The Secret Ruins of the Johannesburg Gas Works

2Summers | 25 August 2022
johannesburg architecture history urbex

Several months ago, Thorsten and I took a walk through the old Johannesburg Gas Works. Our visit happened spontaneously and we definitely shouldn’t have done it. Most of the Gas Works has been abandoned since gas production terminated 30 years ago, and the buildings aren’t safe. I felt guilty afterward and I don’t want to encourage anyone else to do this, which is why I didn’t blog about it for so long.

The overgrown Johannesburg Gas Works
The Johannesburg Gas Works, slowly being reclaimed by nature.

But we kind of just stumbled upon it. And once we peeked through the first doorway, a powerful magnetic force yanked us inside and kept pulling us further in. There’s something magical about this abandoned industrial space, filled with old machinery and stray piles of ancient coal, slowly crumbling away as weeds and vines creep through the windows and spontaneously sprout up through the floors.

I happened to have my camera that day and Thorsten had his sketch book. The opportunity was too good to pass up.

The Gas Works
Inside the Johannesburg Gas Works
The buildings appeared to be uninhabited. But every now and then we spotted signs of human visitation, like a broken chair or a plastic mannequin torso.
Vines creeping into the Gas Works
Thorsten sketching in the Gas Works
Thorsten doing his thing.
Sketch of the Johannesburg Gas Works
I think this is what he was sketching.
Looking down on the Gas WorksOld machinery in the Johannesburg Gas Works

We spent 30 or 40 minutes wandering around, photographing and sketching, before it finally started to sink in that those rusty floors could easily give way and we were probably inhaling a lot of asbestos.

A Very Brief History of the Johannesburg Gas Works

The Johannesburg Gas Works, owned by Egoli Gas, opened in December 1928 and was the city’s main gas producer for several decades. The plant produced gas out of coal, which was obviously not a very environmentally friendly process. The Gas Work’s production gradually decreased throughout the mid-20th century as the city began to source more gas from Sasol. The plant closed down completely in 1992.

The Gas Works is now considered an important architectural heritage site. The buildings are beautiful, in an early-20th-century-industrial kind of way. Egoli Gas still has offices in a section of the Gas Works property, and Liebermann Pottery occupies another section. While there have been various proposed plans over the years to redevelop the unused buildings, nothing has happened.

Looking at the Gas Works from Liebermann Pottery
Looking at the Gas Works from Liebermann Pottery.

I used to do a lot of urban exploration during my early years in Joburg, sneaking into abandoned buildings with my photographer friends and taking pictures of whatever we found. Exploring the Gas Works took me back to those days – to that heart-revving feeling of being in a place I know I’m not supposed to be, climbing rickety ladders and shooting through broken windows.

Looking through the windows of the Gas Works

As I crept through the Gas Works, I missed my buddies who I used to explore with back in the day. Most of them have since become wildly successful in various creative endeavors and moved away from Joburg to other corners of the world. Y’all know who you are – I wish we could all travel back in time to 2013, when Instagram was still cool, and explore the Gas Works together.

Mannequin in Gas Works
The kind of photo I used to post on Instagram in 2013.
Thorsten climbing down a ladder in the Gas Works
After reaching the top of this ladder, we opted not to climb out onto the roof. I’ve grown too old for that type of risk-taking. But the Gareth Pon of 2013 probably would have, and the 2Summers of 2013 might have followed him.

In conclusion: Please don’t visit the Gas Works. But if you do, please dress smarter than we did. And wear a mask.

Heather in the Johannesburg Gas Works
The end. Photo by Thorsten Deckler.