“How do you feel, when there are cockroaches in your house?” says the gruff, loud voice in my periphery.
It’s something I’d never stopped to consider before. I’m thinking about it now though, as we stand on the corner of Eloff and Pritchard Street in central Johannesburg, looking up at the facade of the Cuthbert’s Building. He continues his pitch, and we make eye contact, as he continues shuffling the elastic-tied plastic packets of blue crystals on the pavement in front of him, the last in the line of street vendor stalls.
Streetside braiding: various hairstyle options on Eloff Street.
“Very bad!” he concludes.
And I agree. Not that I’ve really had to worry about cockroaches in my house. I grew up in a sheltered, segregated and tree-lined neighbourhood in Pretoria. The closest I’ve come to invasive pests is easily-killable ants, and the occasional rat running around in the ceiling of our mid-century built suburban home, a safe distance above our heads.
On the opposite side of the street from where we’re standing is the Markhams Building, also referred to as Markham’s Folly, because apparently people thought the building wouldn’t last. It’s one of the many anecdotes about the city’s architecture that we hear from our guide, Tania, who stops us often to share stories about the city’s history and compare the current buildings with the collection of older photographs in our photocopied handout.
Past Experiences photographic tour handout.
The Markhams Building, corner of Pritchard and Eloff Street
Stopping to compare views of the Manhattan-esque Barbican Building.
Through the Lens: 125 Years of Johannesburg Photography is one of Past Experience’s many walking tours of Johannesburg, with this tour focusing particularly on architecture, history and buildings. Tania is particularly passionate about the historical landmarks in the city, like the City Hall entrance on Rissik Street that was once barricaded with sandbags during the ruckus of the Rand Revolt, and home to an impressive hall and many-piped staged organ, which we glimpse by sneaking into the mosaic-tiled entrance.
City Hall entrance, President Street.
Tania’s also very fired up about the state of the inner city buildings. Sadly many of them, like the Rissik Street Post Office, are depressingly neglected, but overall there are signs of rejuvenation in the city centre, and an awareness of inner city space that has lead to the establishment of city improvement districts and a number of gentrification projects, like the renovated public library and the uplifted Oppenheimer Park, with it’s inspirational bench quotes, taken from interviews with the adjacent market vendors.
The sadly neglected Rissik Street Post Office building
Oppenheimer Park with reflective "diamond" sculpture.
After the tour, while eating scones in a plush tea room at the Rand Club, we all agree that we’ve learnt so much about the city’s history, but what impresses me most is how easy it is to be here, in the centre of South Africa’s big smoke, a place that I feel like I’ve been socialized to scared of. A Saturday might be a more quiet day to wander around the inner city, but either way, it isn’t the intimidating mass of brick and concrete as it always appears to be from the perspective of the highway.
The well preserved colonial elegance of The Rand Club
From the sounds of laughter and toddlers running from pole to pole screaming “Touch! Touch!” before falling over on the Kerk Street parade, to my purchase of the most ridiculous red goggle sunglasses with gold chains for R25, right next to a dustbin, I’ll always remember the sense of ease that I hadn’t really expected to feel in a city that’s so often portrayed in a negative light. After this very cursory experience I can tell that it’s definitely a place that people are starting to pay attention to though, in a different and hopefully increasingly positive way.
Inner city growth, Market Street.
To book a tour or find out more information visit Past Experience’s website.
For another photographic perspective of inner city life in Johannesburg, also visit photographer Marc Shoul’s current photographic exhibition, Flatlands, at the Pretoria Art Museum until 25 November 2012.
