Last weekend Thorsten and I visited Dolobran, one of Joburg's oldest, quirkiest, and most mysterious mansions, on a tour with the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation (JHF). Dolobran is unique among Joburg's "Randlord" mansions (other examples [...]
Apologies to everyone who received this post in their inbox last week and has now received (and opened) it again. My site experienced a problem this week and the original version of the post [...]
It's been two months since Thorsten and I joined a Johannesburg Heritage Foundation tour of three crazy houses on New Mountain Road in Linksfield Ridge. I have very limited time to write this post [...]
On Sunday I stopped by a cleanup event at the Brixton Cemetery, hosted by the Friends of Johannesburg Cemeteries. The volunteer group regularly organizes cleanups at different cemeteries around the city, picking up rubbish [...]
The Ruins of Rose Road The moment I saw the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation announce this tour -- even before I read the description -- I signed up. I had never heard of Rose Road. [...]
Once upon a time, about 130 years ago, a group of Zulu men called the AmaWasha ran a business washing clothes beside a stream, on the outskirts of a ramshackle mining town called Johannesburg. [...]
About three years ago, I was roaming around downtown Joburg on a drizzly Sunday afternoon with some photographer friends. As we walked along Fox Street near the corner of Rissik Street, just behind Gandhi [...]
A few weeks ago I visited the oldest existing house in Johannesburg. I'm a little confused as to exactly how old the house is. The house standing beside the oldest house was built in [...]
Last Saturday was Heritage Day, a South African public holiday celebrating the nation's heritage. This holiday is interesting because "heritage" can mean so many things. South Africa has 11 official languages and dozens of distinct [...]