A Series of Photographs of the Ponte City Building in Johannesburg, South Africa
broken dreams and melancholy
broken bodies decorate
the hollow walls
My fiance and I recently had the opportunity run the 54 floors of the Ponte City, in Johannesburg. For those that know, they will know. But for those that do not know, this building has some real sad history to it. I am not even sure about it all, but at one stage the centre of the tower housed almost 4 stories of trash, and some people used it to commit suicide. But recently, they have tried to revamp the building, the four story dirt pile has been removed, and every now and then, they hold Dlala Nje challenge - the running of all 54 floors in less than 30 minutes.
I am not going to beat around the bush. This is not in a very good area, and driving there that early in the morning was a scary experience in itself. We mistook the one turn and I drove deeper into the city. If you know how the city looks like in South Africa, you know about the dangers - from potholes that will really break your car, to hijackings. But we arrived safely at the building, parking in one of the strangest parking lots. We parked across a burned out car... That is when we realised the building was not empty (because for some reason we did not realise that 2000 people still live there...).
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It was a freezing morning. The wind felt like ice cutting through our bodies. We stood at the bottom of the building, and we could barely see the sky. The building looked like a horror movie, or horror game. We felt strange, as we decided to run up a building where other people still live. But we were ready to run the 54 floors.
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And like that, we ran up all 54 floors. We were handed a medallion and we were greeted with loud music. We all celebrated our win with coffee and some traditional food. Some even drank some beer. But I needed to drive back home, so I opted for some black coffee. The views from 50 floors up were incredible. I have never actually seen the city from this high, as this was the first time in my life that I went this high up in any buildings. (Previously, the highest one I was in was about 16 floors.)
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In the end, we really felt a strange sense of victory, but also a sadness. We left the building, seeing how so many people live their lives. This seemed like a world I have never seen. I live a 1200 km away from the central parts of Johannesburg, and this is the first time I have been to the centre of this city. It was an interesting experience, and I felt like a stranger in my own country. I am not sure I know what to make of these feelings.
For now, I hope that you had a good week, a good weekend, and that there is some light in the end of your tunnel. As this spark of hope is all we need.
Happy photographing, and keep well.
All of the musings and writings are my own. The photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and 50mm lens, or my iPhone.
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You were close to my hood and it is a different world, unseen by many, that's for sure. We aren't hi-rise but also suffer the same neglect and brokenness. Ponte is still architecturally beautiful in its own way, I like your pictures. Did you know it leans too? Last I heard, it's 7 degrees off vertical, but stable.
I did not know it leans?! That makes it a bit scarier... But nonetheless, it is still beautiful in its own way. It just oozes with a type of "sadness" as you walk there. I cannot really describe it. I hope that they can get the surrounding area back to shape. I did not know it was this close to you!
Thank you so much!
I was a construction foreman in the inner city, and when the Ponte was built, we were busy on the foundations of another high rise building close by. Ponte was one of the smartest buildings in the city at the time. I even had a cinema and classy shops at the lower levels. At the time there were no potholes in the streets, and all of the traffic lights worked. Sadly, the city was allowed to deteriorate over time, and it is really not safe anymore.
Luckily most of the traffic lights worked! But for the pothole situation... It was so bad that even the taxis drove less than 20km/h. It must be a weird experience to have seen the building in its heyday vs. now. Sad situation. I think most of the cities in South Africa suffers that fate... But good memories to hold onto.
Yeah, the city has deteriorated over the years, even when there were so many promises to fix it. So many great buildings in the city are shells nowadays, and many are hijacked to house people. Not safe to walk in the streets anymore, and one has to have eyes in the back of the head at all times.
So, only memories remain.
!BEER
I didn’t even like to drive there so I cannot think to even walk there.. so sad that a lot of the beautiful architecture and buildings are in such a state.
I have friends here that fly up every month for a week's stay, and they keep on telling us about the deterioration, and the lack of maintenance. So sad to hear all of the troubles up there.
For sure. But for everything that starts to fall into decay, there are also beautiful things that spring up in its place. Not close to what things were but good enough for the strange times we live in.
Yes, I have to say that they are trying to restore the years of decay, but let's hope that when the heat is off, they will simply resort to the old ways of negligence.
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Wowwww, great Shots and great buildings
Thank you so much!
Your photos are dark and powerful, and seem well suited to the backstory. I cant imagine living in a building where people regularly go to die, and where a 4-story pile of garbage is normalized. Some times it is good to see places like this though, because it can help you to appreciate the nicer corners of the world. It is a cool looking building though, and the views from the top of the city look well worth a little danger and a climb. Congrats on making it to the top and thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! And I agree with you. It changes one's perspective in good ways. But you can literally feel the "sadness" in the building and on the walls. Such a sad situation.
I like your beautiful look to capture these pictures
Thanks!
That's are very impressive and beautiful 😍 like to see this
I am very glad!
These photos are so chilling... and remind me so much of what I saw on my travels while I was still working as a national marketing manager. Cape Town is a DA ruled city, and my gosh can you see the difference. Travelling to the Eastern Cape, specifically Port Elizabeth and then to Johannesburg for various events, I actually spent very little time in the cities "center's." They were both filled with massive empty buildings, broken windows, abandoned businesses and as you so aptly said, broken dreams. It makes me proud to be Capetonian, but we are also not completely guilt free here with a completely unfinished highway and a massive homeless issue, which is just brushed over and ignored because we happen to have a very pretty city... mostly... enough to cover up the unsightly bits we'd rather hide :(
Cape Town CBD also has some areas that I do not feel 100% safe to be in, but yes it is nothing compared to JHB and even Pretoria. It really is sad to see the beautiful buildings deteriorate so quickly..
For about 10 years between 2010 it was really bad hey. The DA implemented the City Improvement District program that really turned things around. I think it had to do a lot with the Soccer world cup, but it improved thigs vastly.
For sure. Luckily for me, I am not too much impacted by these things (yet). But it is sad to see what was, and how things are now.
!Luv
!Hug
!Pizza
!Indeed
!Sloth
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Johannesburg city center is a shocker and why we do not visit at all any more and is a no go zone. My brother in law used to live in that building when it was deemed good and now it is just dodge. The entire area is a danger zone so you definitely got an experience. I know the feeling when you are in an area you know you shouldn't really be in and you do not relax until you are out of that feeling of unknown. I have had it a few times with the last one being in Maputo and it is an extra sense of awareness knowing you need to keep moving. Many buildings in the area have been hijacked and are drug and prostitution dens today and I am not sure about this building as it is known as a drug haven. Good to know the rubbish has gone from the center as this was a major fire hazard besides a health hazard.
There is a big drive to clean up the building and that morning there was about 500 people doing the challenge. So they definitely get the support. But as you say the area is really not nice and you constantly feel like you need to get away.
Sorry for the late reply, it was a bit hectic the last couple of months.