Rand Club
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Rand Club | |
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General information | |
Status | Completed |
Type | Business-use |
Location | Johannesburg, South Africa |
Completed | 1904 |
Height | |
Roof | 34 m (111 ft) |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 5 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Leck & Emley |
The Rand Club is a
History
This section needs to be updated.(July 2020) |
The club was founded only a year after the city of
The first subscribers, who became the founding members, received two plots as a voluntary contribution and purchased two additional ones in order to ensure that the future building provided spacious facilities. The construction of the first clubhouse promptly began with the erection of a simple single-story structure, housing a bar, a billiards room, four conference rooms, and offices for the chairman and the secretary. This quickly proved inadequate and this structure was demolished to make way for a double-story Victorian building, then deemed the finest in Johannesburg, with colonnaded verandas, trelliswork, French windows, and Corinthian pillars. By 1902, this too proved inadequate and was replaced with the current, third, clubhouse.
The club and its members have played important parts and have held notable positions in
Clubhouse
Architecture and interiors
The current clubhouse was completed in 1904 on the design of prominent architects William Leck and Frank Emley in the
The six-storey building houses the longest bar in Africa, at 31 metres (103 feet), a billiards room, a private theatre, a double-volume staircase illuminated by a mosaic dome, two libraries, a ballroom, an armoury, six conference rooms of various volumes, office space, and three bedrooms. The top two floors are still under restoration following a fire in June 2005 that destroyed the top two floors of the building.
Art collection
The club's most prominent artwork, a
Library
The main Buckland Library houses in excess of 10,000 volumes, some of which are of historic and scholarly interest. The club is acknowledged as one of the notable private collections of Africa, with some volumes dating back to the 19th century. Apart from books on Africa, the club is a veritable depository in the fields of Johannesburg history and biographies. With a number of its members being published authors in their own right, the library has a separate section of works by Sir Lionel Phillips and Anthony Akerman, amongst others.
Royal residence
The club is unique in that it was used not once, but twice, as an official residence by members of the British royal family on their official visits to South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s.
Governance
General meetings and committee
The governance of the club vests with the members in general meeting. An annual general meeting is traditionally held on 20 November, with additional meetings as the need arises. Members traditionally elect a General Committee to perform the oversight over daily functions and management.
Internal clubs
Rand Club has various clubs within itself, of which the most notable are the Hunting, Shooting & Fishing Club, the Business Club, the Historical Association, the Theatre & Cinema Club, and the Young Members’ Think Tank. Each of these clubs-within-the club hosts its own regular events, dinners, and celebrations.
See also
References
- ^ Lucille Davie. "The quiet ambience of the Rand Club". City of Johannesburg. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-16.
- ^ "The Rand Club". Gauteng Tourism Authority. Retrieved 2014-07-16.