Houghton Estate, often simply called Houghton is an affluent suburb of
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, north-east of the city centre.
It is best known for being the home of
Nelson Mandela.
History
Houghton was developed as a residential area around the turn of the 20th century, primarily by Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company (
JCI). The suburb was laid out by surveyor Gustav Arthur Troye.
Geography
Communities
Houghton Estate has traditionally been informally divided into two areas: ''Upper Houghton'', and ''Lower Houghton''. Upper Houghton is the southern and south-eastern portion located on a ridge, while the northern Lower Houghton is flatter, and has a
grid street pattern, with parts on both sides of the
M1 freeway. Upper Houghton has been declared a
National Heritage Area
In the United States, a National Heritage Area (NHA) is a site designated by Act of Congress, intended to encourage historic preservation of the area and an appreciation of the history and heritage of the site. There are currently 62 NHAs, some ...
.
Upper and Lower Houghton are separated by the East-West section of Houghton Drive and part of Louis Botha Avenue. Small sections of Upper Houghton lie east of Louis Botha Avenue (bordering
Observatory), and west of the north–south section of Houghton Drive (bordering
Parktown
Parktown is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, the first suburb north of the inner city (both chronologically and geographically). It is affectionately known as one of the Parks, others including Parkview, Parkwood, Westcliff, Park ...
and
Hillbrow
Hillbrow () is an inner city residential neighbourhood of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is known for its high levels of population density, unemployment, poverty, prostitution and crime.
In the 1970s it was an Apartheid-design ...
). Houghton is surrounded by wealthy suburbs in all directions, except south, where Upper Houghton borders less-affluent suburbs like
Yeoville
Yeoville is an inner city neighbourhood of Johannesburg, in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. It is located in Region F (previously Region 8). It is widely known and celebrated for its diverse, pan-African population but notorious for it ...
and Hillbrow.
Architecture
Historically a wealthy area, it contains many
mansions on big stands, blocks of
flats, as well as office parks (developed on the sites of former homes) on streets close to the M1 and on
Louis Botha Avenue
Louis Botha Avenue (part of Johannesburg Metropolitan Route '' M11'') is a major street in Johannesburg, South Africa. Originally part of the main road between central Johannesburg and Pretoria, it runs along through the north-eastern parts of ...
. Houghton is architecturally varied.
There are good examples of
art deco buildings
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United ...
(particularly some of the flats), and many of the large houses in the 1930s are good examples of the Modern style inspired by the work of
Le Corbusier (Chipkin 1993), including Stern House (1935) designed by
Rex Distin Martienssen and partners.
The suburb, particularly Lower Houghton, is currently experiencing rapid redevelopment. Although many plots had already been subdivided in two, there is now a trend towards the development of
cluster homes. This redevelopment is sanctioned by the City of Johannesburg's Regional Spatial Development Framework. The city sees many positive aspects to the redevelopment, but it is not uncontroversial and has resulted in the destruction of many traditional houses.
Demographics
Religion
As with many suburbs in the North-East of Johannesburg, Houghton has historically been known for being a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
area, and has a shul known as West Street Shul.
As
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
ended many
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
moved to the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg, including Houghton. A
musallah was established in the east of the suburb, and, in 2011, a
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
, called ''Masjid ul Furqaan'' was built by the ''Houghton Muslim Association'' on the site of the mussalah. Another, larger mosque on West Street, visible from the M1 freeway, was, after delays, completed in 2013 by the ''Houghton Muslim Jamaat''.
Economy
Retail
There are few shops in Houghton itself, apart from
convenience stores in petrol stations, but the area is close to numerous commercial nodes in Johannesburg, including those in
Oaklands,
Norwood,
Killarney
Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Cast ...
,
Rosebank and
Sandton
Sandton is an upscale commercial and residential district north of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. The name of the city came from the combination of two of its suburbs ...
.
Parks and greenspace
Houghton has two golf courses (
Houghton Houghton may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide
* Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland
* Houghton Island (Queensland)
Canada
*Houghton Township, ...
and
Killarney
Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Cast ...
) and a large public park,
The Wilds (which has been described as "notorious" for muggings and crime). A large
sports club
A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports.
Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...
, the
Old Edwardian Society (known as ''Old Eds''), which includes a separate
Virgin Active
Virgin Active is a chain of health clubs in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Italy, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
History
Virgin Active was founded in 1999. Their first club opened in Preston, Lancashire that year. I ...
gym, is in Houghton.
Education
There are a number of well known schools in Upper Houghton: King Edward VII School, a public school for boys, also known as KES), along with its associated primary school, King Edward VII Preparatory School, known as KEPS, and
St John's College a private Anglican school historically only for boys, while Roedean School (South Africa), a private girls school, is close by in Parktown. Houghton School (a public primary school) is in Lower Houghton.
Law and government
Government
Lower Houghton, and a small part of Upper Houghton, bordering Observatory, are part of Region E of the
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...
, and are currently (as of 2014) included in Ward 73, while most of Upper Houghton is part of Region F of the
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...
, and is part of Ward 67.
Politics
During the apartheid era, the Houghton constituency in the whites-only parliament was represented by opponent of apartheid
Helen Suzman
Helen Suzman, OMSG, DBE (née Gavronsky; 7 November 1917 – 1 January 2009) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician. She represented a series of liberal and centre-left opposition parties during her 36-year tenure in th ...
until 1989, and was, for a period in the 1960s, the sole seat of the
Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...
in Parliament.
Crime
Lower Houghton is part of the
SAPS Norwood Police Station precinct, while Upper Houghton is part of the Hillbrow Police Station's precinct.
Infrastructure
Roads
Houghton is centrally located, straddling the
M1 freeway, with interchanges at Glenhove Road (M1 N & S), Eleventh Avenue (M1 S), Riviera Road (M1 N), 1st Avenue (M1 S) and Houghton Drive (M1 N). Multiple metropolitan routes cross Houghton, including the
M16,
M20,
M31,
R25, and
M11 (Louis Botha Avenue).
The grid street pattern in Lower Houghton consists mostly of numbered ''Streets'' and ''Avenues'' on both sides of the M1. ''Avenues'' run east–west, while ''Streets'' run from north to south. Avenue counting begins in the south with First Avenue (part of Metropolitan Route M16), and ends in the North with Seventeenth Avenue, while Street counting begins in the east with 1st Street, and ends in the West at 9th Street, with the numbered grid interrupted by Central, West and River Streets. North–south streets in Upper Houghton are generally named after trees, while east–west roads are named after Christian saints.
Lower Houghton and Upper Houghton are linked by Louis Botha Avenue, Houghton Drive, and the steep and winding
Munro Drive, a National Monument which has a viewpoint with a view over the northern suburbs of Johannesburg.
Public transport
Louis Botha Avenue, in the east of the suburb, is an important
minibus taxi
A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, ...
route linking Hillbrow to Alexandra, and, as of 2014, construction began on the expansion of Johannesburg's
Rea Vaya bus rapid transit system to Louis Botha Avenue. A
Gautrain
Gautrain is an higher-speed express commuter rail system in Gauteng, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kempton Park and O.R. Tambo International Airport. It takes 15 minutes to travel from Sandton to O.R. Tambo Interna ...
bus feeder route (numbered RB5) runs past the office parks on West Street, linking to the
Rosebank Gautrain Station.
Notable people
The most famous resident of Houghton Estate was
Nelson Mandela; he died in December 2013 at his Lower Houghton home, which became a site of remembrance in the immediate aftermath of his death. His residence was on the corner of 4th Street and 12th Avenue.
References
Further reading
* C. Chipkin. ''Johannesburg Style: Architecture & Society 1880s-1960s''. David Philip. .
* N. Musiker and R. Musiker. (2000) ''A Concise Historical Dictionary of Greater Johannesburg''. Francolin Reference. .
* Chantelle Benjamin. "Sun sets on areas with low rates." The Weekender, 3–4 November 2007, p3.
{{Authority control
Johannesburg Region E
Johannesburg Region F