Archistori

Built: 1946-1965 Architect: Kennedy, Furner, Irvine-Smith & Joubert Aerial photo with legend. (Source: SARN, 1959) Earlier history Park Station (First) Park Station (Second) Park Station Third " Prior to 1946 alternative station sites were investigated by both local and overseas experts but it was clear that by far the most satisfactory solution was to take over the old Wanderers Ground situated immediately north of the station and to build facilities on a bold scale over the increased area thus made available. "³ By the late 1940s Johannesburg’s railway station had already been rebuilt twice on the exact same site in less than seventy years.Work had begun in 1946 with the goal of turning Park Station into one of the most modern terminals in the world. When finished, the complex would rival New York’s Grand Central in scale. By 1959 it was handling 450 passenger trains, 178 goods trains and roughly 180,000 travellers per day. The final construction cost was expected to ...

Built: 1961-1963 (planned in 1959-1960) Architect: Kennedy, Furner, Irvine-Smith & Joubert Location: Leyds St, Johannesburg Status: Extant Rotunda and Admin Building, c.1976. (Source: Frans Erasmus II on FB) The building was SAA’s Johannesburg city terminal for check-in, reservations, waiting, and transfers to Jan Smuts Airport (now OR Tambo). It was an integrated transport hub - passengers could move seamlessly between rail concourses, the Rotunda, buses, taxis, and parking. The circular layout made one-way passenger flow very efficient. It accommodated all the passenger facilities required in a city terminal - enquiry office, reservations, tourist office, luggage areas, waiting rooms, tea room, shops, bookstall - built next to the taller office block on the new deck slab between Rissik and Harrison Streets / Leyds Street, west of the Rissik Bridge. It formed a striking architectural trio with the main station concourses and the adjacent tall SAA Administration Headquarters b...

Aka:  Rissik Street Bridge Built: 1952 Engineer: South African Railways & Harbours The stairs in the foreground provide pedestrian access to the western entrance to the station (SARN, 1959) "...a gracefully curved viaduct that swept over the main station parking deck, and constituted a major design component in the overall complex." (Chipkin, 1993) Locality map Sources South African Railway News. May 1959. Johannesburg Style. 1993. Chipkin, C.

Built: 1958 Architect: Unidentified "The new Westgate railway station, in the heart of industrial Johannesburg which was opened on November 1 (1958), for non-European passengers has quickly established itself as a point of arrival and departure for workers who reside in the residential areas on Johannesburg's southern and south western boundaries. On November 4, the station handled 19,000 passengers, arrivals as well as departures. Two days later, November 6, the number had increased to no fewer than 22,000 and to 32,800 on November 7. The Railway Administration hopes that non-Europeans who work in the vicinity of this station will not hesitate to use it since the facilities provided there plus its strategic situation in relation to the industries of Selby Township at the bottom end of Sauer Street will save them both time and trouble. It takes ten minutes less from Westgate to New Canada than from Johannesburg to New Canada. At present 26 trains a day (weekdays) are schedul...

Built: 1880 : 1973 Architect: Unidentified Location Notes The railway line from Cape Town to Eerste River officially opened on 13 February 1862. It was extended to Stellenbosch (reached on 1 May 1862) and finally to Wellington (the railhead) on 4 November 1863. "Kuils River is no-where. It was but a mere stopping-place, itself called into existence by the conveyances of the times; when these were superseded, Kuils River's work was done. It would be folly to stop trains there, for there is nothing to stop for" . (Cape Argus, 1862) Initially, Kuils River was designated merely as a railway siding, with no scheduled stops for passenger trains - a decision that slowed the town's growth and limited its accessibility. Despite this, population and economic expansion continued, leading to the construction of a dedicated passenger station building in 1880. By 1885, Kuils River Station had been upgraded and designated as a telegram office, reflecting its growing imp...