Prior to the discovery of gold on the
Witwatersrand in 1886, the area that later became Hillbrow was located on government-owned land known as Randjeslaagte, which today forms part of the
Johannesburg Central Business District. Randjeslaagte was a triangular tract of land not used for farming, with Hillbrow situated at the northern apex of the triangle. The name Hillbrow derives from the suburb's position on the brow of the east–west ridge that runs across the Johannesburg Central Business District. The land was originally owned in the form of claims by J. Nicholls, who subsequently sold them to the Transvaal Mortgage, Loan & Finance Company. Hillbrow was laid out for residential development between 1894 and 1895, with stands auctioned by Richard Currie. Jewish residents and investors were responsible for constructing many of the neighbourhood's buildings. which later became known as a gathering place for left-wing activists. Jewish anti-apartheid activist
Rusty Bernstein described developing his political awareness there through discussions with
Kurt Jonas, the son of German Jewish migrants and his fellow student at the
University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Architecture. Religious and communal institutions were established in Hillbrow. The
Great Synagogue, formerly located on Wolmarans Street, was considered the central synagogue of Johannesburg and a major centre of Orthodox Judaism in South Africa.
Temple Israel, designed by
Herman Kallenbach, is the oldest
Reform synagogue in the country and has been designated a heritage site. The former Poswohl Synagogue on Mooi Street, named after
Pasvalys in
Lithuania, served congregants who had emigrated from that town and was declared a National Monument in 1981. In 1967, confrontations occurred in Hillbrow between German immigrants making
Nazi salutes at a local
beer hall and Jewish youth. The
West German embassy in South Africa issued a statement condemning the salutes and attributing them to young people unfamiliar with life under
Nazism. During the 1960s and 1970s, many elderly Jewish residents purchased flats in Hillbrow. In the 1970s, Isaac and Gloria Rootshtain purchased the Cranbrook Hotel on Leyds Street, a
residential hotel originally designed by Le Roith that had been featured in
The Architectural Review in 1953. They reopened it as a
kosher establishment named The Connoisseur. Gloria Rootshtain later authored
Cooking with a Connoisseur (1982), described as South Africa's first celebrity cookbook.
Gay community In the mid-20th century, Hillbrow developed a reputation as a center for a white
gay community. Beginning in the 1960s, several gay-oriented establishments and publications were established in the area.
Racial integration and white flight From the mid-1970s onward, Jews began moving from Hillbrow and other inner-city suburbs to the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. In the 1987 elections, the far-right
National Party fielded
Leon de Beer as a candidate in Hillbrow. His campaign was promoted in the Hillbrow-based gay publication
Exit and combined support for gay rights with a proposal to resegregate Hillbrow as a whites-only district. De Beer won the election, becoming the first elected official in South Africa to run and be elected on a platform that included support for gay rights. In 1989, Isaac and Gloria Rootshtain
emigrated to
Israel, selling The Connoisseur hotel in the same year.
Social action Several social action groups and organizations have been active in Hillbrow to address local social challenges. In 1990, Jean du Plessis and Adele du Plessis founded The House Group, which established shelters and programs focused on the care and rehabilitation of female child victims of
commercial sexual exploitation. The organization's first premises were located at 52 Soper Road, near
Ponte City, before relocating in 1993 to two adjacent buildings at 60 Olivia Road, at the base of the
Hillbrow Tower. These facilities included The House Drop-in Centre and the Intombi Shelter. The House Group was among the first organizations to advocate for legislation granting girls in shelters the same legal protections as boys. In 1997, the
Gauteng Provincial Government enacted the first legislation enabling shelters to accommodate girls. == Landmarks ==