Site of the Rand Steam Laundry

RAND STEAM Acquired by a new property consortium, the Rand Steam Joint Venture, the lead developers were a partnership between the Moolman Group and Jonker Evolution, who embraced and effected the reconstructing of the original buildings of the Rand Steam Laundries to their former state. The very first laundry was a wash site located on the rocks along the small stream known as the Gasworks Spruit. Here the Zulu entrepreneurs cleaned the clothes of the dusty mining townspeople from 1887. Laundry requires very soft water and soon the Crystal Spring Laundry and Palace Laundry were established along Napier Road, eventually uniting to establish the highly successful Rand Steam Laundries which closed in 1962. Craftsmen and small businesses used the site for the next 40 years.