The Tutu House is a house on

Vilakazi Street Vilakazi is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Benedict Vilakazi (soccer) (born 1982), South African footballer *Benedict Wallet Vilakazi (1906–1947), South African poet, novelist and educator *Herbert Vilakazi (1943–2016), So ...

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

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, that was the home to Desmond and Leah Tutu. The house is registered as part of Johannesburg's historical heritage.

Description

Desmond Tutu and his family moved into this house in 1975. Vilakazi Street is said to be the only street in the world where two

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

s have lived. During the time that Tutu lived here he became a Nobel Laureate for his struggles against

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

and he led the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

for President

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

. Tutu did not need to live here, as he had been offered the dean's residence in the rich white suburb of

Houghton Houghton may refer to: Places Australia * Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide * Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland * Houghton Island (Queensland) Canada * Houghton Townshi ...

, but Tutu was keen not to be seen as an "honorary white" so he lived twelve miles from the centre of the city. Conditions were poor in Soweto, which was the largest urban development in South Africa with over a million inhabitants but only one public telephone for every 26,000 inhabitants. Only 15% had electricity and 75% did not have running water when they first moved in. Black Africans were not allowed to own homes in Soweto as they were meant to see themselves as temporary workers. Archbishop Desmond Tutu outside Tuto House, Soweto

Archbishop Desmond Tutu outside Tuto House, Soweto

The house was extended by

Jo Noero Jo Noero is a South African architect. Noero is an International Fellow of The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Professional Noero has completed over 200 buildi ...

in 1990, the same architect who had worked at the Anglican Church in the Transvaal. Tutu was still living there in October 2011. A blue plaque was installed on the Tutu house in 2011 as part of the Johannesburg heritage trail by what was then called the Simon van de Stel Foundation. Vilakazi Street attracts thousands of tourists since

Mandela House The Nelson Mandela National Museum, commonly referred to as Mandela House, is the house on Vilakazi Street, Orlando West, Soweto, South Africa, where Nelson Mandela lived from 1946 to 1962. It is located at number 8115, at the corner of Vilakaz ...

was opened to the public in 1997, quickly becoming a top-twenty tourist destination. Tutu House is not open to the public, but the street does have several shops and restaurants. leyo vega

References

{{coord, 26, 14, 21.43, S, 27, 54, 36.63, E, region:ZA, display=title Buildings and structures in Soweto Houses in South Africa Heritage Buildings in Johannesburg