Heritage foundation’s forthcoming attractions

One tour will take sightseers beyond the ‘boerewors curtain’, while the other will explore the architecture and personalities of Parktown West.

The full-day Pretoria bus tour, to take place on 22 March, was in its final planning stages.

The foundation’s Flo Bird said that among the highlights proposed for the tour was the city’s C-Max prison, where at least 4 000 prisoners met their fate with the gallows before the Constitutional Court abolished the death penalty in 1996. Of those 4 000, 134 were political prisoners.

The tour will also include a visit to the Voortrekker Monument designed by Gerard Moerdijk.

“We will bring this fascinating monument to life, pointing out the hidden symbolism, the magnificent frieze and the wonderful tapestries,” said Bird.

Paul Kruger House, Church Square and Melrose House – a stately mansion built in 1886 for one Mr Heys and used by the British forces during the Second Boer War as their headquarters, and the Union Buildings are other tour highlights.

On 29 March, the walking tour Parktown West – 100 years of architecture and personalities from 1903-1913 will include visits to the gardens on the Escombe Avenue ridge, with their views south and west across the trees to Wits University and Melville.

“We’ll visit the delightfully small-scale Endstead home of bachelor Ernest Wilmot Slope, Herbert Baker’s first partner in Johannesburg, and the man with the patience to train stonemasons to hammer dress stone,” said Bird.

“[We find] a dramatic change only a short step away, when we encounter Peter Rich’s home, Westridge. Rich was voted the top international architect of 2013. His wife Diane created a wonderful garden which climbs up the ridge to its peak.”

A Bankenveld garden, carefully contoured by Wynand and Landi Dreyer leads up to the home which has stood for a century.

Details: 011 482 3349; www.computicket.com; mail@joburgheritage.co.za