Hillbrow Tower
The Hillbrow Tower is a tall tower located in the suburb of Hillbrow in Johannesburg, South Africa. At, it was the tallest tower in Africa for 50 years, until it was surpassed in 2021 by the Iconic Tower in Egypt's New Administrative Capital, as well as the continent's tallest structure for eleven years, until overtaken by the Nador transmitter in Morocco; it remained Africa's tallest free-standing structure for two more years until overtaken by the chimney of the Sasol III Steam Plant in 1984. For seven years it was also the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere until 1978, when surpassed by the 270 m Mount Isa Chimney in Queensland, Australia. It remains the tallest telecommunications tower in Africa. Construction of the tower began in June 1968 and was completed three years later, in April 1971. Construction cost 2 million rand. The tower was initially known as the JG Strijdom Tower, after JG Strijdom, South African Prime Minister from 1954 to 1958. On 31 May 2005 it was renamed the Telkom Joburg Tower.
The tower was constructed for South African Posts & Telecommunications, which later became Telkom, South Africa's government-run and largest telecommunications company. As the general height of buildings rose in the central business district, it became necessary that the height of the new telecommunications tower stayed above the height of the buildings surrounding it.
Tourist attraction
The Hillbrow Tower has been closed to visitors since 1981, primarily for security reasons. Before the closure, the Hillbrow tower was one of the largest tourist draws in Johannesburg. The public was able to enter six public floors at the top of the tower. One of the floors housed a popular revolving restaurant named "Heinrich's Restaurant" and a discotheque named "Cloud 9" as well as another non-rotating restaurant known as "the Grill Room" and the observation floor which was at 197 m height.During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a huge football was fitted to the tower to celebrate the event. In 2013, television programme Carte Blanche broadcast from what used to be the revolving restaurant.
The Hillbrow Tower is one of two iconic towers that are often used to identify the Johannesburg skyline. The second tower, the Sentech Tower, is used for television and radio transmissions.