Menlo Park (

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

: '' Menlopark'') is an upmarket suburb in the city of

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It borders other upmarket areas

Waterkloof Waterkloof (Afrikaans for "Water Ravine") is an affluent suburb of the city of Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa, located to the east of the city centre. It is named after the original farm that stood there when Pretoria was founded ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and

Lynnwood Lynnwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located north of Seattle and south of Everett, near the junction of Interstate 5 and Interstate 405. It is the four ...

. When it was first established between the 1950s and 1960s, it was the most eastern suburb of Pretoria, but the city has since considerably expanded eastwards. Today these suburbs are known as the Old East and have some of the city's most valuable residential properties.

History

The Old East is characterized by established residential suburbs with mature tree lined streets and established gardens. The original stands were the "Burger Erf" of 2552 m² allocated to returning Servicemen of World War II. Some of these stands have been subdivided into two properties and some into security clusters of 4 units to suit the need for the modern "lock-up-and-go" lifestyles. Menlo Park has a central position near the N1 highway, within easy reach of the CBD, is near major shopping malls (

Menlyn Park Menlyn Park Shopping Centre is a large shopping mall in Menlyn, Pretoria, South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, n ...

and Brooklyn Mall), and has a revamped heart, with a theatre, coffee bars, restaurants and cafés. Together with

and

, it was most likely named after

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

counterparts. Residents think that this reflects the suburb's less “stuffy” image, when compared to that of leafy

(which has many street names reflecting the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

). The suburb was the home of iconic South African artist Walter Battiss, whose erstwhile home has been converted into a residential development with guesthouse known as ''Fook Island'' (named after the Battiss-created utopian “independent nation” with murals created by Battiss protégé Norman Catherine), as well as

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

ist, Bettie Cilliers-Barnard.

Education

Menlo Park houses primary and high school education with

Hoërskool Menlopark Die Hoërskool Menlopark (colloquially known as Menlo or Parkies) is a public Afrikaans medium co-educational high school situated in the suburb of Menlo Park in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The school was founded in 1963 ...

(as well as Laerskool Menlopark) serving mainly

speakers. It also lies near the well-known

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

References

Suburbs of Pretoria 1950s establishments in South Africa {{Gauteng-geo-stub