Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Sack's Hotel - Orient Hotel Fordsburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng REID and GREEN: Architect

Date: 1895 Type: Hotel Status: Extant Street: Co Main St and Central Rd   Click to view map Coordinates: 26°12'19.58" S 28°01'19.29" E Alt: 1732m

Sack's Hotel on the corner of Main Street and Central Road (opposite the market square) originally opened in 1892 as a single-story shop and bar. It proved such a prime position (probably because it was the only licensed establishment in the area at the time) that the owner, S. Sack, bought up more stands for expansion. The current building was designed in 1895 by Reid & Green and expanded in 1903 and again in 1905 on one side and then the other. It is possibly the oldest operating hotel in Johannesburg. The building is currently called the Orient Hotel and has been modified substantially, especially the corner facade and surrounding balconies. From old maps, it appears there was a bar on the corner facing Main Road with its own entrance. The original hotel entrance appears to be in the same place today as when it first opened although greatly altered. (History of Fordsburg. Submitted by Derek Walker via William Martinson)