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TAIL OF
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Killarney

illarney is a suburb that is Gradually apartment blocks were Today this has changed, and a lot of
today representative of the designed and built, early on in the residents are young couples starting
Kdemographics of Johannesburg. Art Deco style. Gleneagles (1937) off on the property ladder with large
has a fabulous brass and marble apartments, sunny and airy. Many
It was first bought as a farm in 1905 entrance, and apparently the original of the blocks that are south of the
by Mr Isadore William Schlesinger, bathrooms were designed so that as motorway have superb views of the
where he based the Killarney Film you filled the bath with hot water, this urban forest, and are adjacent to
Studios. Mr Schlesinger built the ran through the towel rails and heated The Wilds, one of Johannesburg’s
beautiful block called Whitehall Court the towels and the room. This is still favourite parks, safe and well
in 1924, and had his own residence a beautiful block, with large, high- maintained.
on the first floor and his offices on ceilinged sought-after apartments.
the other two floors. It is an Italianate Daventry Court (1934) is another A new mosque on the eastern edge
design, with a central courtyard Deco gem, and has recently been of the motorway is frequented by
garden. All modern amenities such repainted and repaired, and is looking the local Muslim population, and the
as a lift, were included. It was magnificent. Many of the later sixties nearby schools have pupils that live
later turned into highly desirable buildings have surprisingly large in Killarney. The Killarney Mall has
apartments, and is still today a gardens, some with swimming pools. an excellent range of shops, and a
magnificent building with residents Killarney Hills (1959), built for John functioning library run by the City
who maintain it to the same high Schlesinger, Isadore’s son, which is Council. All this with direct access to
standard as before. At the time of on the southern border of Killarney, the motorway, close to the hospitals,
Killarney’s early start, the suburb had has Eduardo Villa designed panels and in the other direction, to Rosebank
an orchard, a swimming pool, trees along the balconies, a mosaic by and Sandton.
and gardens. Trees still stand, and Amando Baldinelli in the entrance
there is a park that was a treelined foyer.
street closed by the council and
made into a space for all residents Residents started off as mainly
to enjoy. Jewish, ‘newly wed or nearly dead’. Gill Butler

VENUS

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Tel: 011 434 0444,
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New Centre, Johannesburg.
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