2 - Introducing Yeoville: Context and Representations

Summary

Greater Yeoville (hereafter, Yeoville), which includes the suburbs of Yeoville, Bellevue and Bellevue East, is located north-east of the inner city, and is part of the City of Johannesburg's Region F, which broadly encompasses the central business district (CBD) and the inner city (see figure 2.1). This peri-central neighbourhood, located only a couple of kilometres from the CBD, offers a built form and urban structure very distinct from neighbouring inner-city Hillbrow, which is easily identified by its residential high-rises in the Johannesburg landscape. It also stands in contrast to the lower-density mansion landscape of Observatory (Meyer 2002), further east of Yeoville and the CBD, starting at De la Rey Street. To the south, where it abuts the Ridge, Yeoville offers spectacular views of the CBD and Doornfontein, and to the north, it is bordered by a major artery of the inner city, Louis Botha Avenue, currently being redeveloped under the City's Corridors of Freedom Development scheme around the extension of the Rea Vaya bus-rapid-transit network (City of Johannesburg, undated).

The dense urban fabric of Yeoville is structured by a tight grid of narrow streets separating blocks of 50 x 100 metres, subdivided into, at the most, 20 plots. The area's building stock includes two- to four-storey apartment buildings, some of which are fine examples of the Art Deco period of Johannesburg (such as the Beacon Royal on Grafton Road), but most of which stem from the occasional 1960s and 1970s style of plot redevelopment that spilt over from neighbouring Berea (such as the Ralton Corner block of flats on Raleigh Street). Most of the building stock, however, consists of earlier, Edwardian detached houses with tin roofs and stoeps (front porches) located on tiny plots that often get subdivided to accommodate the construction of a number of backyard rooms and extensions. The general feel of the streets is that of a walkable and agreeable Joburg suburb, offering a distinct urban quality and a good balance of street atmospheres. The quiet and shaded Muller Street, lined with jacarandas and detached homes, for example, contrasts with the ever-busy Rockey-Raleigh Street, which acts as the main commercial and transportation spine.