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Banks and vaults
Tuesday, 12 March 2019 14:22Kat and her friend Juanita and I went on a "Banks and Vaults" tour in downtown Joburg on Saturday. What a cool adventure!
We started off at 10AM in what was built as the United Building Society building in 1904 (which is really old, considering the city was only founded in 1886). After coffee and scones, we went down to the bank vaults. There are vaults there, and hundreds of unopened security deposit boxes, unopened since at least the 1970s. In 1974, there was a bank robbery, and one of the vaults was cut open. The company managing the vaults at the time was not insured, and they disappeared, leaving everything behind. The cost of opening the boxes is prohibitive, and quite possibly there's little of value anyway.
Then we set out on a walking tour, led by the knowledgeable Charlie Moyo, who told us of the history of the city and the farms it was built on, the financial institutions, the British companies and people who ruled it all, and Victorian and Edwardian Joburg. We started in Ghandi Square, and went to the Rand Club, a posh, exclusive club used by the wealthy people of the day, but is now open to all for dinners and lunches. Really luxurious inside. From there we went to the original Barclays head office, partly abandoned since they pulled out of the country in the 80s after PW Botha wagged his finger and brought sanctions down in force on South Africa instead of heading toward a democratic country. We saw one of the early Standard Bank buildings; lovely architecture.
We walked along to what used to be Market Street, and went into another Barclays building, then FNB after FNB bought Barclays' South Africa operation. The ceilings there were absolutely beautiful. The vaults down below were abandoned, but you could see where there was a system that used pneumatic systems to such important documents from upstairs into the vaults where it could be sorted. Next door was the original Volkskas Bank building, covered in Voortrekker imagery. We walked along past the city library and city hall to Bank City, my own company's head office, done in the style of the old building. Charlie told us that the hydroponic gardens on the roof supply all the vegetables used by the restaurants and canteens in the building (there are a lot of gardens etc. on top of buildings in the city).
From there we went to the old Johannesburg Stock Exchange building before the JSE moved to Sandton, complete with trees inside and outside, and all the original sculptures. The building is still in use by small businesses, but the original stock trading floor is there, overlooked by an auditorium where women were permitted to sit.
From there, we passed the De Beers "diamond" building", and then walked past a road of greenery outside the Anglo-American offices; they have a beautiful impala sculpture outside. We were taken to Hollard Square, which in the early 1900s was home to the five companies that rules the South African economy. The Capitec Bank head office was there too, plain and unadorned; so much so that I didn't even photograph it. The Capitec Bank CEO earns the most of all South African bank CEOs. We had some drinks at the Mapungubwe Hotel, which was also at one time a bank building.
Back to Ghandi Square, where we had a tasty lunch down in the vault, and had nice chats with our fellow tourists. Juanita was rather tired; she's not little, and I think we walked well over 5km.
Here are some photos:
Banks and Vaults Tour
We started off at 10AM in what was built as the United Building Society building in 1904 (which is really old, considering the city was only founded in 1886). After coffee and scones, we went down to the bank vaults. There are vaults there, and hundreds of unopened security deposit boxes, unopened since at least the 1970s. In 1974, there was a bank robbery, and one of the vaults was cut open. The company managing the vaults at the time was not insured, and they disappeared, leaving everything behind. The cost of opening the boxes is prohibitive, and quite possibly there's little of value anyway.
Then we set out on a walking tour, led by the knowledgeable Charlie Moyo, who told us of the history of the city and the farms it was built on, the financial institutions, the British companies and people who ruled it all, and Victorian and Edwardian Joburg. We started in Ghandi Square, and went to the Rand Club, a posh, exclusive club used by the wealthy people of the day, but is now open to all for dinners and lunches. Really luxurious inside. From there we went to the original Barclays head office, partly abandoned since they pulled out of the country in the 80s after PW Botha wagged his finger and brought sanctions down in force on South Africa instead of heading toward a democratic country. We saw one of the early Standard Bank buildings; lovely architecture.
We walked along to what used to be Market Street, and went into another Barclays building, then FNB after FNB bought Barclays' South Africa operation. The ceilings there were absolutely beautiful. The vaults down below were abandoned, but you could see where there was a system that used pneumatic systems to such important documents from upstairs into the vaults where it could be sorted. Next door was the original Volkskas Bank building, covered in Voortrekker imagery. We walked along past the city library and city hall to Bank City, my own company's head office, done in the style of the old building. Charlie told us that the hydroponic gardens on the roof supply all the vegetables used by the restaurants and canteens in the building (there are a lot of gardens etc. on top of buildings in the city).
From there we went to the old Johannesburg Stock Exchange building before the JSE moved to Sandton, complete with trees inside and outside, and all the original sculptures. The building is still in use by small businesses, but the original stock trading floor is there, overlooked by an auditorium where women were permitted to sit.
From there, we passed the De Beers "diamond" building", and then walked past a road of greenery outside the Anglo-American offices; they have a beautiful impala sculpture outside. We were taken to Hollard Square, which in the early 1900s was home to the five companies that rules the South African economy. The Capitec Bank head office was there too, plain and unadorned; so much so that I didn't even photograph it. The Capitec Bank CEO earns the most of all South African bank CEOs. We had some drinks at the Mapungubwe Hotel, which was also at one time a bank building.
Back to Ghandi Square, where we had a tasty lunch down in the vault, and had nice chats with our fellow tourists. Juanita was rather tired; she's not little, and I think we walked well over 5km.
Here are some photos:
Banks and Vaults Tour
