Saxonwold is an affluent 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 Demo ...

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

. It is situated in what was once the Sachsenwald Forest in the early 20th century. 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 ...

History

The suburb has its origins as part of the Braamfontein farm which was owned by

Hermann Eckstein Hermann Ludwig Eckstein (3 August 1847 – 16 January 1893) was a German-born British people, British mining magnate and banker. Life history Born in Hohenheim near Stuttgart, Germany to a Lutheran minister, he received an excellent educati ...

. He had bought the farm to explore it for minerals and when he failed to find any, the land was converted as a

timber plantation A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term ''tree farm'' also is used to ...

in 1891 called Sachsenwald after Otto von Bismarck's estate. The land's name was anglicized at the beginning of World War One and was called Saxonwold. In 1903, Wernher Beit & Co and

Max Michaelis Sir Maximillian Michaelis, (11 May 1852 Eisfeld, Germany – 26 January 1932, Zurich) was a South African financier, mining magnate, benefactor and patron of the arts. Early life and education Michaelis received his early schooling in ...

gave 200 acres of freehold ground in the Sachsenwald plantation to the Johannesburg Town Council for the use by the people of Johannesburg by the creation of the Herman Eckstein Park. This park would become

Zoo Lake Zoo Lake is a popular lake and public park in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is part of the ''Hermann Eckstein Park'' and is opposite the Johannesburg Zoo. The Zoo Lake consists of two dams, an upper feeder dam, and a larger lower dam, both constru ...

, the

Johannesburg Zoo The Johannesburg Zoo is a zoo in Johannesburg, South Africa. The zoo is dedicated to the accommodation, enrichment, husbandry, and medical care of wild animals, and houses about 2000 individuals of 320 species. Established in 1904, it has trad ...

and the

South African National Museum of Military History The South African National War Museum in Johannesburg was officially opened by Prime Minister Jan Smuts on 29 August 1947 to preserve the history of South Africa's involvement in the Second World War. In 1975, the museum was renamed the South Af ...

. The remaining land in the plantation was developed into a township called Saxonwold in 1925 by the Transvaal Consolidated Land & Exploration Co Ltd. The streets were laid out to view the

Rand Regiments Memorial The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

with instructions to home builders not to impede the view of the memorial and the street names having an old Anglo-Saxon theme and ended in wold. The

Japanese School of Johannesburg The is a Japanese school in Emmarentia, Johannesburg, South Africa. History The Nippon Club of South Africa (日本人会 ''Nihonjin-kai''), a Johannesburg-based organisation, sponsors the school to encourage Japanese businesspeople to bring th ...

previously had a location in Saxonwold. After a negative campaign in 1968, the location was forced to close. The

Villa d'Este The Villa d'Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains. It is now an Italian state museum, and is listed as a UNESCO World Herita ...

was built in 1923. The

and the Anglo-Boer War Memorial are also located in Saxonwold.

Notable people

*The

Gupta family The Gupta family is a wealthy Indian-born family with business interests in South Africa, whose most notable members are brothers Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh "Tony" Gupta—as well as Atul's nephews Varun, and US-based Ashish and Amol. The family ow ...

References

Johannesburg Region E {{Johannesburg-stub