Page 20 - 100 years of Anglo American

The Beggar’s Prayer by Joseph Madisia
(1984) is part of a collection – acquired
with the help of the Anglo American
Centenary Trust – that is on show at the
Johannesburg Art Gallery

The Johannesburg skyline, dominated by
the Carlton Centre on the right Sir Ernest Oppenheimer lays the foundation stone for the company’s headquarters in 1938

y 1935 and with about 200
employees, Anglo American had Anglo American’s
grown out of its offices in
Anmercosa House on Hollard
Street in Marshalltown,
The new headquarters had to be “quiet, JOZI
BJohannesburg, so it was decided
that new headquarters needed to be built.
The company acquired an entire block on
Main Street, where one of the first discoveries
of gold was made in the area, and it still
featured some of the original digging
operations.
According to The Heritage Portal, the
company acquired the whole block because it
didn’t want to be crowded by other buildings.

dignified and monumental in design”, and also
large enough to accommodate existing staff, as
well as allow for growth.
There was another prerequisite: all the The 100-year-old company has strong architectural,
offices had to look out on to the gardens. social and cultural roots in the City of Gold, where
The company’s directors appointed a London-
based firm of architects – Sir John Burnet, Tait it all began, writes S’thembile Cele
& Lorne – to design the building, and
construction began in 1939.
When the staff moved into 44 Main Street was hired to design the building that has been Anglo American still maintains significant
that year, the Sunday Times reported that it set Africa’s tallest office block since 1973. links with the city that was its first home. In
“a new trend in commercial architecture in Construction began on the 223m-high, 50-storey 1986, to mark the city’s 100 years of existence,
South Africa”. Carlton Centre in 1967. The building, which cost the corporation formed the Anglo American
The architects, The Heritage Portal reported, R88 million to construct, was opened in 1973, Johannesburg Centenary Trust to support the
described the building as “entirely without though it took a further year to complete. Johannesburg Art Gallery. The trust funded an
mannerisms of any sort and therefore will not While Anglo American staff no longer occupy extension that more than doubled the gallery’s
become dated”. the Carlton Centre – the corporation sold it to size and enabled it to house its permanent
Fast forward 34 years, and another Anglo state-owned company Transnet in 1999 – they collection of South African art.
American-built building became a landmark in still work from 44 Main. The company avoided The trust, which began with a R4 million
the city. the flight to Sandton undertaken by many donation, now has R120 million in its coffers,
This time, an American firm of architects other companies in the late 1990s. says trust chairperson Michael Murray.
20 ANGLO AMERICAN 100 YEARS