New life for historical building
JOHANNESBURG – The historically significant Stuttafords building in the CBD will live on.
The history of the Stuttafords clothing store runs much deeper into the Johannesburg CBD than most people would realise, and City Buzz will tell you all about it.
Stuttafords, found in a number of malls around South Africa, came to be one of the country’s most popular clothing outlets in 1893 and was situated on the corner of what is now Pritchard and Rissik streets.
In the early 1900s, the Stuttafords building collapsed after a dynamite storage area inside one of the first mines in Johannesburg exploded, but the Stuttafords family was not to let their legacy go down in ruins.
In 1923, the family consolidated the small building, which they owned, with the one next to it and built a grand clothing outlet store and coffee shop in what was to become famously known as the Stuttafords building.
“One of the things that not many people know is that across the street were the original mine camps. The first mines that were developed in Joburg, which made this building rather significant because it was a central area back at that time,” said Johan Scott, project manager at DDT, the company which is converting the space from a commercial building to more than 120 residential apartments.
Since its rebuild in 1923, the building has been considered a Johannesburg heritage site and the great history of the structure is kept not only in the hearts of the people who frequented it but in its architecture.
Before property development and management company, Afhco, bought the building in 2007 it stood unused in the city for more than 10 years.
Now, Afhco is working closely with the Provincial Heritage Resources Authority Gauteng to maintain valuable parts of the building during its overhaul.
“My wife remembers coming here with her mother for tea and scones on a Saturday morning,” CEO of Afhco, Renney Plit recalled.
The first complete floors of the building are set to be ready for lease at the end of May and the historical building will live on as one of the oldest buildings in the city and a heritage site significant to Joburg’s mining history.
