page_title: Johannesburg City Hall
section_title: Old building design
hierarchical_section_title: Johannesburg City Hall / Old building design
caption_attribution_description: Looking across the square and the street directly towards the town hall building, built in a classical style, with its classical columns and portico and high-domed tower, with views of trams passing by and people walking in the street.
context_page_description: Johannesburg City Hall is an Edwardian building constructed in 1914 by the Hawkey and McKinley construction company. The plan for the building was drawn in 1910 and construction was started in 1913 and finished in 1914. The Gauteng Provincial Legislature currently occupies the building. The City Hall has seen many political events on its steps from protest meetings to a bomb blast in 1988.
context_section_description: The style is described as Edwardian Baroque with a portico of Ionic columns and tower with a half dome entrance described as neo-Renaissance. The building is designed as two-halves, with the eastern side consisting of the municipal offices which faces Rissik Street and the western side containing the Town Hall facing Harrison Street.
  Sixty metres from the main entrance on Rissik Street is a small stone paved square originally with flower boxes. During the Civic Spine project of 1989–91, Rissik Street between the City Hall and The Post Office was bent in front of the square to accommodate a fountain and obelisks in the centre of the road. Granite steps lead up to the entrance consisting of a colonnaded portico along the full front of the building and with a central domed tower above. The entrance vestibule of marble and mosaics had corridors leading left and right to municipal departments while a marble staircase lead up to the first floor which consisted of the council chamber, committee rooms, councillor's library and lobby with Mayor's parlour facing the square. The council chamber was domed with ornamental plaster and oak finishes with the committee rooms with a similar finish. On the ground floor below the council chamber was the Rates Hall which was accessed from the north and south sides of the building in President and Market Streets. The building originally had an open courtyard in the centre.
  The western entrance in President Street faces the now renamed Beyers Naude Square with the Johannesburg City Library beyond that. From that street are five doors to the entrance hall and the town hall beyond, while two staircases on either side lead up to gallery while in the hall itself, the Organ faces the entrance. The hall is decorated in plaster, gilding, and woodwork. Accessed from President Street, Selborne Hall is found on the first floor. The organ for the new hall was built by Noman & Beard of Norwich based on the specifications of Dr Alfred Hollins. The organ was assembled by A.M.F Tomkins of Cooper, Gill and Tomkins under Herbert Norman's supervision. The organ was first opened to the public on 4 March 1916 with an inaugural recital by Alfred Hollins. In the 1920s it was used to present recitals on Sunday nights and during the lunch hour on Tuesdays afternoon. The organ was said to be the largest on the continent of Africa and was at one time the second largest organ in the Southern Hemisphere.
  The external walls are brick but clad in sawn border stone from the Free State called Flatpan Freestone. Some of roof is tiled, originally of green Spanish tiles but are now clad in red tiles replicated in Pretoria, while other parts of the roof are cement and corrugated iron. The internal walls consist of plaster, mahogany, oak and teak depending on the location and the rooms uses. While the floor material differs on the location and its uses and could consist of marble, mosaics, American cork and maple.
caption: The Johannesburg City Hall prior to 1937 rebuild
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