Arts, Culture & Heritage
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Blue Plaque Sites

Windybrow

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About Windybrow

Developed in partnership with the Market Theatre and Johannesburg Heritage Foundation

Address

Corner Nugget Street and Pietersen Street, Doornfontein.
21 July 2017

Inscription

WINDYBROW Situated in the heart of a bustling African diasporic neighbourhood, Windybrow provides a window into JohannesburgÕs past. Designed in 1896 by William Leck for Theodore reunert, founder of the engineering firm of Reunert and Lenz, its architecture is eclectically Victorian: a mock Tudor exterior seemingly at odds with Anglo-Moorish interiors. The house is a symbol of the rise of a wealthy business class in Johannesburg when mining created the need for secondary industries. By 1945 it was part of the BG Alexander Nursing College. By the 1980s it was transformed into a theatre and arts space for the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal. Following extensive renovations, the house re-opened in 2017 as the ÔWindybrow Arts CentreÕ.

Photo courtesy: Kabelo Mokoena (Sunday Times)

Explore Joburg

A culmination of research gathered over many years, the Online Johannesburg Heritage Register is being launched on Nelson Mandela Day 18 July 2025.

Among the many heritage sites featured is Chancellor House, the downtown offices of Mandela and Tambo Attorneys in the 1950s. After having been vacant and shuttered for more than a decade, this iconic building is being revived and brought to life once again as offices for the Community Development Department, which oversees the City’s Arts, Culture & Heritage Services.

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