Randpark Ridge is an upmarket suburb of

Randburg Randburg is an area located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly a separate municipality, its administration devolved to the newly created City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, along with neighbouring Sandton and Roodepoort, ...

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 ...

. It is located in the Randburg region (region C) of the

City of Johannesburg 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 ...

. It fell into the town of

during the apartheid era. Developed in the early 1980s and still relatively new, Randpark Ridge is bordered by several other suburbs including Weltevreden Park, Sundowner, Boskruin, Bromhof, Honeydew and Fairland. It is located on the north-west extremity of Johannesburg.

History

The suburb has its origins as part of an old Witwatersrand farm called ''Boschkop'', named after the distinctive hill to north of the suburb, which is now the Boschkop Nature Reserve in the suburb of Boskruin. On this land, an old brick farm house was supposedly built on the land in around 1860. In 1903 the farm was owned by a J. Labuschagne and he sold part of the original land and farm house to John Dale Lace. He added on to the original Boer farmhouse; two gabled sections to either side, and a dam, built over the ''spruit'' (stream) that is a tributary of the Klein Jukskei River. At this stage the house had a total of 25 rooms. He would lose his 1300-acre country estate to

Standard Bank Standard Bank Group Limited is a major South African bank and financial services group. It is Africa's biggest lender by assets. The company's corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is situated in Simmonds Street, Johannesburg. History ...

, who sold it to an Irishman, Tom Kelly, in 1927. Kelly then renovated and extended the old farmhouse, changing its name to ''Hy Many.'' A tree lined drive connected the farmhouse to the old Muldersdrift Road, now called Beyers Naude Drive. Kelly's daughter would sell the land in 1982 to the Gencor Trust and the land was rezoned for residential development. Attempts were made to keep the house and have it listed, as it was due for demolition, but no funds could be found for its restoration. By the early nineties it was run down and occupied by squatters before a fire destroyed the rear. By 1994 the old farmhouse was bought by developers who demolished the burnt out section illegally and in 1996, fifteen townhouses were built around it. The old farmhouse was modernized inside but the

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

remains the same and has five original

Jacaranda ''Jacaranda'' is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. The generic name is also used as the common name. The species ''Jacaranda mimosifolia'' has achie ...

trees, possibly 90 to 100 years old. Regarded as the oldest brick house in Johannesburg it now stands in Frangipani Crescent, Randpark Ridge.

Current suburb

The suburb is chiefly residential, with a few nodes for commerce along the major routes that service the area. It is well planned and forms part of Johannesburg's large man-made forest. Its proximity to both the city centre 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 ...

make it an extremely popular area to live. It is, however, still close enough to the

Magaliesburg Magaliesburg is a small town situated below the Witwatersrand mountain range in Gauteng, South Africa. The Magaliesberg mountain range is north and visible from town, hence the name "Magaliesburg". The mountains themselves are named after Kgosi ...

so as to feel part of the countryside. The area is serviced by one

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

, namely the

N1 Western Bypass The Western Bypass is a section of the N1 and the Johannesburg Ring Road located in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. Known at the time as the ''Concrete Highway'', the freeway was initially opened in 1975 as a route to avoid the city cen ...

which connects the vicinity to

and

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

to the north and to

Roodepoort Roodepoort is a town in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly an independent municipality, Roodepoort became part of the Johannesburg municipality in the late 1990s, along with Randburg and Sandton. Johannesburg's most famous botanical ...

and

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

to the south. The major arterial route is

Beyers Naudé Drive Beyers Naudé Drive is a large arterial route in Johannesburg, South Africa. It starts at the University of Johannesburg in Auckland Park, travelling through Melville, Roosevelt Park, Northcliff, Blackheath and traversing the N1 Western Bypa ...

(M5), which radiates from the inner city. Of importance are also John Vorster Drive and Ysterhout Drive (M6), as well as Christiaan de Wet Road ( R564) running somewhat parallel to the freeway. Rand Park High School along with Rand Park Primary School serve as the area's public

schools A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

, and Trinityhouse High School and

Aurora Private School Aurora Private School is a private school in Sundowner, Randburg, South Africa. It takes children from 2.5 years old to Grade 12, at which point they take exams through the Independent Examinations Board. It was originally established in 1993 a ...

are well-respected

private schools An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

in the area. The Randridge Mall and Rock Cottage are two well-known Randpark Ridge

shopping malls A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

, as well as the Lifestyle Garden Centre and several smaller malls exist for daily expenses. The prominent ridge (which gives the suburb its name) is protected as the Boschkop

Nature Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

, and is a prominent sight from most of western Johannesburg. Several parks abound including Essenhout Park and Hy Many Park. Much open land exists in the suburb especially to the west near to Honeydew. Transport can be a problem for residents. The major routes are blocked in the morning and afternoon traffic, and this can make travel from the city centre much more difficult than usual. No train service runs near the area and thus it is buses and minibus taxis that offer the only public transport to residents. The nearest international airport is Lanseria Airport with the next closest international airport being

OR Tambo International Airport O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's second ...

Ekurhuleni The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng. The municipality itself is a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. The name ''Ekurhuleni'' m ...

References

{{Greater Johannesburg, communities Johannesburg Region B