Bearing silent witness to the evolution of Johannesburg from a frontier town established in 1886, to one of the youngest and newest big cities in the world, its buildings hold many stories. Urban Geographer and Instagrammer Jay Jay Gregory tells the story of what is today known as the Corner House, a stately building in central Johannesburg.

Early Johannesburg was a place where men from all over the world came to seek their fortune. Those who found what they were looking for, wanted the world to know. The grandeur of the Third Corner House suggests that someone most definitely struck it lucky. Built in what may best be described as a Victorian Neo-classical style by architects Leck and Emley more than a hundred years ago, the Third Corner House was one of the three tallest buildings in Johannesburg until the 1920s. The height of the building, measured from the bottom of the foundation to the top of the dome, is 181 feet and 8 inches, which translates to approximately 55 metres (around half the length of a soccer field). Because the building of the Third Corner House started in 1903, just before the first height restrictions on buildings in Johannesburg were imposed, the building was considerably taller than the regulations permitted.

The Corner House was built using an early American method of high-rise construction: an imported steel framework, clad with sandstone. It is reported that this construction method was first implemented in London in 1905 – two years after the construction of the Corner House.

Share this Story