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Jozi’s Lighthouse
This was Day 3 of Covid-19 hard lockdown, 25th of March, 2020 – sharing the history of Jozi, building structures and events that took place in the years gone by. Our next story is Jozi’s Lighthouse.
Did you know that we have a lighthouse in Jozi CBD?
Look up to the East next time you are at corner Loveday and Commissioner Streets, in other words at The Rand Club, you will see a lighthouse perched on top of the Security Building.
Figure 1: Lighthouse perched on top of the Security Building downtown Joburg.
What does this lighthouse have in common with Pretoria City Hall, Benoni Town Hall and Standerton Town Hall? They were all designed by Joseph Lockwood Hall from Yorkshire who moved to SA in 1900 to take part in the Anglo-Boer War with a team of the Royal Engineers.
Figure 2: Pretoria City Hall by Joseph Lockwood HALL in collaboration with FG McINTOSH.
Lockwood Hall designed this lighthouse in 1935 when 4yrs prior in 1931, in East London, he had designed a building for Tower Building Society which had a lighthouse logo and was later named the Security Building, same name as that seen by the Jozi lighthouse. We are yet to find the real significance of having this lighthouse in the middle of a landlocked city.
Figure 3: Pics were taken from the top of Aegis House during our tour of the city.
Back in the days it was a home to the famous Jameson’s Bar, one of the only bars in Jozi CBD to have had a Kruger License which permitted blacks and whites to drink in the same space.
The building now belongs to Urban Ocean, a properties company which owns most of the inner-city buildings.
Pics were taken from the top of Aegis House on Loveday Street right opposite the Rand Club during one of our tours.
Explore your city and know what it has!
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Written: Wednesday, March 25, 2020 at 21:38.
