Whoa, take a look at that mighty Schlesinger Building towering above you! Back in 1965, when bell-bottoms were big and hair was bigger, this skyscraper shot up into the Braamfontein sky, stretching 110 metres tall-about as high as a stack of 20 double-decker buses. The man behind its name, John Schlesinger, wasn’t just a sharp businessman; he was one of Johannesburg’s very first serious art collectors. Imagine him strutting in here, top hat in hand, dreaming up ways to make this spot the talk of the town.
Now, if you look closely, you’ll see it isn’t just tall, it’s stylish, too! That glimmering grey-green glass looks almost moody-like the building just watched a dramatic soap opera. Doreen E. Greig, a legendary architect (and the Institute’s first female chief, no less!), called it ‘immense’ and ‘sombre and monumental.’ Not hard to see why, right? It almost feels like the Schlesinger Building is a silent guardian, keeping secrets behind its shiny, swollen façade.
The vertical aluminium strips racing skyward are perfectly balanced by the horizontal glass bands, creating a pattern that’s as precise as a chessboard-but hopefully, with fewer missing pieces. They say if you stand here at sunset, the glass lights up with deep green reflections, as if the building is winking at you! So go ahead-give it your best wink back. You just never know who, or what, is looking out!
