JustPics

Witness the Evolution of Africa’s Tallest Residential Skyscraper

The unparalleled rise and spectacular fall of Ponte City Apartments is epic.

Africa’s tallest residential skyscraper was completed in 1976, the same year as the Soweto student uprising, as a cylindrical palace for Johannesburg’s wealthy whites. But less than two decades later, after the end of apartheid in 1994, it had become a hub for the city’s gangs and a hotspot of crime. The core of the 54-storey complex, once thought to be prime for a ski slope, was instead filled with debris.

The property was bought in 2007 by developers who envisioned a big comeback — a second attempt at first ambitions for what had virtually become a sky-high eyesore. That’s around the time South African photographer Mikhael Subotzky and British artist Patrick Waterhouse began what the former called a “before and after” project, a bid to document its transition from trash to flash. (read more)

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Ponte City Apartments