Adderley Street
  From the top, an aerial down Adderly Street with Table Mountain in the background. A view of Adderley Street from ground level. | |
 Map of Adderley Street and surrounding streets. | |
| Location | Cape Town, South Africa |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°55′17″S 18°25′27″E / 33.92139°S 18.42417°E |
Adderley Street is a street in Cape Town, South Africa. It is considered the main street of the central business district (downtown) of Cape Town. The Christmas lights, night markets, main train station and numerous shops and restaurants and office towers are on this thoroughfare.
History
The street was originally named Heerengracht, after the canal ("gracht") which ran down its centre, and which had its origins in the rivers from Table Mountain. At the time the street was more of a wide walkway beside the canal, which was crossed by various stone bridges.
The network of canals were covered over, throughout Cape Town, in the 1860s. The Heerengracht river and canal therefore became an underground pipe-line. For many years the street was residential, lined with large oak trees, but by 1850 it had become strongly commercial in character.
Adderley Street was the original main street of the city centre shopping district with large department stores such as
It also has long been a financial centre with the Colonial Bank located on the site of the Stuttafords Building until 1890, and the imposing Standard Bank Building on the east side at Hout Street. The upper end marked political and religious authority, the location of St. George's Cathedral and the Supreme Court of South Africa.[3]
Gallery
-
Adderley Street, 1870s -
Adderley Street, c. 1900 -
Cape Town railway station on Adderley Street, 1909 -
Adderley Street, Cape Town in the 1950s, looking south from Strand Street -
Stuttafords department store on Adderley Street, 1957 -
Archie Mafeje (right) with Welsh Makanda in August 1961
_August_1961_with_Welsh_Makanda_in_Cape_Town.jpg)
See also
References
- ^ RFM Immelman: Men of Good Hope, 1804-1954. CTCC: Cape Town, 1955. Chapter 6 The Anti-convict Agitation. p. 154.
- ^ "From one Cape store to establishments in every major centre". Cape Times. 16 October 1981. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- ^ Google Maps, accessed July 5, 2020
External links
