#Architecture

It’s been two months since Thorsten and I joined a Johannesburg Heritage Foundation tour of three crazy houses on New Mountain Road in Linksfield Ridge. I have very limited time to write this post (I’m getting on a plane to Namibia tomorrow – more on that soon), but I want to share my photos and Thorsten’s sketches of the New Mountain Road tour before 2023 runs away from me. Please excuse this quick version of what could be a much longer (and better) post.

My quest to visit all of the places featured in the Hidden Johannesburg book continues. With my recent trip to the Freemasons’ Hall, which I’m about to tell you about, I have now visited 20 of the 28 places in the book. This will be my final Hidden Joburg post of the year and I think it’s a good one.

For the newest installment in my Hidden Joburg series, I visited a church in Hillbrow that I’ve been curious about for years. The Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helen is around the corner from the Hillbrow Boxing Club, and I have driven, jogged, and walked past it many times. But I didn’t have the opportunity to visit until last week, when Thorsten and I dropped in for the end of the Sunday morning service.

As most of you know, I’m on a quest to visit all the places featured in the Hidden Johannesburg book. Last week I went to the View, a historic Victorian mansion in Parktown, as part of a tour with the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation. This brings my total number of Hidden Joburg places visited to 18, with 10 left to go.

My quest to visit all the places in the Hidden Johannesburg book – which began with my pilgrimage to the Lemon Squeezer Church and then a [visit to the Lions Shul](http://lions shul) – continues. I recently went to Glenshiel, a historic mansion designed by renowned architect Herbert Baker, on a tour with the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation. This brings my total number of Hidden Joburg places to 17, with 11 left to go.

Last week Thorsten and I spent the night at the African Penthouses – a group of five luxury, rooftop apartments in the center of downtown Joburg.

The African Penthouses are at 87 Commissioner Street, right across from the Rand Club. I know this part of Joburg well and I was already an African Penthouses fangirl before the visit – I’ve been following them on Instagram for years and knew this is the coolest, most photogenic place to stay in Joburg. But I still wasn’t prepared for the real thing. These apartments are so chic and full of character, and the view from our penthouse was mind-boggling. It feels like an African Manhattan.