Houghton Estate, Gauteng
Encyclopedia
Houghton Estate, often simply called Houghton is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, north-east of the city centre. Part of it is located in Region 3
Region 3 (Johannesburg)
Region 3 was an administrative district in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, from 2000 to 2006, and was also known as the Sandton region, as it included the formerly independent municipality of Sandton, and many of the northern suburbs of the former Johannesburg municipality...

, the other part in Region 4
Region 4 (Johannesburg)
Region 4 was an administrative region of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, from 2000 to 2006, situated almost exactly in the middle of the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area. It contained the north-western suburbs of Johannesburg as well as western Randburg to the north and Florida to the...

 .

Houghton has traditionally been informally divided into two areas: Upper Houghton, and Lower Houghton. Upper Houghton is the hilly southern portion located on a ridge, while northern Lower Houghton is flatter, and has a grid street pattern, with portions lying on both sides of the M1
M1 (Johannesburg)
The M1 De Villiers Graaff motorway is a major freeway in Johannesburg, South Africa. The highway connects the southern areas with the city centre and extends further north through Sandton...

 freeway. Upper Houghton has been declared a National Heritage Area.

Houghton was developed as a residential area around the turn of the 20th Century, primarily by Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company (JCI
JCI Limited
JCI or Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Co. Ltd. was founded in 1889 by the British entrepreneur Barney Barnato. JCI was a major force in South African mining for over 100 years. Using his investments in the Kimberley diamond fields, particularly his 25% share in De Beers, Barnato foresaw the...

) (Musiker and Musiker 2000:137).

Historically a wealthy area it contains many large homes and properties as well as some blocks of flats, and office parks on streets close to the M1 (developed on the sites of former homes), and on Louis Botha Avenue
Louis Botha Avenue
Louis Botha Avenue is a major street in Johannesburg, South Africa. Originally part of the main road between central Johannesburg and Pretoria , it runs along through the north-eastern parts of the city from Hillbrow to Sandton, passing through numerous older suburbs, including Orange Grove and...

. Houghton is architecturally varied. There are good examples of art deco buildings (particularly some of the flats), and many of the large houses in the 1930s were good examples of the Modern style inspired by the work of Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...

 (Chipkin 1993).

The most famous resident of Houghton Estate is Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...

. Helen Suzman
Helen Suzman
Helen Suzman, DBE was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician.-Biography:Helen Suzman, a life-long citizen of South Africa, was born as Helen Gavronsky in 1917 to Jewish immigrants....

 represented Houghton a member of parliament from 1953 - 1989, and from 1961 to 1974 was the only member of parliament unequivocally opposed to apartheid.

Houghton is centrally located on the M1 freeway
M1 (Johannesburg)
The M1 De Villiers Graaff motorway is a major freeway in Johannesburg, South Africa. The highway connects the southern areas with the city centre and extends further north through Sandton...

, with interchanges at Glenhove Road (M1 N & S), Eleventh Avenue (M1 S), Riviera Road (M1 N), 1st Avenue (M1 S) and Houghton Drive (M1 N). Multiple metropolitan routes cross Houghton, including the M16, M20, M31, R25, and M11 (Louis Botha Avenue).

The suburb, particularly Lower Houghton, is currently experiencing rapid redevelopment. Although many plots had already been subdivided in two, there is now a trend towards the development of cluster homes. This redevelopment is sanctioned by the City of Johannesburg's Regional Spatial Development Framework. The City sees many positive aspects to the redevelopment, but it is not uncontroversial and has resulted in the destruction of many traditional houses.

Houghton has two golf courses (Houghton and Killarney) and a large public park, The Wilds. There are three major schools: King Edward VII School (a public school for boys, also known as KES), St John's College
St John's College (Johannesburg, South Africa)
St John's College is a private school for boys in Houghton, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.-History:St John's College was founded in Johannesburg on 1 August 1898 and is an Anglican school....

(a private, Anglican school historically only for boys) and Houghton Primary School (a public school).
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