Last Friday I attended the re-launch of the Barbican Building, a century-old tower in downtown Joburg that is currently undergoing a revival. Like many of Joburg’s historic downtown buildings, the Barbican has a checkered past. Once the city’s tallest building when it was erected in 1929, the 10-storey Barbican has been bought and sold, boarded up and abandoned, partially renovated, and then abandoned again. Most recently, Italian property developer Michele Ciani purchased the Barbican in the early 2020s. The building has been under renovation ever since, and now houses two well-known Joburg brands: bookstore Bridge Books, which has a beautiful space on the ground floor, and fashion designer David Tlale, who occupies the middle floors.

A picture I took of the Barbican Building late last year.

Here it is last Friday, with its new neon sign.

Night view, right after the sign was switched on for the first time.

The moment you walk into the Barbican, you can feel this building is filled with stories. In the early- to mid-20th century, the top floor housed the studio of Sara Buijskes, Joburg’s first woman portrait photographer, whose remarkable body of work had been lost to history until a few years ago. Legend has it that Sara’s ghost wanders the Barbican — perpetually stopping the building’s lift on floors that its passengers never requested — to this day.

The event I attended on Friday took place in the Barbican’s 10th-floor penthouse (Sara’s former studio), where, for some strange reason, I did not take a single photograph. (I attended an art exhibition in this same penthouse back in 2013, when the building was in the middle of an earlier refurbishment that never got off the ground. I didn’t photograph the penthouse that time, either.) But if you’d like to see some shots of the inside of the penthouse as it looks today, as well as a longer, more characterful narrative of the Barbican’s history, please read this article by fellow Joburg enthusiast Jo Buitendach.

I did, however, take many photos of the 365-degree views of downtown Joburg from the top of the Barbican. The views aren’t quite as spectacular as those from the nearby Anstey’s Building — as Barbican architect and former Anstey’s resident Brian McKechnie joked on Friday — but the Barbican views are still pretty damn good.

Views From the Top of the Barbican Building

All of these photos were taken either from the Barbican’s 10th-floor balconies (there are two — one facing south and one facing east) or the rooftop.

View of Joburg City Hall (with the green dome) and the city skyline to the southwest. There’s a peek of the Barbican’s red sign in the foreground.

Looking down on the square in front of City Hall and the historic Rissik Street Post Office (left), which is desperately in need of refurbishment and has been for years. I posted a jazzier edit of this image on social media over the weekend and it yielded a slew of interesting comments, including one speculating that the image must be AI because downtown Joburg couldn’t possibly look this nice. But I assure you, no AI programs were abused in the creation of this picture.

Another take on the view to the south.

After-sunset view.

The smartly renovated Stuttafords Building, which sits in the middle of downtown Joburg’s shopping district. The building next door, painted with an enormous South African flag, houses a Game department store. The tall building on the far left is the Anstey’s Building.

A view to the east with glimpses of the Carlton Centre (with the red Transnet sign on top) and the Carlton Hotel, which is also famously abandoned.

A look between two buildings at my beloved Brixton Tower.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the re-opening of the Barbican Building. I look forward to many more visits.