Doornfontein

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Doornfontein | pushpin_map = South Africa Gauteng#South Africa#Africa | coordinates = {{coord|26|11|S|28|03|E|region:ZA|display=inline,title}} | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = South Africa | subdivision_type1 = Province | subdivision_name1 = Gauteng | subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_type3 = Municipality | subdivision_name3 = City of Johannesburg | subdivision_type4 = Main Place | subdivision_name4 = Johannesburg | established_title = Established | leader_title = Councillor | area_footnotes = <ref name="census2011">{{cite web |url=http://census2011.adrianfrith.com/place/798015087 |title = Sub Place Doornfontein |work=Census 2011}}</ref> | area_total_km2 = 0.46 | population_footnotes = <ref name="census2011" /> | population_total = 4484 | population_as_of = 2011 | population_density_km2 = auto  | demographics_type1 = Racial makeup (2011) | demographics1_footnotes = <ref name="census2011" /> | demographics1_title1 = Black African | demographics1_info1 = 97.2% | demographics1_title2 = Coloured | demographics1_info2 = 1.1% | demographics1_title3 = Indian/Asian | demographics1_info3 = 0.4% | demographics1_title4 = White | demographics1_info4 = 1.2% | demographics1_title5 = Other | demographics1_info5 = 0.1%  | demographics_type2 = First languages (2011) | demographics2_footnotes = <ref name="census2011" /> | demographics2_title1 = Zulu | demographics2_info1 = 34.1% | demographics2_title2 = English | demographics2_info2 = 18.7% | demographics2_title3 = Northern Sotho | demographics2_info3 = 8.5% | demographics2_title4 = Southern Ndebele | demographics2_info4 = 6.7% | demographics2_title5 = Other | demographics2_info5 = 32.0%   | timezone1 = SAST | utc_offset1 = +2 | postal_code_type = Postal code (street) | postal_code = 2094 | postal2_code_type = PO box | postal2_code = 2028 | area_code_type = Area code }}

'''Doornfontein''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʊər|n|f|ɒ|n|t|eɪ|n}} {{respell|DOORN|fon|tayn}})<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nUTslIcBrE|access-date=17 October 2024|title=BREAKING NEWS: Teargas fired as students clash with police at UJ Doornfontein - YouTube|date=12 May 2020|time=0:11}}</ref> is an inner-city suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, located to the east of the city centre. It is in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. In the 1930s, it attracted many Jewish immigrants, becoming the main hub for the city's Jewish community.<ref name=up/> Black African residents, then a minority in the suburb, lived in slum-yards. Under the '''Slums Clearance Act 1934''', the slum-yards were cleared and many residents were relocated to Orlando, Soweto.<ref name=up/> Since the late 1970s, Doornfontein and other inner-city suburbs of Johannesburg have underdone high levels of white flight to the city's northern suburbs.<ref name=wake>[https://www.dukeupress.edu/Assets/PubMaterials/978-1-4780-1870-4_601.pdf Wake Up, This is Joburg] Duke University Press. 2022</ref> ==History== The area, whose name means "thorn fountain", was originally the southern part of a farm owned by Frederick Jacobus Bezuidenhout, and was proclaimed a public diggings after the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886. The suburb was laid out in the late 1880s by Thomas Yeo, and became the first residential suburb of Johannesburg. In 1897 the freehold of the suburb was bought by the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company (JCI), owned by the mining magnate Barney Barnato.<ref name= musiker>Musiker, Naomi. "Jewish contributions to the upgrading of the Johannesburg inner city". ''Jewish Currents''. 2012</ref> The suburb (and Berea) were developed by the company and the district became known as "Millionaire's Row". The JCI also built Norman House, a striking mansion home for Barnato.<ref name=heritage>[https://www.theheritageportal.co.za/article/norman-house-gone-not-forgotten Norman House - Gone but not forgotten] The Heritage Portal. 15 April 2016</ref> The property was situated near to the Irene Church with its front entrance on End Street.<ref name=heritage/> In his biography of Barnato, Harry Raymond wrote that "as a practical proof of his faith in the permanency of the Gold Fields of the Rand he decided to build a large home for his own dwelling place and tenders were called for its erection."<ref name=heritage/> Afterwards the house was the residence of the mining magnate, John Dale Lace.<ref name=heritage/> It was subsequently converted into an institution known as Dale Lace house, a residence for senior citizens. The building has since been demolished.<ref name=heritage/>

Following the Anglo-Boer War, many of the wealthier residents moved north to Parktown, and Doornfontein, or "Doorie", became home to many Jewish immigrants. In Doornfontein and New Doornfontein, there were nine synagogues, several ''Talmud Torah'' and ''Cheder'' schools, as well as Jewish organisations.<ref name=up>[https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/28071/Complete.pdf The Jewish Community of Johannesburg, 1886-1939: Landscapes of Reality and Imagination] University of Pretoria. December 2004</ref> Yiddish was widely spoken and there was a predominantly Eastern European Jewish character and identification with both Zionism and Yiddishkeit.<ref name=up/> Many of the Jewish residents came from Ferreirasdorp and Marshalltown.<ref name=up/> Doornfontein Synagogue was completed in 1906 and remains in use. The synagogue has been documented and photographed by David Goldblatt.

During the Great Depression large parts of Doornfontein were bought up by property speculators and turned into slum housing or "yards". These areas were cleared in the mid-1930s and became light industrial manufacturing areas.<ref>James North ''Freedom rising'' - 1985 Page 74 "One of the oldest neighborhoods, the legendary and picturesque Doornfontein, stubbornly survives as a pocket of some integration. Doorie, as its residents fondly call it, is the other side of Nugget Street, just east of the central city. "</ref>

In 1967, Adam Leslie, a Jewish theatrical personality took over a small theatre on End Street that had been designed by Sir Herbert Baker for Lady Farrar, wife of Sir George Farrar.<ref>[https://www.sajr.co.za/walking-tour-of-west-park-cemetery/ Walking tour of West Park Cemetery] ''South African Jewish Report''. 11 November 2013</ref><ref name= musiker/> The building had previously housed the South African College of Music, with a foundation stone laid in 1906. Leslie converted the building into a music hall with 200 seats and hosted musical revues.<ref name= musiker/> The music hall closed after Leslie sold the building in 1975 due to personal health issues.<ref name= musiker/> Mannie Manim, co-founder of the Market Theatre was responsible for transforming an old Doornfontein house into the '''Arena Theatre'''.<ref name= musiker/> At the Arena, Manim formed a theatrical group, The Company with Danny Keogh, Barney Simon, Vanessa Cooke and Janice Honeyman.<ref name= musiker/> The theatre was eventually demolished as the Technikon Witwatersrand expanded.<ref name= musiker/>

==Features== Large areas of Doornfontein are now occupied by the Technikon Witwatersrand, which is now a part of the University of Johannesburg, Ellis Park Stadium and Johannesburg (Athletics) Stadium. The Johannesburg meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has been situated at 3 Gordon Terrace since the late 1950s. The area had undergone substantial transport renewal in 2008 in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in soccer, especially the introduction of a key route of the new rapid transit bus system.<ref>[http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20090611135618637C619943 Upgraded R77m train station unveiled] ''IOL''</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery> File:Doornfontein Siemert Road, Johannesburg Postcard.jpg|Doornfontein Synagogue and Victoria Maternity Home on Siemert Road File:Doornfontein-trainstation.jpg|Doornfontein train station in 1967 File:UJ DFC.JPG|University of Johannesburg Doornfontein campus </gallery>

==See also== *Braamfontein *New Doornfontein

==References== {{reflist}} * Musiker, N. & R., 2000. ''A Concise Historical Dictionary of Greater Johannesburg'', Francolin Pubs., Cape Town, South Africa.

Category:Johannesburg Region F Category:Jews and Judaism in Johannesburg