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AD Time’s clock ticked differently it could have been Springs that got the gold and later the big city sparkle. Joburg would have been the backwater, tagged provincial and beige.

The story goes: back in the day the area that would eventually become Springs was a new coal mining hot spot. It also had a gold seam thick and proper waiting to be discovered. However, when Ignatius Ferreira’s pickaxe connected with the shiny metal in October of 1886 on a farm called Langlaagte, 50 kilometres away in mining camps that would become Johannesburg, it changed the course of history. Since then Springs (named for its underground water sources) has played catch-up with its glossier cousin.

But Time’s strange ways have left Springs with a unique gift: an intact collection of small-scale art deco buildings said to be the second largest grouping of its kind outside of Miami. This enduring imprint and imagination in concrete now holds an opportunity for Springs to reinvent itself as an architectural tourism destination.

Architectural tourism and interest in art deco can be a