Orchards is a suburb of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. It is located in Region E of the

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

. It is a small suburb surrounded by the wealthy suburb of Oaklands as well as Norwood,

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

and The Gardens.

History

Orchards was declared as a suburb in March 1902. The land at the time was said to be covered in around 2,500 fruit and ornamental tree with an existing homestead. The orchards of the suburb were watered by the ''Orange Grove Spruit'', a seasonal stream with its source on the ridge above

Louis Botha Avenue Louis Botha Avenue (part of Johannesburg Metropolitan Route '' M11'') is a major street in Johannesburg, South Africa. Originally part of the main road between central Johannesburg and Pretoria, it runs along through the north-eastern parts of ...

close to Fellside. Most of the stream through the suburb is now either underground or canalized with it eventually forming up with the ''Sandspruit'' river. The lands owner, prior to being surveyed as a township, was William Anderson Martin, and was purchased in 1896, consisting of 18 acres of what is now known as Oaklands and Orchards. The land for the St Luke's Anglican Church was donated by him.

Heritage

Orchards has several heritage sites. ''The Kraal'' is a house in Pine Street, now a museum and guest house, built in 1907 by Hermann Kallenbach and has two rondavels attached to it. It was inhabited by Kallenbach's friend Mohandas Gandhi who lived there between 1908-1909. Other heritage buildings include the Pine Street

Shul A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worsh ...

built in 1959 with stone friezes that depict the 12 Israeli tribes and designed by Eduardo Villa. An older synagogue, no longer in use, is also in Pine Street and was built in 1946. On the corner of Pine and Garden Road is New Covenant

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

Church (originally St Giles

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Church) which dates from 1956 and extended again in 1965. St Luke's, an Anglican church, stands in High Street and was built in 1907 and designed by Sir

Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He wa ...

, was extended in 1920s, a hall built in 1951 and in 1956 further building of a tower, gallery and vestries took place. Orchards Primary School/Laerskool Dirkie Uys was established in 1928 as the Norwood Afrikaans Medium School and then a year later as the Orchards Afrikaans Skool and then named the Laerskool Dirkie Uys in 1933. The Spark Gallery sits in Louis Road and was built in 1938 for the

City of Johannesburg The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

with its original function as an electrical substation which was closed down in the 1960s. In Orchards, some of the

plane Plane(s) most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant * ''Planes' ...

trees in Oaklands and Garden Roads date back to 1930's.

Religious sites

* NGKerk Andrew Murray * Pine Street Shul * St Luke's Anglican Church * New Covenant Baptist Church (formerly St Giles Presbyterian Church)

Schools

* Torah Academy * Orchards Primary School/Laerskool Dirkie Uys

References

{{reflist Johannesburg Region E