Tag: Braamfontein

• Views of Johannesburg from 1961 from the film Basie

  

  A couple of years ago I bought a few old South African DVDs that were shot in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They were for research for a story on ‘Ducktails’ (1950s Johannesburg gang culture and where a lot of our current slang comes from). I eventually watched one of them the other night.…

  Marc Latilla

  August 14, 2016

  Johannesburg

  Birnam, Braamfontein, Claim Street, Corlett Drive, Jan Smuts Avenue, Joubert Park, King George Street, Lutheran Church, Oxford Road, Rosebank, Twist Street, Tyrwhitt Avenue, Zoo Lake

• Lost churches of early Johannesburg

  

  This is part one of a piece on lost churches in early Johannesburg. Part two will focus on old churches that are still standing but no longer used as originally intended (and a few that are, but only the old ones up to the 1950s…). For continuity, I have included the existing version of a…

  Marc Latilla

  June 16, 2015

  Johannesburg

  African Methodist Episcopal Church, Apostolic Faith Mission SA, Baptist church, Beit Street, Braamfontein, Catholic churches, Chassidic Synagogue, churches, Doornfontein, Dutch Reform Church, Early Johannesburg, Ebenezer church, Eloff Street, Fordsburg, Harrow Road, Jewish history, Maronite, mosques, native missions, Ponovez Synagogue, Presbyterian church, Rev. Darragh, Rosebank Union Church, Sivewright Avenue, synagogues, Talmud Torah Synagogue, Wesleyan

• History of Braamfontein Pt.4 (Rand Show, WITS, Nunnery, Brewery)

  

  The Milner Park history of the Rand Easter Show (or Witwatersrand Agricultural Show as it was known) Read the 1894-1902 history of the Rand Show HERE In 1903 Lord Milner convinced the Transvaal government to donate a large open space to the city as a gift. It was named Milner Park and was to become…

  Marc Latilla

  April 29, 2015

  Johannesburg

  Aerial photographs, Braamfontein, Early Johannesburg, Empire Exhibition, Empire Road, Fever hospital, Golden Jubilee, Helpmekaar School, Holy Trinity Church, Jan Smuts Avenue, King George VI, Lord Selborne, Nunnery, Ohlssons Cape Brewery, Public Works Department, Rand Show, SAB, UJ, University of Johannesburg, WITS University, Witwatersrand Agricultural Society

• History of Braamfontein Pt.3 (Explosion, Cemetery & Early Rand Show)

  

  This is part 3 of what will finally be a 4 part history on Braamfontein. Do go back and check the first two parts here and here as some of the original pictures have been updated with better quality shots. There are also some new additions that weren’t available when the posts were originally published.…

  Marc Latilla

  January 11, 2015

  Johannesburg

  Braamfontein, Bramfontein Cemetery, Early Johannesburg, history of johannesburg, Hohenheim, Parktown, Rand Show, Sir Lionel Phillips, Sir Thomas Cullinan, The View, Witwatersrand Agricultural Society

• History of Braamfontein Pt.2 (Lost Braamfontein)

  

  I’ve come across yet another suburb name that a part of Braamfontein was once known as: Argyle (or Argyll). This was once known as Johannesburg’s smallest suburb and was a few blocks west of the old Johannesburg Hospital. According to Anna Smith’s ‘History of Johannesburg street names’, the Transvaal Volksraad granted Commandant Daniel Egnatius Schutte…

  Marc Latilla

  September 30, 2014

  Johannesburg

  All Saints Clifton Parish Hall, Ameshoff Street, Argyle, Braamfontein, Braamfontein Dutch Refrom Church, Civic Centre, Civic Theatre, Clifton, Clifton Methodist Church, Devonshire Hotel, Early Johannesburg, Geldenhuys Building, Henri Street, history of johannesburg, Hospital Hill School, Jooste & Bryant, Juta Street, Sacke Residence, Spes Bona School

• History of Braamfontein Pt.1

  

  Braamfontein today is largely unchanged from 30 years ago. It seems like it’s always just been this way, but its long history starts off as a farm in 1853 to a booming middle-class residential suburb in the mid-1890s to the 1930s. During the economic and building booms of the 1930s and 1950s, many businesses relocated…

  Marc Latilla

  July 27, 2014

  Johannesburg

  Braamfontein, Braamfontein enclosure, Clifton, Clifton Hotel, Clifton Methodist Church, Clifton Reef, Emmerentia, Frans Geldenhuys, Gert Bezhuidenhout, Johannesburg Train Station, Kitcheners, Lindeque’s Portion, Lord Kitchener, Lourens Geldenhuys, Milner, Milner Park Hotel, Old Wanderers, Randjeslaagte, REFORM! Sound System, Smit Street Hotel School, The Gables, Wanderers, Wanderers View

• Theatres and Bioscopes in early Johannesburg

  

  The first theatre in JHB called Theatre Royal was in Market Street (east) and erected on 17 June 1887 (some sources say 15th June) by J. Mipping. The portable and demountable structure came from Newcastle. The two stands on which the theatre was erected were purchased by Mipping via a sale on 8 December 1886.…

  Marc Latilla

  July 29, 2013

  Johannesburg

  20th Century, Academy Theatre, Adam Leslie Theatre, Alhambra Theatre, Anstley’s, Apollo, Astoria, Avalon, Bantu Men’s Social Centre, Bijou Theatre, Black Sun, Blue fox, Braamfontein, Brooke Theatre, Carlton Theatre, Chelsea Hotel, Chelsea Theatre, Cinerama, Civic Theatre, Colosseum, Commissioner Street, Curzon, Doornfontein, Dorkay House, Eloff Street, Empire Palace of Variety, Fillis Circus, Fine Arts Theatre, Fox Street, Gem Theatre, Globe Theatre, Grove Kinema, Highpoint, Hillbrow, His Majesty’s, Intimate Theatre, Market Street, Market Theatre, Melville, Metro, Mini Cine cult cinema, Moncine, Monte Carlo, Odin Theatre, Orpheum, Oxford Hotel, Piccadilly Theatre, Plastic Theatre, Playhouse, Plaza Cinema, Regal Kinema, Rissik Street, Royal Cinerama, Scala Theatre, Sophiatown, Standard Theatre, Starlite, Ster City, Taj Cinema, Tea Room cinemas, The Colony, Theatre Royal, Victory Theatre, Village Theatre, Windmill Theatre, Yeoville, YMCA Theatre

• Short history of trams in Johannesburg

  

  Since moving this blog from Posterous (RIP), the traffic has more than doubled and for the first time I’m also able to see what people searched for to get to my blog. A few weeks ago there was a spike in ‘tram’ searches so I decided to slot a quick history of trams in-between the…

  Marc Latilla

  June 1, 2013

  Johannesburg

  Barry Hertzog Avenue, Belgravia, Boksburg, Braamfontein, Commissioner Street, Doornfontein, Early Johannesburg, electric trams, Fordsburg, Harrison Street, horse trams, Jeppestown, King George Bridge, Market Square, Melville, Raandjeslaagte, Rand Tram, Rustenburg Road, Siemert Road, Spencer Commission, Staib Street, tram routes, trams, Trolley-buses, Twist Street, William Henry Miles

• Early sweeping views

  

  I’ve read that Johannesburg has been rebuilt three times. Initially it was a haphazard town akin to the wild west with lots of tents, tin structures and bars (and some clay huts-these prohibited after 1891 building regulations) With early deeper m…

  Marc Latilla

  February 13, 2011

  Johannesburg

  Braamfontein, Bree Street Kink, Doornfontein, Early Johannesburg, Eloff Street, Ferreira’s Camp, Hillbrow, Hospital Hill, Jeppe Street, Jeppestown, Map, Market Street, Natal Camp, Paarl Camp, Palace Buildings, Randjeslaagte, Rissik Street, Yeoville