Joburg’s Three Castles Building in ruins
JOBURG - City Buzz bets you didn't know about the Three Castles Building in Johannesburg, so we're going to tell you all about it.
The building is situated on the corner of Marshall and Goud streets in the CBD and has, over the years, been a hub of social activity and good times.
It was built in 1894 for the manufacturers of Three Castles Cigarettes, Acme Cigarette Co, but was taken over and reopened by President Paul Kruger in the last few years of the 19th century.
According to the City of Joburg the building was later taken over by another tobacco company until 1953.
The building then became home to a number of nightclubs that flourished in the area – even a gay club called Dungeon Club which served as the main tenant of the building for 25 years.
At some point during its time, the building was even home to a bra manufacturing company and, most recently, the site of a piping business that sold their goods to a number of engineering companies in Johannesburg.
According to a number of websites including The Heritage Portal the building is in danger of being demolished after it was ravaged by a fire more than five years ago.
Currently, the once illustrious building is unrecognisable, covered in graffiti, fenced off with barbed wire and surrounded by rubbish bags filled with decomposing matter.
The Egoli Heritage Foundation has appealed to the Heritage Association of South Africa to conserve the historically significant building in association with the Provincial Heritage Resources Authority Gauteng to bring it back to its former grandeur.
This is one of Gauteng’s four historical castles and the only one in such a dilapidated and dismal state.
Details: www.joburg.org.za
