Human settlement in Johannesburg goes back some 25 000 years, but when were the first brick buildings built, and how many still survive?
The first structures to go up on the grassy plains that made up the site of early Johannesburg were a mix of tents and mud and reed huts, followed by iron and wood houses.
It is believed that the first one of the first wooden city buildings was the Central Hotel, on the corner of Commissioner and Sauer Streets, according to researcher and chief city librarian Anna Smith, in Johannesburg Firsts.
There is some dispute as to which was the first brick house in the town. In her research, Smith came across three houses that qualify: a house built in 1887 in the City and Suburban area of the inner city, destroyed by heavy rains in 1891; a "little house erected to serve as an office", a three-roomed stone and brick house occupied by Jan Meyer, in the Natal Spruit camp; a third house, known as Rose Cottage, with a thatch roof, situated near Meyer's Camp and built by land owner Julius Jeppe.
Of course, none of these houses stood for long, as the town grew rapidly, and buildings were quickly demolished to make way for the next wave of expansion, a pattern that has lasted up until the 1990s, when conservationists finally managed to persuade the city bosses to preserve the city's heritage.
But in the countryside surrounding the rapidly growing town were a scattering of Boer farmhouses, which now qualify as the city's oldest buildings.
Hy Many House (1860)
One of the oldest is Hy Many House in Frangipani Crescent, Randpark Ridge, the original structure of which is believed to have been built in 1860, thus making it the oldest brick structure in Johannesburg, at 142 years. The clue to its age comes from the single remaining thick outer wall on the south side of the house, suggesting the original Boer farmhouse, usually just several simple rooms in a rectangular shape.
The house is all that is left of the original farm, and only half of the house remains. The interior of the house has been modernised, and the only remaining element of its former grandness is the attractive double-gabled, whitewashed façade. In 1903 the farmhouse and farm Boschkop belonged to J Labuschagne. Boschkop (Afrikaans for "bush hill") was obviously named because of a small, distinctive koppie nearby, now referred to as Bush Hill, and mercifully still clear of houses, but surrounded by dense suburbia.
John Dale Lace, a Randlord and owner of another of Johannesburg's famous mansions, Northwards in Parktown, bought a portion of the farm Boschkop from Labuschagne in 1903, extended the house, building two A-framed gables on either side of a veranda in the front, and building a pleasant courtyard around which he placed bedrooms, kitchen, and pantry. He had it as his country estate. In all it had some 25 rooms. He also built a dam, still there, now called Hy Many Dam.
But Dale Lace lost his fortune and in 1911 he and his wife, Jose, went to live at Boschkop for a short time. The house was taken over by Standard Bank and in 1927 businessman Tom Kelly bought the house, and extended and restored it, giving it Cape Dutch gables and changing its name to Hy Many, which refers to the home of the Kellys, originally from Ireland. The farm consisted of some 1 300 acres, with 25 acres of vegetable gardens. Kelly developed the farm considerably.
According to Kelly's daughter Elizabeth Gemmill, now in her 80s, her father was a keen horseman, and established an abundant stable of polo ponies on the farm. He used to ride from his farm to Langlaagte, just west of the CBD, to play polo. He also established game on the farm - wildebeest, zebra, blesbok, duiker and jackals.
The house was surrounded by veld, with a spruit flowing out of the dam, and a long tree-lined avenue running from the present day Beyers Naude Drive to the house.
Gemmill remembers a tennis court, croquet lawn, and beautiful pool that her father built. Water used to spill out of the dam into terraced gardens above the pool. She says that there was a small cemetery near to the present day Hy Many Dam, probably belonging to farmer Labuschagne but now long gone. She recalls taking tea in the gazebo, at the bottom of the garden; just the foundations of the gazebo remain.
In 1951 the house and part of its land was taken over by Gemmill, and she built a swimming pool and pool room close to the house. In 1982 she sold the land and house to Gencor Trust, who had the land rezoned for residential development. She was told by Gencor to take all the windows, doors, floorboards and fireplace mantelpieces, as they were to demolish the house.
She stayed in the house for another two years, and slowly dismantled and removed the fittings. After growing up in the house, and raising her children in the house, was she sad to leave? Yes, she says, but "perhaps it was a good thing".
Dave Gaisford, a Randpark Ridge resident, bought land close to Hy Many House in 1984. Gaisford became a vociferous campaigner to save the house, which was threatened with demolition on a number of occasions. Gencor was the first party in favour of demolition - their development plans didn't include Hy Many house.
Gaisford wrote the first of several letters to the then National Monuments Council, asking them to intervene by declaring the house a national monument. He got a range of people - botanists (interested in saving the old trees) and architects - to submit letters to validate his claims for restoration.
Various alternatives to demolition were put forward for the house - a sports club, an office park, an old age home - but all involved funding which was not forthcoming. The Randburg Council was one of those bodies which was keen to save the house but didn't have funding for its restoration. In the meantime the house became run down, and by the early 1990s was occupied by squatters. Then the back section of the house was damaged in a fire. This proved to be the solution to the impasse.
The present developers, Hy Many House Developers, had bought the house from the Randburg Foundation (who wanted to convert it into a gentlemen's club) in 1994, with a view to developing a townhouse complex. They were also keen to demolish the house. Gaisford believes they took advantage of the situation after the fire - they brought in a bulldozer and demolished the damaged section, an illegal move because the house was now on the Register of Immovable Conservation-Worthy Property.
Gaisford maintains that it was sufficiently intact to be retained and restored. What remains of the house is just under half of its original design.
In 1996 15 unattractive box-shaped townhouses were built in the area immediately surrounding Hy Many house.
The inside of the house has been sadly modernised and its steel ceilings and wooden floors have gone, as have its original fireplaces, now surrounded by modern tiles. The façade, with its matching gables and beautiful front veranda with an indented stairway and oval-shaped windows on either side, remains. It still has a view, over the wooded suburbs to the east, and of Sandton City. It retains its iron roof, and five of its seven original jacaranda trees, probably 80 or 90 years old.
By rights it should be a national monument - the 1994 listing was the first step to becoming a national monument, but because the developers deviated from the approved site development plan, it lost its historical significance and was removed from the Register in 1998.
The house is protected because it is over 60 years old, which means that approval has to be sought for any alterations made to the house. It would be preferable if the house were a declared national monument.
Photos
Photo 1: Hy Many House as it appears today, with its beautiful facade restored
Photo 2 : Hy Many House with its jacarandas, before it was surrounded by townhouses.
For more information on historic Johannesburg, visit Discover Joburg.
Related articles
Article and photograph/s courtesy of City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za).
Readers' Comments
I am very interested in the `old' history of Johannesburg and the surrounds as well as the old buildings. It is such a shame that Hy Many house has been allowed to be modernised and in my opinion, destroyed. It would be great if there could be an organisation that would restore places like these to their former glory. I have been on a few tours run by the Parktown/Heritage Association. Could Hy Many not be included in something like this. I am sure there are many people in Johannesburg who would be interested in retaining our city's history. Are the public permitted to view the house at all? - Maureen Hall
Thank you for this article and those which will follow!!!
I am a Canadian born South African citizen (36yrs and living here for 18). My father's side is South African he was born in Greenside in 1942.
I especially love the older housing communities of JHB. But it's heartbreaking to see the gradual decay of what history remains.
The old mine and railway houses. The houses behind the SABC and Brixton. The houses next to Ellis Park. And my favorite - the small area of houses in Crown Mines behind Jumbo Cash & Carry and directly opposite Africa Cash & Carry.
I would love to know what the history of that once beautiful and quaint community was. I assume mining.
I look forward to reading more. I applaud everyone who takes an interest or responds. You don't have to be a student of architecture or be an activist of horticulture to appreciate the historical roots (and the lives who once lived there) of the areas we drive past everyday and take for granted. - Ann Howell, Northcliff JHB
In Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape there is a Castle which was always referred to as Kellys castle - I have an idea that it was owned by a Mrs.. Gemmill. It is next to the Grand Hotel with a public road in between. Do you know the area?
I wonder if the Castle in Port Alfred was ever owned by Tom Kelly. About two years ago it was sold to a Mr.. Gordon?
I had a relative by the name of Tom Kelly who lived in Ottoshoop.
Interested to receive your comments. - Terry O'Connell
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