Ponte City building.

© Felix Lipov/Shutterstock

Ponte City

Johannesburg


Nothing sums up the changing fortunes of inner-city Jo'burg better than Ponte City, which can be visited on tours with Dlala Nje. This 54-storey cylindrical skyscraper was hijacked in the late 1980s by squatters and rapidly declined into a vertical urban slum. Flash forward a couple of decades – the building's owner, Kempston, has taken back control and refurbished the structure, which is now safe and home to an ethnically mixed community of working- and middle-class South Africans.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Johannesburg attractions

1. Telkom Tower

0.55 MILES

The 269m Telkom Tower is a landmark in Hillbrow, but it's not open to the public.

2. Madiba Mural

0.74 MILES

This 10-storey-tall mural by Capetonian street artist Freddy Sam (aka Ricky Lee Gordon) is inspired by the famous photo taken by Robert Gosani of Madiba…

3. Johannesburg Art Gallery

0.76 MILES

Fenced off from the southern end of sketchy Joubert Park is this elegant Lutyens-designed gallery dating from 1915. The JAG has one of the largest art…

4. Constitutional Court

0.86 MILES

Inaugurated in 2004, with its design based on the African concept of 'justice under a tree', the Constitutional Court is a very real symbol of modern…

5. Victoria Yards

0.87 MILES

These old brick buildings of what used to be a steam-powered laundry have been transformed recently into studios for artists and artisans. The site is…

6. The Cosmopolitan

0.88 MILES

Standing out against the more modern warehouse conversions in Maboneng is this former pub dating from 1902. The handsome whitewashed building now hosts a…

7. Hazard

0.89 MILES

Occupying a series of small whitewashed rooms on the upper floor of the building, Hazard is a contemporary gallery exhibiting emerging pan-African arts as…

8. Constitution Hill

0.9 MILES

Do not leave Jo'burg without visiting Constitution Hill. One of South Africa's most important historical sites, the deeply moving and inspirational…