Gender-free: The Rand Club then and now. Today, the Rand Club sits on the corner of Loveday and Fox streets
in Marshalltown. It operates as a non-profit, and it’s no longer a gentlemen-only enclave. Photos: Supplied
Johannesburg was barely a city when the Rand Club opened its doors in 1886. Gold had just been discovered, prospectors were everywhere and the men shaping early Joburg needed a place to gather, network and unwind. So they created one.
The founding members included Cecil John Rhodes, Hans Sauer and Hermann Eckstein. In true Rhodes fashion, the story goes that he walked until he found a corner he liked, stopped, and declared, “This corner will do for the club.”
Two of the stands belonged to Ikey Sonnenberg, a financier who promptly donated them after hearing what they would be used for. The other two stands, belonging to a Scottish gentleman HB Marshall, were sold to Hans Sauer for £72.
And just like that, Johannesburg’s most exclusive gentleman’s retreat had its home.
The first clubhouse sat at the corner of Commissioner and Fox streets and was a modest, single-storey mix of wood, brick and iron, with a thatched pavilion. Membership was sold as £10 shares to fund its construction.
It opened in 1889, and lasted six months before the members decided Joburg was growing too fast for something so humble. They wanted a clubhouse that screamed grandeur, so they demolished the clubhouse to make way for a bigger one.
The Second Clubhouse
The new double-storey clubhouse, opened in 1890, was a clear step up. It had English Renaissance flair, wrought-iron balconies, and even a turret that must have looked wildly sophisticated in a city barely out of its mining-camp years. A turret is a small tower jutting out from the main structure that adds both height and character.
Inside, it had every comfort that an established gentleman of that era would want: a bar, dining room, billiard room, offices, library, rooms for playing cards, a kitchen and a stoep. Parts of that original library foundation are still there.
But after the Anglo-Boer War ended in 1902, the members realised the building wouldn’t carry the club into the next century. They commissioned four new designs (at a cost of £400) and chose architects Leck and Frank Emley, the same duo behind the Johannesburg National Bank Building, to build the third version of the clubhouse.
The Third (and current) Clubhouse
By December 1904, the Rand Club unveiled the five-storey building we know today. Its metal frame was fabricated in the UK, shipped to South Africa and clad in brick and concrete once it arrived. The façade has barely changed in more than 100 years, even though the inside has been updated many times.
Many original touches survived: the carved timber doors, the dome above the grand staircase, the ironwork stamped with the Rand Club emblem, and the stained-glass windows in the bar.
In 2005, a fire damaged parts of the building, sparking a significant restoration. The famous glass dome was rebuilt but later removed for structural reasons and now waits patiently in storage for the day it can return home.
The building has some surprisingly modern features for something built in 1904. There is a central vacuum system with connection points visible, and the manually operated lift that once needed a human operator works on a motor. The lift runs today.
Outside the entrance sits two benches that were donated in 1907 by Julius Schultze. They were a popular hangout spot for a group known as the Front Porch Benchers, who loved to watch the passing crowd. Both benches and part of the façade were destroyed during the 1913 miners’ strike, but were repaired and still stand today.
In 1947, a young Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) made a quiet bit of history when she became the first woman allowed to walk up the grand staircase.
Before that, women invited for private dinners had to use the lift. Over the decades, the club has hosted royals, dignitaries and some of the city’s most influential figures.
A living slice of Joburg
Today, the Rand Club sits on the corner of Loveday and Fox streets in Marshalltown.
It operates as a non-profit, and it’s no longer a gentlemen-only enclave. Everyone is welcome, and today the number of registered members sits at around 500. The building doubles as an events venue, but more importantly, it stands as one of Johannesburg’s most quietly enduring landmarks.
Old buildings tell the story of a city long after the storytellers are gone. The Rand Club has watched Johannesburg rise, fall, burn, rebuild and reinvent itself more times than most of us can count. And somehow, it’s still here. Still opening its doors to anyone curious enough to walk through them.
Maybe that’s the real value of a place like this. It reminds us that cities aren’t only shaped by big plans and shiny new builds. Heritage shouldn’t be static. It should live in the places that we return to. The Rand Club is proof of that.