{"id":868836,"date":"2026-08-16T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=868836"},"modified":"2026-08-14T17:46:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:46:37","slug":"the-historic-129-year-old-south-african-icon-that-was-broken-down-and-rebuilt-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/868836\/the-historic-129-year-old-south-african-icon-that-was-broken-down-and-rebuilt-twice\/","title":{"rendered":"The historic 129-year-old South African icon that was broken down and rebuilt twice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The old Park Station in Johannesburg has gone from a bustling hub to an abandoned relic and now serves as a premier venue for the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site was Johannesburg’s original train station, connecting the once-small mining town to the rest of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It first opened to the public in 1897, and its construction was commissioned by the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once Johannesburg began to grow into South Africa’s financial centre, the station became the first impression for many people entering the city, establishing itself as an icon of the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was also due to its impressive architecture, and it was the second-largest prefabricated structure in the country at the time, behind the Witwatersrand gold mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire structure was pre-built in the Netherlands before being transported to Johannesburg for assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The station was also the original home of Transnet, born from the station’s initial operator, the Netherlands South African Railway Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The station remained operational from its opening until 1952, when it was moved to a new location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move was possible because it was a prefabricated structure, meaning it could be disassembled and reassembled at a new location in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The station was moved again in 1993 to an elevated platform, which conservation architect Frances Woodgate<\/a> said is unusual for such an historic building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodgate said the station is probably Johannesburg’s most visited building, with 16 million people passing through it every year at its peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, the old Park Station became too small for Johannesburg, and its final move was intended to transform it into a railway museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was to make way for a newer, upgraded station that could handle more passengers passing through each day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new home for the old Park Station was still close to the railway lines it had served, but it never became the museum it was intended to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the building stood uninhabited for 24 years, as Transnet sold large portions of the land surrounding the station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New life for the station<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After being abandoned, the old Park Station saw several attempts to revitalise Johannesburg’s historic landmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included the Station Market, launched in 2017, which sought to make the old station economically active.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The market eventually shut down, as the station’s surrounding area increasingly turned away prospective patrons and tourists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The station then found new life as a venue for a host of events, with local music artists and DJs often performing at the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The venue is not limited to performances, and can be used for a host of events, exhibitions, and private functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Old Park Station is an events venue for hire to shoot commercials and films, host events and concerts, picnics, conferences, shows, exhibitions, etc,” the venue’s website says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It dates from 1896 and opened to passengers in 1897. This makes it one of the oldest surviving structures in Johannesburg, giving it exceptional historical value.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is also one of only two station structures in the region surviving from this period, giving it a high degree of rarity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The venue has hosted three events since the start of the year, and boasts a 500-person capacity inside the old station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the station’s frequent performers include Adam Port, Rampa, &ME, Sun el Musician, and FKA Mash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The venue has also hosted KleineMusik for several years, with many of the previously mentioned artists in attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ActionSA also famously launched its manifesto in the old Park Station in 2021, saying at the time that it was an example of failures from the country’s government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos of the old Park Station<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image sources: The Heritage Portal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johannesburg’s old Park Station has undergone several transformations since it was built over a century ago, with a new purpose far from what it was originally built for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":868911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2088989419583795568","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2177920893028310","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18112090145286708","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755,1],"tags":[19493,26072,26071,26070,2138],"class_list":["post-868836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","category-trending","tag-actionsa","tag-frances-woodgate","tag-kleinemusik","tag-old-park-station","tag-transnet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868836"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":869383,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868836\/revisions\/869383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}