Parktown mansions
Encyclopedia
The mansions of Parktown
(a suburb of Johannesburg
, South Africa
) are an important part of the history of the city of Johannesburg. They were the homes of the Randlords, accountants, military personnel and other influential residents of early Johannesburg, dating back as early as the 1890s. The first of these mansions, Hohenheim was designed by Frank Emley and was home to Sir Lionel Philips
and his wife Lady Florence Phillips
. The house was demolished but a plaque remains in honor of this important building.
Countless period homes and mansions were destroyed during the construction of the Wits Education Campus, Pieter Roos Park, The Johannesburg General Hospital
and the M1 motorway. The heritage of the remaining houses is closely guarded by the Parktown Westcliff Association.
Important Architects included Sir Herbert Baker
and his partners Masey, Sloper and Flemming and James Cope Christie.
This was built as the home of Archdeacon Michael Furse (later Bishop Furse). The house was built from stone quarried from the property itself. The beautiful gardens include a manicured lawn and bedded garden in the front and a rather wild garden in the back extending down the ridge to Empire Road. The Gardens also house a tiny chapel built for the Archdeacon.
As early as 1890, before the establishment of Parktown, entrepreneur Edouard Lippert had created a plantation of over two million trees on a ridge just North of Johannesburg. The property was partitioned and Brenthurst was the last plot to be sold. The house, Brenthurst, was built for the Consolidated Goldfields of South Africa and became famous as the Oppenheimer residence in 1922. The 40 acre property is now home to Brenthurst, Little Brenthurst, the Brenthurst Library
and most famously the Brenthurst Gardens
, Johannesburgs most famous private gardens. Brenthurst gardens are open to the public on certain days each year and private tours can be arranged. The house remains the Johannesburg residence of the Oppenheimer descendants.
Baker was originally commissioned to build this house for Sir Charles Llewellyn Anderson but Anderson rejected his designs and employed Cope Christie to build his fairytale home. The exterior of the house combines various styles including a strong Victorian influence with lots of iron work, art nouveau stained glass window panes and a fairytale domed turret with a weather cock. The house still belongs to the original family with Anderson's great great grandchildren residing there now. The interior is said to be decorated with hunting trophies, Animal heads and period furniture, however public entry is not permitted.
This was the home of James Goch, an important photographer in early Johannesburg. By the 1930s the House was being run as an hotel and in the 1960s it became the Overseas Visitors Club. In 1989 it was bought by the steakhouse chain, Mike's Kitchen and remains a flourishing restaurant to this day.
Originally built for Charles Jerome, this house now forms the premises for By Word of Mouth Caterers and is also available to rent as a function hall.
Often described as Parktown most romantic, this house was modelled on period French castles. Its Conical Towers were unfortunately removed for structural reasons. The house was built for Henry S. Wilson, a tradesman often known as the 'Oats King'. It is owned by the University of the Witwatersrand and used as a residence.
The residence of John and Josie Dale Lace and later George Albu
Savernake or Holcombe as it was originally known was built for Surgeon Major W.T.F. Davies. The house is now owned by the University of the Witwatersrand and is home to the Vice-Chancellor.
The house was designed for Hennen Jennings. It became the primary residence of Lord Alfred Milner
during the Anglo Boer War.
The house and grounds now form the premises for the Sunny Side Park Hotel.
Whilst not a house or mansion, this beautiful Baker building does deserve mention here. The bells of St. Georges can be heard throughout Parktown every Sunday morning at 10am and to announce weddings.
This was the private Traansvaal residence of the great architect Sir Herbert Baker.
Built as the residence of Sir Thomas Cullinan
, after whom the Cullinan Diamond
was named.
In 1896 Sir Lionel Phillips was banished from South Africa after the Jameson Raid
. He and his wife returned and took up residence in a house known as Villa Arcadia, a Swiss Chalet built in 1897 for Carl Rolfs, a Russian Business Man. In 1909 Baker and Masey were Employed to design a new house and in 1909 the current Villa Arcadia was completed with lot of input and design changes from Josephine Phillips.
In 1922 the property was sold and a Jewish orphanage was established in the house. General Jan Smuts
opened the Orphanage which ran in the Villa until 2002 with its highest number of orphans in 1939 at over 400.
In 2003 the insurance company Hollard established offices there. The new office blocks were built around the house in order not to detract from it's beauty and the house and gardens immediately surrounding it were restored. The House itself now houses a superb art collection, a number of boardrooms and entertainment facilities.
The Sir william and Lady Isobel Dalrymple were famous for the lavish parties that they threw at their Parktown home, Glenshiel. It was one of the firs Johannesburg homes to have a swimming pool and tennis courts. In 1941 after Sir William's death the 27 acre property was divided in 2. The 7 acre portion on which the home and stables stood was bood by a Major Gordon Haggie and the rest now forms the grounds of many newer homes and the Westcliff Hotel. Major Haggie immediately lend the house to the Order of St. John and it ran as a convalescence ward for wartime amputees until 1946. In 1950 Haggie had the stables converted into a home in which his family live to this day and loaned the house to the Order of St. John indefinitely. It now forms their main offices in Johannesburg.
This house was the private residence of Isidore W. Schlesinger, founder of African Film productions and the Killarney Film Studios
. The Schlesingers were influential in building the Suburb of Killarney and in 1972, after the studios were moved to Balfour Park, John Schlesinger demolished the studio and built Johannesburg's first major Shopping Mall, the Killarney Mall.
The house was designed in the American style including colonialist and art deco elements. It is a three-story square building with a large courtyard and is now an elegant sectional title apartment block. Moffat was an architect of enough importance that the University of the Witwatersrand's architecture block was named after him. This is the last John Moffat building left standing.
Parktown
Parktown is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, the first suburb north of the inner-city. It is affectionately known as one of the Parks, others including Parkview, Parkwood, Westcliff, Parktown North, Parkhurst and Forest Town...
(a suburb of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
) are an important part of the history of the city of Johannesburg. They were the homes of the Randlords, accountants, military personnel and other influential residents of early Johannesburg, dating back as early as the 1890s. The first of these mansions, Hohenheim was designed by Frank Emley and was home to Sir Lionel Philips
Lionel Phillips
Sir Lionel Phillips, 1st Baronet was a South African mining magnate and politician.-Early life:Phillips was born in London on 6 August 1855 to a family of lower middle-class merchants, who formed part of a growing group of Jews set to play a major role in the commerce and politics of...
and his wife Lady Florence Phillips
Florence, Lady Phillips
Dorothea Sarah Florence Alexandra, Lady Phillips was a South African art patroness and promoter of indigenous culture...
. The house was demolished but a plaque remains in honor of this important building.
Countless period homes and mansions were destroyed during the construction of the Wits Education Campus, Pieter Roos Park, The Johannesburg General Hospital
Johannesburg General Hospital
'The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital , nicknamed Joburg Gen is an accredited general hospital in Parktown, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. It has 1088 beds...
and the M1 motorway. The heritage of the remaining houses is closely guarded by the Parktown Westcliff Association.
Important Architects included Sir Herbert Baker
Herbert Baker
Sir Herbert Baker was a British architect.Baker was the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, 1892–1912....
and his partners Masey, Sloper and Flemming and James Cope Christie.
Hohenheim
As mentioned above this was the first mansion built in 1892 in the new township of Parktown. It was first the home of Sir Lionel and Lady Florence Philips but was soon taken over by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick as the Philips's went into exile following the Jameson Raid. The home was demolished to facilitate the construction of the Johannesburg General Hospital. A Heritage Plaque is in place to commemorate the site of this historic monument.Marienhof
Marienhof actually predates the laying out of Parktown as a township. It was constructed in 1890 for Edouard Lippert after he bought a large portion of Braamfontein Farm.List of important Parktown Mansions still standing
This is a list of important remaining Parktown Mansions. There are still countless other period houses in Parktown worth mention however perhaps not with the stature and important residents of those listed below.Bishopskop
1904, 18 Gale Road, designed by Baker, Masey and SloperThis was built as the home of Archdeacon Michael Furse (later Bishop Furse). The house was built from stone quarried from the property itself. The beautiful gardens include a manicured lawn and bedded garden in the front and a rather wild garden in the back extending down the ridge to Empire Road. The Gardens also house a tiny chapel built for the Archdeacon.
Brenthurst
1904, Third Avenue designed by Baker Masey and SloperAs early as 1890, before the establishment of Parktown, entrepreneur Edouard Lippert had created a plantation of over two million trees on a ridge just North of Johannesburg. The property was partitioned and Brenthurst was the last plot to be sold. The house, Brenthurst, was built for the Consolidated Goldfields of South Africa and became famous as the Oppenheimer residence in 1922. The 40 acre property is now home to Brenthurst, Little Brenthurst, the Brenthurst Library
Brenthurst Library
The Brenthurst Library is a private repository of Africana in Johannesburg built by Harry Oppenheimer in 1984 as he started to disengage from the family's mining interests. It houses a collection of some 20 000 volumes, including rare manuscripts and documents...
and most famously the Brenthurst Gardens
Brenthurst Gardens
Brenthurst Gardens is a private garden in Johannesburg, South Africa attached to Brenthurst Estate, the residence of the Oppenheimer family.-External links:* * from De Beers...
, Johannesburgs most famous private gardens. Brenthurst gardens are open to the public on certain days each year and private tours can be arranged. The house remains the Johannesburg residence of the Oppenheimer descendants.
Dolobran
1905, 16 Victoria Avenue designed by James Cope ChristieBaker was originally commissioned to build this house for Sir Charles Llewellyn Anderson but Anderson rejected his designs and employed Cope Christie to build his fairytale home. The exterior of the house combines various styles including a strong Victorian influence with lots of iron work, art nouveau stained glass window panes and a fairytale domed turret with a weather cock. The house still belongs to the original family with Anderson's great great grandchildren residing there now. The interior is said to be decorated with hunting trophies, Animal heads and period furniture, however public entry is not permitted.
Eikenlaan
1904, 15 St. Andrews Road designed by JB NicolsonThis was the home of James Goch, an important photographer in early Johannesburg. By the 1930s the House was being run as an hotel and in the 1960s it became the Overseas Visitors Club. In 1989 it was bought by the steakhouse chain, Mike's Kitchen and remains a flourishing restaurant to this day.
Emuyeni
1905, 15 Jubilee Road designed by Leck and EmleyHazeldene Hall
1902, 22 Ridge Road designed by Aburrow and TreebyOriginally built for Charles Jerome, this house now forms the premises for By Word of Mouth Caterers and is also available to rent as a function hall.
North Lodge
1906, 17 Victoria Avenue designed by Henry AldwyncleOften described as Parktown most romantic, this house was modelled on period French castles. Its Conical Towers were unfortunately removed for structural reasons. The house was built for Henry S. Wilson, a tradesman often known as the 'Oats King'. It is owned by the University of the Witwatersrand and used as a residence.
Northwards
1904, 21 Rockridge Road designed by Herbert BakerThe residence of John and Josie Dale Lace and later George Albu
George Albu
thumb|Lady Albu at wheel of CGV, London April 1905thumb|Northwards, Johannesburg 26.17720S, 28.03650ESir George Albu, 1st Baronet was a mining magnate in the diamond and gold industries of South Africa.-History:...
Savernake (Holcombe)
1904, 13 Jubilee Road designed by Leck and EmleySavernake or Holcombe as it was originally known was built for Surgeon Major W.T.F. Davies. The house is now owned by the University of the Witwatersrand and is home to the Vice-Chancellor.
Sunny Side Park
1896, 2 York Road designed by Frank EmleyThe house was designed for Hennen Jennings. It became the primary residence of Lord Alfred Milner
Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner
Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner KG, GCB, GCMG, PC was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played an influential leadership role in the formulation of foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s...
during the Anglo Boer War.
The house and grounds now form the premises for the Sunny Side Park Hotel.
St. Georges
1904, 7 Sherbourne Road, Designed by Baker and MaseyWhilst not a house or mansion, this beautiful Baker building does deserve mention here. The bells of St. Georges can be heard throughout Parktown every Sunday morning at 10am and to announce weddings.
Stonehouse
1902, 5 Rockridge Road designed by Sir Herbert BakerThis was the private Traansvaal residence of the great architect Sir Herbert Baker.
The View
1897, 18 Ridge Road designed by Aburrow and TreebyBuilt as the residence of Sir Thomas Cullinan
Sir Thomas Cullinan
Sir Thomas Cullinan was a South African diamond magnate. He is renowned for giving his name to the Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever discovered, and as owner of the Premier Mine, now renamed the Cullinan Mine, from which the famous gem was extracted on 26 January 1905...
, after whom the Cullinan Diamond
Cullinan Diamond
The Cullinan diamond is the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found, at .The largest polished gem from the stone is named Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, and at was the largest polished diamond in the world until the 1985 discovery of the Golden Jubilee Diamond, , also from the...
was named.
Villa Arcadia
1909, 22 Oxford Road designed by Baker and MaseyIn 1896 Sir Lionel Phillips was banished from South Africa after the Jameson Raid
Jameson Raid
The Jameson Raid was a botched raid on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic carried out by a British colonial statesman Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895–96...
. He and his wife returned and took up residence in a house known as Villa Arcadia, a Swiss Chalet built in 1897 for Carl Rolfs, a Russian Business Man. In 1909 Baker and Masey were Employed to design a new house and in 1909 the current Villa Arcadia was completed with lot of input and design changes from Josephine Phillips.
In 1922 the property was sold and a Jewish orphanage was established in the house. General Jan Smuts
Jan Smuts
Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...
opened the Orphanage which ran in the Villa until 2002 with its highest number of orphans in 1939 at over 400.
In 2003 the insurance company Hollard established offices there. The new office blocks were built around the house in order not to detract from it's beauty and the house and gardens immediately surrounding it were restored. The House itself now houses a superb art collection, a number of boardrooms and entertainment facilities.
Glenshiels Stables and The Priory
1908, 19 Woolston Drive, Westcliff designed by Baker and FlemmingThe Sir william and Lady Isobel Dalrymple were famous for the lavish parties that they threw at their Parktown home, Glenshiel. It was one of the firs Johannesburg homes to have a swimming pool and tennis courts. In 1941 after Sir William's death the 27 acre property was divided in 2. The 7 acre portion on which the home and stables stood was bood by a Major Gordon Haggie and the rest now forms the grounds of many newer homes and the Westcliff Hotel. Major Haggie immediately lend the house to the Order of St. John and it ran as a convalescence ward for wartime amputees until 1946. In 1950 Haggie had the stables converted into a home in which his family live to this day and loaned the house to the Order of St. John indefinitely. It now forms their main offices in Johannesburg.
Pallinghurst (The Hope Home)
34 Pallinghurst Road. The architect for this house is unknown, however Baker and Masey were responsible for the beautiful stables.Whitehall Court
Designed by John MoffatThis house was the private residence of Isidore W. Schlesinger, founder of African Film productions and the Killarney Film Studios
Killarney Film Studios
Killarney Film Studios was established in Johannesburg in 1915 as "the first motion picture studio in Africa".- History :The studio was founded and funded in the Johannesburg suburb of Killarney by US citizen Isidore W. Schlesinger ....
. The Schlesingers were influential in building the Suburb of Killarney and in 1972, after the studios were moved to Balfour Park, John Schlesinger demolished the studio and built Johannesburg's first major Shopping Mall, the Killarney Mall.
The house was designed in the American style including colonialist and art deco elements. It is a three-story square building with a large courtyard and is now an elegant sectional title apartment block. Moffat was an architect of enough importance that the University of the Witwatersrand's architecture block was named after him. This is the last John Moffat building left standing.