Orchards is a suburb of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

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 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, the largest city in South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite se ...

. 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 un ...

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 William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

, 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 Hermann Kallenbach (1 March 1871 – 25 March 1945) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish South African architect who was one of the foremost friends and associates of Mahatma Gandhi. Kallenbach was introduced to the young Mohandas Gandhi while they were ...

and has two rondavels attached to it. It was inhabited by Kallenbach's friend

Mohandas Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

who lived there between 1908-1909. Other heritage buildings include the Pine Street

Shul A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as Jewi ...

built in 1959 with stone friezes that depict the 12 Israeli tribes and designed by Eduardo Villa. An older

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, 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 are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church (originally St Giles

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Church) which dates from 1956 and extended again in 1965. St Luke's, an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

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 was ...

, 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, the largest city in South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite se ...

with its original function as an

electrical substation A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station an ...

which was closed down in the 1960s. In Orchards, some of the

plane Plane most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface * Plane (mathematics), generalizations of a geometrical plane Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane ...

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