Johannesburg · from the air
Johannesburg from the Air
Ponte City, the Hillbrow Tower, the Carlton Centre and the mine dumps: what is underneath a lap of Ellis Park.
Ellis Park is where South Africa won the 1995 World Cup final, beating New Zealand 15–12 after extra time, with Mandela in a Springbok jersey handing the cup to Francois Pienaar. The ground sits in Doornfontein on the eastern edge of the city centre. West of it the skyline is Johannesburg’s own: the Carlton Centre, 50 storeys and the tallest building in Africa for nearly 50 years; Ponte City, a hollow concrete cylinder 54 floors high with an open core all the way down; and the Hillbrow Tower, 269 m, finished in 1971.
Beyond the M2 lie the mine dumps — the city has no river and no coast, and exists purely because gold was found here in 1886.