To spot the Johannesburg Sun Hotel, just look straight ahead for two connected glassy towers rising tall above the busy street, wrapped in a shell of deep blue-green windows.
Now, picture yourself standing before what used to be one of Johannesburg’s grandest hotels-these twin towers once sparkled with luxury. Back in 1970, the smaller rear building was known as The Tollman Towers, run by the famous Stanley Tollman. But things went big in the 1980s when hotel mogul Sol Kerzner took over-he poured R100 million into transforming the entire site, adding the massive 40-storey front tower and connecting them with a podium complete with a pool deck and even a running track! Imagine the splash of swimmers and the sound of shoes pounding the track high above Johannesburg.
By 1985, the Johannesburg Sun and Towers had 672 plush rooms, dazzling the city’s elite. But as the neighborhood’s fortunes faded, the glamour slipped away. The giant hotel became a modest Holiday Inn, then finally closed its doors in 1998, creaking quietly in the night. For a brief moment, the building woke up during the 2002 Earth Summit, hosting thousands of police officers-but the good times didn’t last. There were wild tales: a murder, system failures, and desperate guests stranded by broken elevators. Afterward, silence returned and today, the once-buzzing towers stand empty, a ghostly palace keeping the stories of wild parties and quieter mysteries locked inside.
