Randjeslaagte Beacon

Table of Contents

Address

Corner of Boundary Road, Off Louis Botha Avenue, Parktown
2009

Inscription

When Johannesburg was proclaimed in 1886 on the triangular site Randjeslaagte, the area of the town was two and half square km. Randjeslaagte was a piece of ÔuitvalgrondÕ Ð land left over from the farms surveyed around it. This beacon marks the apex of the triangle with its base running along Commissioner Street, from End Street in the East to Diagonal Street in the West. These two and half square km remained the municipal area of Johannesburg until 1901. The original surveyorÕs beacon was a white pole fixed in a cairn of rock. It was declared a National Monument in 1965 and the cairn smoothed with cement.

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.