of the 17/18th free – some fascinating tours

liz — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:48:05 +0000

There are going to be a series of interesting tours of Joburg run by the Parktwon Westcliff Heritage Trust over the week-end of 17th and 18th Sept. At least 15 different tours. Unfortunately the page is not active on thie site www.parktownheritage.co.za Maybe will be up and running soon. Contact me for more info if you need.

Remembering this day in history

liz — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:18:50 +0000

9th August 1956 : see http://joburg.org.za/culture/latest-news/193-strike-a-woman-strike-a-rock

The Jozi Art scene has woken up after the festive season shut down: what’s on for Feb/March 2011

liz — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 10:12:22 +0000

Scottish painter George Devlin will be exhibiting his European Summer works at the Everard Read Gallery (6 Jellicoe Ave) during February. Also at the Everard is Thea Soggot’s ‘Earth and Ink’ from 10 February – 9 March.
Dylan Lewis is showing his recent body of mythological figures sculpted from clay and cast in bronze at CIRCA on Jellicoe 15th of February to 9th of March
A retrospective of the work of octogenarian photographer, J.D. Okhai Ojeikere at Gallery MOMO in Johannesburg 03 Feb 2011 – 28 Feb. Titled ‘Sartorial Moments and the Nearness of Yesterday’, the exhibition features a selection of images that interact with notions of modernity and nationalism through fashion. Ojeikere began his photographic career in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, in 1950, with a camera that he got for two pounds sterling. He now has over 5000 photographs in his archives; and his artistic images of hairstyles like ‘Onilegogoro’, have acquired an iconic status.
No Romance an exhibition showing individual and collaborative works by Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh is showing at the Goodman Gallery from 17th Feb to 2nd April
Showing at David Krut Projects is Maja Maljević in her solo exhibition, Bubble and Leak, consisting of a series of large oil paintings and selected prints. On from 10th Feb to 19th March
Super Boring by Wayne Barker, who is anything but super boring, is showing at the Standard Bank Art Gallery from 2nd Feb to 9th April Renowned for his re-interpretations of paintings by the Afrikaner nationalist artist, JH Pierneef, for this Barker has produced a new body of work that confronts and questions the new South African culture. ‘Super Boring’ was initially a curatorial collaboration between SAMC Art Gallery, Andrew Lamprecht and Barker. There is an accompanying catalogue contextualising his new work in relation to earlier bodies of work.
Gabrielle Goliath’s Exhibition Murder on 7th at Nirox Projects, Arts on Main 3 -27 feb
As a body of work, Murder on 7th is styled according to the murder mystery ‘whodunnit’ tradition. Seven rooms, typical of the suburban domestic residence are presented as potential crime scenes – to be investigated by the viewer. The image of each room, a titled portrait set in its corresponding environ, is presented within a black CCTV-like structure or housing. This reference to surveillance is suggestive of the potential threat of crime, as well as of the pervasive culture of security in suburban South Africa.
Bonile Bam Recognition 2000-2010 at Seippel Gallery, Arts on Main 6 February 2011 – 10 April Comprises 10 years of black and white photographs of urban scenes and landscapes
Estudio Campana at the Goodman Gallery Projects, Arts on Main 5 February – 9 April The two brothers Humberto and Fernando Campana are Brazilian designers who have been working together since the 1980s producing a range of industrial design pieces
South African Photography at the Bailey Seippel Gallery, Arts on Main 10 February 2011- mid April Includes a selection of works from major SA photographers, such as Bob Gosani, Cedric Nunn, Sam Nzima, Paul Weinberg among others.
Figures of Speech at Jozi ArtLab, Arts on Main 25 February- 8 March Curated by Eva Seufert & Claudia Shneider this exhibition presents works by South African and German artists: Ingo Gerken, Bandile Gumbi, Sharlene Khan, Alexandra Ross, Eva Seufert & Claudia Shneider. During the exhibition at Arts on Main, other discursive events, workshops and interventions will take place at the Hector Pietersen Museum Kliptown Centre in Soweto, Keleketla! Library at Drill Hall in Johannesburg, and the Polokwane Art Centre. Other Views is an African art exhibition currently on view until 11th March at the Origins Centre Gallery, Wits It challenges some of the entrenched views of classic art history that see African art as peripheral, and frozen in primitive and traditional pardigms. Tracey Rose’s first large scale solo exhibition to be held in South Arica, Waiting for God, opens at the Johannesburg Art Gallery on 20th Feb at 4pm. In her performance-based practice, Rose examines the roles given to Africans, to African women, and to women in a male dominated world. Drawing on theatre conventions and the carnival condition her work often makes satirical comment. This exhibition will include an extensive photographic and video work archive of past live performance works.

Coffee Shop at the Apartheid Museum now open

liz — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Since November 2010 the coffee shop at the Apartheid Museum has been re-opened. Even better news is that it is run by Mrs D’Angeli, who together with her son Dario ran Yum in Greenside for a number of years. With an interesting and varied menu, the coffee shop is accessible even to those who are not visiting the museum. Dario himself now runs a restaurant called Cube in Parktown Heights, on the corner of 4th and 7th Avenues in Parktown North. It appears to be more of an experimental kitchen, along the lines of The Fat Duck run by Heston Blumental in the UK which features regularly on DSTV.

‘Songs of Migration’ returns to the Market Theatre

liz — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:59:09 +0000

Songs of Migration, a musical tribute to the great songs of migrants across the African continent, has been created by trumpeter, composer and lyricist Hugh Masekela and written and directed by award-winning director James Ngcobo. It features the multi-talented and soulful Sibongile Khumalo. D uring the late 19^th century, indigenous people started to migrate to the towns that had emerged out of the mining operation dumps. These new migrants brought with them their music, traditional costumes, musical instruments, songs, ceremonies and dance. It is these stories and this music which from the material for Songs of Migration . Tuesdays – Saturdays @ 20h00 Sundays @ 15h00 Ticket prices: Tues – R60, Wed & Thurs – R90, Fri & Sat – R150, Sun – R100

DRUM Magazine Covers 1951- 1980 At Bailey Seippel Gallery at Arts on Main

liz — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 16:38:18 +0000

The Drum Magazine was founded by Jim Bailey in 1951 beginning a unique journalistic record. Besides the diverse content of this “Lifestyle Magazine” for black people it was the cover design that made the magazine unique. Photography was an important component of the DRUM Magazine and its success. Considering the development of the cover designs over the years, one learns not only about the changes in society, in fashion and about the style of the certain period, but one is also able to retrace the change in graphic design, layout, and application of form and colour in a very impressive way. Until 30 January 2011;

Mark Gevisser on representing South Africanness

liz — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 07:08:54 +0000

Mark Gevisser wrote about South African identity in both the build up to the World Cup Cup http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article439527.ece/I-want-to-imagine-the-SA-of-my-dreams as well as after the final whistle had been blown: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jul/10/south-africa-unites-over-football . See his latest take on what it means to be a South African in late 2010: http://www.arttimes.co.za/news_read.php?news_id=2683