Developments around the Diagonal Street precinct are an example of memory and democracy versus "progress".

Neil Fraser

IN the last few years there has been an escalation in the dichotomy of retention/restoration versus "progress".

The media often love to present this dichotomy as the young entrepreneur inflamed with a desire to provide services to the public - ie his own specific public being the tenants in his latest development - versus the forces against progress. He is the knight in shining armour astride his white horse, pitted against what are perceived to be a bunch of predominantly old and white, self-appointed custodians of the country's and cities' heritage - the Mother Grundys.

We had the debacle of the so-called provincial government precinct plan that was intent in wiping out a dozen or so acknowledged heritage buildings and, surprise, surprise, approved of by the very heritage authorities responsible for their protection. If the Mother Grundys had not intervened (at their own considerable cost) we would have destroyed a number of buildings unique in the memory of the city.

We recently had the illegal and wanton razing of the old Rand Steam Laundries Buildings on the corner of Napier Road and Barry Hertzog Avenue in Richmond. At the time I wrote: "History repeats itself! This time it is an aptly named corporation, Imperial, that 'with blind ruthlessness and staggering cynicism' has destroyed not just one of the last local examples of steam-driven industry, but crushed a place where South African history converged: the struggle of poor people to earn an honest living; colonial segregation; indifference; displacement; discrimination; lack of compassion and the eventual disintegration of the AmaWasha."

Again, the Mother Grundys are taking up the cudgels to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book and provide fitting compensation and memorialisation of an important part of our history. Other buildings litter the cityscape as they are allowed to implode on themselves - the public and private sectors are equally to blame but the central and provincial government in particular, as they have the power to take action but do little, if anything at all.

But this is not a simple arena where "progress" stands in one corner and the Mother Grundys in the other, may the best one win! This is a complicated territory to traverse, one that impinges on complex memories, justice, reconciliation, reparation, truth telling and truth-facing, coming to grips with the past - all affecting human rights and democracy itself.

At a major conference in New York recently on Memorialisation and democracy, Alberto van Klaveren, Chile's deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying: "Knowing the truth is a complex and difficult process, but it's indispensable if we are to build a space for encounter and consensus, a space that allows us to affirm that democracy belongs to all of us ... the state has a clear obligation to pass on to new generations the ethical principles of truth, justice and reparation."

Diagonal Street
I love Diagonal Street and its immediate surrounding. It is probably one of the most eclectic precincts in the city jumble that we call Joeys. The precinct that encompasses Diagonal Street teems with strongly contrasting building types and styles and communities that span our history.

I must say that I'd always assumed that the Diagonal Street name, as reported in the Daily Mail of 11 August 1930 simply "emphasises the curious run of a thoroughfare on the municipal maps", or more simply put, was the obvious name for the diagonal edge of the triangular shaped farm, Langlaagte, which acted as the western boundary to the original town limits.

Maps produced prior to 1900 are silent as to the name, but the Standard and Diggers News of 18 September 1897 refers to it as "Diagonal Street" while the later Post Office Directory of 1906 refers to it as "Jubilee Street". Some even later publications refer to it as "Diagonal Street, also known as Jubilee Street" (wonder which Jubilee - Jubilee Mine or Queen Victoria's Jubilee?) Whatever.

Early maps reflect the area just west of Diagonal Street as "uitvalgrond" and it seems to have been treated as something of a no-man's land. There apparently was no strict enforcement of the Transvaal Republic's Law 3 of 1885, which restricted property ownership "of the coloured native races of Asia", so that Indians settled either just outside the city limits (Pageview) or on its edges such as at Diagonal Street. The Diagonal Street precinct became a racially mixed area.

Arnold Benjamin, Lost Johannesburg, adds: "Further laws, however, such as the Gold Law of 1908 and the Asiatic Land Tenure and Trading Amendment Act of 1919, imposed new restrictions on Indians. Yet again, little if anything was done to enforce them: trading licences continued to be issued, and no alternative areas were offered. From the beginning therefore, many Indians effectively owned ‘white' property through nominees. Business knew no real boundaries. And, as the town centre, meanwhile, shifted eastwards across towards Rissik and Eloff streets, the Asians of Diagonal Street were left undisturbed."

An official enquiry into the racial status of the area dragged through 1934 to 1937, eventually leading to a recommendation that the status quo of the area be legalised, which was done via the new Land Tenure Act of 1936. Certainty brought re-investment to the area, which started to again enjoy a look and feel of rejuvenation. Then disaster! The Group Areas Act of 1950 basically stripped Indians of their rights and on 3 December 1970, the Diagonal Street precinct was declared a white area.

Benjamin again: "Landlords stopped spending money on any but essential maintenance; rebuilding was in any case forbidden and the quarter became progressively more shabby ... Diagonal Street is dying a much slower death than Pageview, but the story is one of equally dreary misguidance. Sections still flourish, others have been laid bare or rebuilt, but the whole area is inexorably earmarked for 'redevelopment'. With it will disappear a uniquely colourful part of Johannesburg's business area."

Pageview
Somehow the area escaped the annihilation of Pageview; maybe the government was just too busy flattening similar areas throughout the country! In 1988, the old magic was still there, albeit the buildings themselves had a feel of neglect and slow decay.

Sally Dewar, a reporter, wrote about the precinct: "It is vibrant and alive, and colourful, peopled by a hotchpotch of many races, religions and cultures to whom Diagonal Street is a way of life: nothing special, just a few rows of shops that they and their fathers have always patronised for their daily needs...

"I spent some time there. I wandered down Diagonal Street, then back along Kort Street, dodging the stacks of tin trunks and pyramids of saucepans spilling out from doors of overstocked shops, stepping around neat piles of fruit on wooden trestles ... In most of these little shops which sell just about everything, the pre-occupation is with health. In the northern suburbs they have their health shops; here they have all the traditional remedies of the black culture, with a smattering of the old Afrikaans, and a little of the Oriental thrown in too ... Over all hangs an aura of incense, which is sold in most shops and burnt in many ... Kitchenware comes high on the list, from small gadgets to great sets of enamelled or aluminium saucepans...

"I felt a shock of anticipation as I walked into the cool depths of a shop stocked from floor to ceiling with bolts of cotton cloth - mostly African prints. I pass time in a wholesale and retail merchant's shop, in which the scene must be familiar to travellers from Hong Kong, Cairo ... or Mombassa - wherever Asians ply their trade."

The names associated with the precinct over time - the architects and owners and the many tenants - provide some of the spice to its flavour - just a sprinkling includes MJ Harris; Bhowan Bros; FC Meeser; Suggan Morar; Galal Nowan; Messrs MG Patel; B Raina Esq; Bernard Janks and Partners; Manilal Bros; Leslie Simon; Sizabantu Shop; Mr H Baker; Mr H Green Esq; Yussuf Mohammed Essop; John Russel-Boulton; RFB Consulting Architects; Goolam Mohammed; S Edinburgh Esq; A Sarenbock; OR Patel & Co; Mr Khoosal Kanjee; Mr P Patlansky; Helmut Jahn; CK Patel Fruiterers and Cosmetics; Starlite Fashions; Chicks Wholesalers; Bawa Fashions; Mr Chandoo; Mrs Daya; R Dayalzee; Neel Gopal Yakoob Mohammed; Limbada & Co; A Ismail; Keshav & Saryu Vinoo; Haroon Chotia; Ibrahim Dawood.

Architecture
But it's not just the wares and the people that give the precinct its special flavour. It's also the vast range of building types and styles that act as an eclectic backdrop to the colourful vitality of the area. The buildings range from rundown Edwardian and Victorian to the brash bling of 11 Diagonal Street. The Kazerne Building on the corner of Jeppe and Diagonal streets dates back to 1896. The Victorian neo classical Carmel Building (also referred to as Saxonia or Hanson Building) was built in 1897. Gardee's Arcade has roots back to 1922, although on a parallel site. The Victorian/Edwardian Grand Hotel on 12 and 14 Diagonal Street dates back to 1926, when the stands were the sites of a number of single-storey buildings.

The two-storey Pie House taking up the triangle between Diagonal and Sauer streets is a 1930s creation, a somewhat foreshortened "Flatiron" building. 42 Diagonal Street, Oskop House, comes from another era again. It was built as a three- or four-storey building in 1944 and extended to seven in 1949. 11 Diagonal Street, the "Diamond Building" was built in 1984 and sold last year to Absa for its own institutional purposes. The same applied to AA House, only it was sold to FNB diagonally opposite the site on which a new building is currently under construction, also for FNB. The original structure on this site was a house completed in 1926 and then replaced by a building known as Cigarette House which was, in turn, demolished and the site turned into a parking area for FNB for a number of years.

There is the JSE Building and its Annexe and the pedestrian unfriendly Reserve Bank building next to the Turbine Hall development about which I have previously waxed lyrical - what number of stories could these buildings tell!

And then there is Ernst & Young House developed by JCI and built in 1990. The Argus Company, as it was, sold the seven stands to the west of its building housing The Star to JCI, which planned a new multi-storey office tower to house the Ernst & Young group. The initial indications were that everything on the site bought by it would be demolished, including "the Victorian shops between Pritchard and President streets, with their balconies, filigree iron work and the colourful Cairo-style fruit market dating back to 1896".

But John Citizen joined the Mother Grundys and the Indian traders and the heritage lobby in a howl of protest. Two weeks later, The Star reported that "the developers of the site which extends across all seven stands behind The Star ... have decided to develop only the area behind the shops. Even the alleyway market will be spared."

The eventual building designed by RFB Consulting Architects was described as a "tall building contributing to the New York skyline of Johannesburg. Refreshing in colour and texture, in contrast to the Life Centre, dwarfing its neighbours, the building boasts confidence in the inner city of Johannesburg".

Nose dive
And it did; it was a truly worthwhile addition to the city and to the precinct's cluster of eclecticism. Only, the confidence took a nose dive in the late 1990s, when there was a total lack of urban management in the precinct and crime and grime took hold; Ernst & Young headed north, closely followed by the JSE itself. The Ernst & Young building stood vacant and was described by the international media as one of the many "boarded-up buildings that now make up the CBD of Johannesburg".

The Star's Metro article of 13 October 1988, during the heat of controversy, became prophetic. "The JCI project is a major element in the redevelopment of Newtown, where the issue of redevelopment in the context of the conservation of the architectural and urban heritage, and the safeguards of the rights of tenancy for historic residential communities, will be an ongoing concern."

How right it was! I've burbled on too much so let's leave it here and we'll pick up the story next week.   

Till then, ciao, Neil

Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust tours
Saturday, 23 August - bus tour
Joburg jol
Join a "safe adventure" in the city of Johannesburg by night - a bus tour. The tour includes a buffet dinner with a cash bar. There will be one or two other pub stops along the way with a spooky and mysterious ending to the evening. The buffet meal is included in the tour price but all drinks are for your account. Dress warmly, wear comfortable shoes and bring a torch.

The cost is R400 for members of the trust and R450 for non-members and booking is at Computicket, on 083 915 8000 or 011 340 8000, or through the Computicket website. Meet Deanna at Sunnyside Park Hotel, 2 York Road, Parktown in the Pound and Penny pub at 6.30pm to depart at 7pm - be ready for a romp.

For more information, telephone Eira Bond on weekdays between 9am and 1pm on 011 482 3349.

Saturday, 30 August - walking tour
Cliffside gardens - Endulini Ridge
The gardens at the back of Endulini House are lovely and contain rare indigenous flora planted by Rebecca Brown (née Lurie). Seventy years ago she was a zoology and botany lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand. We will also be visiting the gardens of Savernake created by Bernard Price, the physicist and engineer who died in 1948. The world famous Bernard Price Institute for Geophysical Research is named after him. The terrain is steep so please wear really comfortable shoes and bring an umbrella to ward off the rain.

The cost is R75 and booking is at Computicket. Meet Esme Wiesmeyer and Judd Kirkel at The Mount (Advanced School of Journalism), 9 Jubilee Road, Parktown at 2pm. For more information, telephone Eira Bond on weekdays between 9am and 1pm on 011 482 3349.

Related stories:

• Talking about the city
• Talking about the city, archives
• Laundry lamentations
• Turbine Square is phenomenal
• Manoeuvring through the heritage hoops
• Neil Fraser, passionate city man