THE NEW OLD
Rand Steam, one of Joburg’s greatest heritage losses, is reborn victorious, writes Mila Crewe-Brown
The story of Rand Steam Laundries is a contentious one. This heritage site in Richmond came into being around 1896, when a group of Zulu men made a business of washing clothes along the Gas Works Spruit for the mining industry. The AmaWashas, as they were called, were displaced when two formal laundry businesses, which later became Rand Steam, opened up there.
Rand Steam Laundries became so popular that hotels from all over SA sent their laundry to be cleaned and dyed there. After it closed in the early ’60s, the industrial buildings were inhabited by craftsmen and informal traders. Next came Imperial Holdings in the 2000s, who illegally flattened the buildings to make way for a car dealership. Their plans were intercepted as the community and heritage association took umbrage, leaving the property derelict until now.
The Moolman Group, with Jonker Evolution, Genesis Property Three and Group44, have now created a centre to serve the community with a retail offering, at the same time reviving the site’s historic soul and injecting character into the development. Anchor tenants like Woolworths, Pick n Pay and Clicks sit alongside buzzy cafés and small retailers.
The property’s most prominent feature and the only part of the structure to survive the demolition is its water filtration tower, which is now inhabited by shoe brand Six Kings, whose winding staircase was built using repurposed timber from the original site. Across the parking lot, Tapenade & Friends has a beautifully curated shop that combines the brand’s olive products with lifestyle brands such as Goet furniture, Babylonstoren and children’s brand Land of Lark.
Customers will catch sight of reminders of the past, like the bricks that stand proud on the walls with the inscription AmaWasha imprinted across the front; and the fence that borders Barry Hertzog Avenue which features the same words. The original red roof tops have been recreated and replicas of the characteristic red steam vents once again sit on top of the roofs.
In the courtyard, where shade is thrown from olive trees, cafés and restaurants look onto a wall carved out with scenes of a mule and the original washermen bent over the stream. At the rear of the parking area is a majestic pepper tree — planted to keep flies off the mules — that was moved from where the stables originally stood.
What they’ve nailed is an urban regeneration project that serves major retail needs as well as a lifestyle destination with soul and history. The companies behind the development have restored faith in protecting heritage, carefully walking the line between present and past … and with style.