Discover Doornfontein’s Jewish history
JOBURG - A walking tour this month will give sightseers the chance to explore the fascinating inner city suburb of Doornfontein.
The Ancient Secrets walking tour will pay particular attention to the historic suburb’s longstanding links with the city’s Jewish community.
The suburb was originally part of a farm owned by Frederick Jacobus Bezuidenhout, until it was declared a public diggings after the 1886 Witwatersrand gold discovery.
Thomas Yeo laid out the suburb in the late 19th century, and in 1897, a mining company owned by Barney Barnato bought the freehold of the suburb.
It was only after the Anglo-Boer War that a large number of Jewish immigrants moved to the suburb.
“Some of the [tour] highlights include the 1906 Lion Shul, the Jewish Workers Club, the Alhambra Theatre, and the Yiddishe Altesheim (Jewish old age home),” said Ancient Secrets tour guide Ishvara Dhayan.
Other tour higlights are Beit Hamedrash Hagodel (the Sherwell Street shul), Joburg’s first Greek Orthodox church, the Beit Street shops, the Ottoman Embassy, the old Victorian homes on Sivewright Street, and the 1914 Great Synagogue on Wolmarans Street.
Men will be required to cover their heads in the synagogues.
The tour will be followed by an optional lunch at the Troyeville Hotel.
The Doornfontein Walk will take place on 27 July, and will begin at the corner of Dora and Beit streets, Doornfontein, at 10am.
Parking will be available at the China City shopping centre.
Details: 084 624 0000; ancientsecrets@absamail.co.za
