August 16, 2002
By Sheree Russouw
THE Turbine Hall, nestled on the outskirts of Newtown, is probably one of Johannesburg's most striking ironies - and mysteries.
When black people heard the hall's howling siren during apartheid, they knew they had to vacate the city at 7pm, or face the wrath of the police.
And come this time next week, apartheid's architects will surely be howling from their graves - for from 21 August to 8 September, a diverse mix of Africa's musical sirens will be flocking to the hall to perform for the estimated 60 000 delegates attending the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Billed as the summit's premiere music venue, the hall will be hosting veteran artists such as vocalist and guitarist Vusi Mahlasela, Judith Sephuma, PJ Powers, Jimmy Dludlu, Selaelo Seloto and an eclectic mix of the continent's musicians, dance and fashion gurus.
The Turbine Hall, home to Johannesburg's first coal-fired power station, undoubtedly needed its recent R4 million upgrade for the summit. For the last 20 years it has stood out like a bruised veteran of the city landscape, visibly aged and dilapidated.
The hall, situated on West Street and Jeppe Street, comprises gargantuan rooms and buildings. Consider that in its heyday just the room which housed the turbines was the largest building under a concrete roof in the country.
"The Turbine Hall is a massive site and we did not have the money to repair all of the buildings that make up the hall. We only repaired the South Boiler House for the music performances for the summit," says Xoliswa Ngema from the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA).
The history of the hall is sketchy. "The Turbine Hall has just always been there," says Paul Arnott-Job, the project manager of infrastructure for the JDA. "No-one really knows when it was built but I'd guess it was built somewhere around the 1920s."
A researcher compiling a history on Newtown, who prefers to remain anonymous, agrees. "It is believed to have been constructed around the time that the Newtown markets were established but no-one knows for sure," she admits.
That was some time after 1904, when a plague broke out among the poverty-stricken Indians who lived there. The people were moved to Klipspruit; the district was named Newtown and the town council started building a business district there, complete with abattoir, livestock market and a fruit and vegetable market. Then followed the construction of the electric workshop, the power station and the Turbine Hall. These buildings powered the city's electric trams and all of Johannesburg.
The four electricity cooling towers in Jeppe Street, used to cool water for the power station, were constructed between 1935 and 1937. Decades later, these large structures served as a landmark to anyone traveling on the M1 freeway to, or from, Johannesburg.
But eventually the Turbine Hall became inoperative. Life sizzled out of the generators, and the city's electrical department moved office. Age, too, took its toll on the cooling towers and by 1985 their concrete was flaking and they were in disrepair. Despite hopeful talk of transforming the towers into new-age hotels or an art gallery, they were demolished in June 1985.
But the Turbine Hall still stood, rooted to the city like an urban survivor. After being gutted by a fire, its brooding skeleton became home to the city's homeless - and a way for them to make money. About 300 homeless people used the hall's domains to recycle cardboard, paper, plastic and tin cans during the 1990s.
During this time, the city's engineers embarked on an ambitious plan, rumoured to cost R300 million, to transform the area into a thriving retail square, called Turbine Square.
But the plans were shelved and the project deemed "too ambitious".
In 1999, the hall was the scene of a series of muggings, rapes and murders, including that of a Homeless Talk writer. Criminals used the hall's numerous dark passages to evade authorities, and built elaborate tunnels from which to steal copper cables from nearby businesses, which were not impressed. The city council razed the shacks in July 2000 and evicted the squatters.
Anglogold, the gold mining company, offered a glimpse of salvation when it stated that it might move its offices to the hall. But no move took place. When the city's urbanites were polled by newspapers about the future of the hall, some suggested it be used as an inner-city housing project, an upmarket boutique, a marketplace, a concert hall, an ice-skating rink or a children's home. Nothing happened.
It seemed as if there was nothing but false hope for the Turbine Hall - until now. This stately structure, which has found a new role in hosting concerts and other jols, boasts a new roof, and most of the broken windows have been replaced. "It's looking quite beautiful now," says the researcher. Let's hope the summit's delegates agree.
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