By Princewill Ubani · Published
Research ID: PA-ART-carlton-centre-johannesburg-tallest-building-1973
The Carlton Centre Was Africa's Tallest Building for 46 Years
Anglo American Properties demolished the old Carlton Hotel in central Johannesburg in the late 1960s to make way for something far bigger: a 50-story tower and shopping complex that would dominate the city’s skyline for decades. Excavation work began in 1967, and the Carlton Centre opened in 1973, rising 223 meters above Commissioner Street on foundations sunk 15 meters into bedrock lying 35 meters below street level.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the American firm behind some of the era’s most prominent skyscrapers, designed the tower in partnership with the local firm W. Rhodes-Harrison, Hoffe and Partners. Murray & Roberts Construction built it, filling the complex with 75,355 square meters of offices, shops and a hotel that would go on to host guests including Whitney Houston.
For 46 years, from its 1973 opening until 2019, the Carlton Centre was the tallest building anywhere in Africa, a title Johannesburg locals still invoke with its old nickname, “the roof of Africa.” The Leonardo, a residential tower built in Sandton, Johannesburg’s newer financial district, finally passed it in 2019, standing 234 meters tall, 11 meters higher than the Carlton Centre’s roof.
Transnet, the state freight and logistics company, bought the Carlton Centre in 1999 and still runs it as company headquarters. The observation deck near the top remains open to visitors, offering the same view of the city’s skyline and mine dumps that made the tower a Johannesburg landmark long before any building overtook it.
Sources
- “The Record Breakers - Johannesburg's Tallest Buildings over time”, The Heritage Portal.
- “Carlton Centre - Africa's tallest building”, SAnews.
Books & Further Reading
Nigel Mandy, A City Divided: Johannesburg and Soweto (St. Martin's Press, 1984, ISBN 9780312140823)