Parktown | |
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  Parktown  Parktown  Parktown | |
| Coordinates:26°10′S28°1′E / 26.167°S 28.017°E /-26.167; 28.017 | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Gauteng |
| Municipality | City of Johannesburg |
| Main Place | Johannesburg |
| Area | |
• Total | 3.79 km2 (1.46 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
• Total | 6,936 |
| • Density | 1,830/km2 (4,740/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 68.4% |
| • Coloured | 2.5% |
| • Indian/Asian | 9.3% |
| • White | 18.6% |
| • Other | 1.2% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • English | 39.3% |
| • Zulu | 18.5% |
| • Southern Ndebele | 8.9% |
| • Afrikaans | 6.0% |
| • Other | 27.3% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Postal code (street) | 2193 |
Parktown is a wealthy suburb ofJohannesburg,South Africa, and is the first suburb north of the inner city (both chronologically and geographically). It is affectionately known as one of theParks, others includingParkview,Parkwood,Westcliff,Parktown North,Parkhurst andForest Town. Parktown is one of Johannesburg's largest suburbs, neighbouringHillbrow,Braamfontein andMilpark to the South;Berea andHoughton to the East;Killarney andForest Town to the North, andWestcliff,Melville andRichmond to the West. Originally established by theRandlords in the 1890s, Parktown is now home to many businesses, hospitals, schools, churches and restaurants, whilst still maintaining quiet residential areas. It is also home to three of the five campuses of theUniversity of the Witwatersrand including theeducation campus,medical school andWits Business School. It is located in Region F of theCity of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.
Nadine Gordimer (1923 - 2014), the first South African Nobel Laureate in Literature (1991), lived in a home onJan Smuts Avenue for over fifty years, until her death in 2014.[2][3][4]
In 1890 Edouard Lippert bought a substantial tract of the Braamfontein Farm. He rebuilt the farm house located on a ridge and named itMarienhof after his wife, Marie. The ridge overlooked a massive plain and on this he planted the Sachsenwald Forest to supply the needs of the mines and fast developing city. He saw the promise that the ridge had for development as a township and partitioned the land into plots. In 1892, Lady Florence Phillips rode north from the dusty mining town of early Johannesburg and found the ridge. The view extended from Sachsenwald forest in the West to theMagaliesberg mountains and Pretoria in the North. She persuaded her husband to build a house there and Frank Emley was commissioned to build their mansion,Hohenheim. Parktown quickly became the new elite suburb. Soon, many wealthy entrepreneurs (seeRandlord) were building mansions along the ridge, and showing off their newfound affluence with parties, croquet on the lawns, and lavish dinners.
Parktown was where many conspirators of theJameson Raid against theSouth African Republic were based. Today the suburb is home to many Victorian and Edwardian homes, and a number of designs bySir Herbert Baker.
In the late 1960s, 56 of the stately homes were demolished to make way for the Johannesburg College of Education (now Wits Education Campus). In 1975 many more were demolished and properties reduced for the construction of theM1 motorway, a major artery running north to south through the center of the northern suburbs of Johannesburg.
Parktown West is the section of Parktown, West of Jan Smuts Avenue. It is almost entirely residential and famous for its beautiful avenues lined with Jacaranda and Plane trees, also known as the 'itchy ball tree'. Commerce is only permitted along the Western side of Jan Smuts Avenue. Parktown West was being developed as early as 1903 with significant increase in popularity in the 1920s and 1930s.[citation needed]
In addition to Sir Herbert Baker, many other architects were influential in building this historical suburb, including Bertram Richard Avery, Frank Emley,James Cope Christie, Francis Fleming and Charles Aburrow. Baker's Parktown houses drew influences from the Cape Dutch revival style, which he had mastered in the Cape and combined this with stone work using "koppie stone" which was quarried in the area, often from the grounds of the houses that he built. James Cope Christie's style is eclectic drawing strong influences from Victorian styles andArt Nouveau.Charles Aburrow's designs were strongly Victorian whilstBertram Richard Avery andFrank Emley favoured theEdwardian style.
Parktown also has a business district with a number of office blocks and commercial ventures.Transnet Freight Rail (previously Spoornet) has its head office in the Inyanda House in Parktown.[5]
TheParktown Mansions tell many stories of the history of Johannesburg as they were the homes of some of the most influential residents of the early city. Whilst there are a number of mansions still standing in present day Parktown, a vast majority were destroyed during the late 1960s and 1970s to facilitate the construction of the M1 motorway and the increasing popularity of Parktown as a business district.
Remaining Baker mansions in Parktown include Northwards, Villa Arcadia, Bishopskop, The Stonehouse and Brenthurst. Other important mansions include Dolobran designed by J.A. Cope Christie and North Lodge designed by J.H. Aldwyncle.
Modern-day Parktown and its surrounds form a centre of Arts and Culture in Johannesburg. The Linder Auditorium, located on theWits Education Campus is home to theJohannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Johannesburg's only full-time professional orchestra. Just next door, the Williams Block houses theJohannesburg Youth Orchestra Company. The Johannesburg Children's Theatre is across the Road from the Education Campus, housed in two Parktown mansions and the South African Ballet Theatre and South African Youth Ballet are a few blocks away in Braamfontein on the Johannesburg Theatre's property.
Parktown is also home to a diverse range of churches including a Dutch Reformed church, a beautiful 1904 Baker and Masey Anglican church, St. Georges, and the Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Temple Emanuel, one of Johannesburg's last remaining Jewish Reform synagogues, is also located in Parktown.
The Johannesburg Freemasons' Hall, home to many of Johannesburg oldest masonic lodges, is also in Parktown.
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