Historic Banks and Building Societies - The Heart of Commerce

Commissioner Street was once Joburg’s financial centre, home to many of the banks and building societies that defined our city’s formative years. 

On this evocative inner city tour, led by architects Dave Gurney and Kgao Mashego, we’ll revisit some of the structures that once housed these powerful financial institutions and discuss the symbolism of their facades, see their engineering milestones, and embrace their restorations and refurbishments. 

Highlights include: the late-Victorian Natal Bank - the city’s oldest surviving bank building designed in 1899. Somerset House - home of the United Building Society, all dressed up in Edwardian classicism to symbolise stability and permanence. The third Standard Bank Chambers - a neo-Baroque late-Victorian building that is intentionally monumental, with statues of Justice and Commerce towering above its double arch entranceway. Victory House of the Permanent Mutual and Investment Society - a bold, proud and handsome classical building in the Creative Eclectic Style, and the first building in Johannesburg to have a lift. And the modern Standard Bank tower block that was constructed from the top down - one of only a handful of “hanging” skyscrapers in the world.

This walking tour will begin at the statue in Gandhi Square. Please wear good walking shoes and bring along a hat, sunscreen and drinking water. As this is an inner city tour, it is recommended that you don’t wear any fancy jewellery and keep your wallets out of sight.