I’ve lived in Pretoria (aka “Jacaranda City”, aka “Snor City”, aka “The 012”, aka “P-town”) since 1996. I was away for about a year (from March 1998 to January 1999) but I’ve been a resident of this fine city for over 20 years.
Here are 31 Interesting facts you didn’t know about Pretoria:
1. “Church” street is a very long street…
Pretoria’s main street, Church Street (which sections have been renamed to Stanza Bopape, Helen Joseph, WF Nkomo and Elias Motswaledi  Streets) is the longest urban street in South Africa and one of the longest straight streets in the world.
2. Pretoria has a lot of embassies and consulates…
According to this website, there are 101 embassies / consulates in Pretoria. The embassies for the People’s Republic of China and the USA take up a whole blocks in Arcadia and are quite a sight. (Thanks for the heads up Joseph)
3. At one stage, former British prime minister, Winston Churchill was a “resident” of Pretoria…
Winston Churchill was imprisoned at the Staats Model School in Pretoria during the Anglo Boer War period (1899-1902) but escaped from captivity and fled to Mozambique. He went on to become the British Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1955.
4. Capital Craft Beer Academy has a lot of beers on their menu…
Pretoria has one of the best beer restaurants in the country, Capital Craft. It has the biggest beer variety for a restaurant in Africa. They are located in Menlo Park and there are more than 200 different beers from all over the world on their menu. If you’re hungry, their food is really good too. The owners have also been hosting an annual craft beer festival since 2013. Last year’s event attracted close to 8,000 punters.
5. Pierneef Street has a rich history…
The duplex flats next to Picasso’s pub in Pierneef Street is where the world famous artist Pierneef’s house stood. The city council didn’t know it was his house and gave permission for the house to be demolished. The street and the primary school down the road are named after him. Pierneef left a bunch of paintings in his will to the school. To this day whenever the school needs money they auction off a painting.
6. Pretoria almost had a different name…
“Pretoriusdorp”, “Pretorium”, “Pretoriusstad” were all considered as names by Marthinus Pretorius (the founder of the city, whose father Andries Pretorius). MW Pretorius bought two farms to start a new town. The first church congregation was named Pretoria Philadeplhia (Pretoria Friendship) in honor of Pretorius’ father. Later the town took on the shortened name of Pretoria. (Thanks for correcting me Andrew Buitendach).
7. Cafe Riche has an interesting history…
Cafe Riche (a restaurant on Church Square) has a glass pane that you walk over to get into the restaurant. This is because it used to be a gentleman’s club. The club was underground so the glass was there so the gentlemen could look up under the ladies skirts (who were walking into the club). True story.
8. Pretoria has a lot of Jacaranda trees…
Pretoria is also known as the “Jacaranda City” because of the over 50,000 Jacaranda trees that lines her streets and carpet the city in purple for three weeks in October. The first Jacaranda trees were imported from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1888 by a Pretoria resident.
Contrary to popular belief, there are actually less Jacaranda trees in Pretoria than in Johannesburg (the world’s biggest man-made forest with over 10 million trees).
9. Moreleta Park’s name origins are interesting…
Moreleta Park is named after Aletta Erasmus (daughter of Daniel Elardus Erasmus) from the farm Doornkloof (modern day Waterkloof / Erasmusrand / Elarduspark / Moreleta Park). Aletta washed her clothers in the river in the morning and then people greeted her in the morning from across the stream with “More Aletta” (“Morning Aletta”). A part of the Erasmus farm was sold to Alois Nellmapius. He renamed it to Irene Estate (after his daughter Irene Nellmapius). She got her name from the Greek goddess of peace, Eirene.
10. Tom Jenkins drive has an interesting history…
The 1.88 km long Tom Jenkins Drive road (which connects Rietondale with Brenturion / Arcadia – the area close to the Union Buildings) was built by Italian Prisoners of War during the Second World War. It’s named after a former mayor of Pretoria. Jenkins also went on to become the mayor of Margate (in Kwazulu Natal).
11. Madiba made a speech in Church Square in 1964…
The Rivonia Trial (where former SA president Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders were sentenced to life-long imprisonment) took place in the Palace of Justice (on Pretoria’s Church Square). This is also where Madiba made his “I’m prepared to die” speech on the 20th of April 1964.
12. Fort Schanskop also has a rich history…
Fort Schanskop (one of four forts in the Pretoria area) was completed in 1897 and is located in the Voortrekker Monument Nature Reserve on the highest hill in the Pretoria area. The garrison was initially armed with one officer and 30 men but it was reduced to 17 men (by 1899) and eventually to 1 person without guns (by June 1900).
No shots were fired at this location during the Anglo Boer War More recently Fort Schanskop was used for Park Acoustics (a monthly live music event in the capital city featuring great SA artists).
13. Paul Kruger’s house is still standing in Pretoria Central…
Paul Kruger House was built in 1884 by architect Tom Claridge and builder Charles Clark. He was the president of the ZAR (later known as Transvaal) from 1883 to 1900. Milk was used instead of water for mixing the cement from which the house was constructed, as the cement available was of poor quality.
It was one of the first houses to be lit by electricity in Pretoria. The two stone lions on the verandah were presented to President Paul Kruger as a birthday gift on 10 October 1896 by Barney Barnato (the mining magnate).
14. Melrose House is really old…
Melrose House (located across the road from Burgers Park) was built in 1886 by Pretoria businessman George Jesse Heys. It was named after the famous Melrose Abbey in Scotland. Lord Roberts requisitioned it as the headquarters for the British forces after Pretoria was invaded by them in June 1900.
For over 18 months instructions for the British forces in the field were issued from here. The use of the house as a military headquarters ended when the Treaty of Vereeniging (which ended the war) which was signed at Melrose House on the 31st of May 1902.
15. The Union Buildings took 4 years to construct…
The Union Buildings (which were designed by Sir Herbert Baker) was constructed between 1909 and 1913. It took approximately 1265 artisans, workmen and labourers to construct, using 14 million bricks for the interior office walls, half a million cubic feet of freestone, 74,000 cubic yards of concrete, 40,000 bags of cement and 20,000 cubic feet of granite.
At the time of completion it was the largest building in the country and possibly the largest building work undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere at that time. The 9m tall statue of Nelson Mandela (which was errected in December 2013) cost R8 million and weighs 3.5 tons.
16. Aandklas Hatfield also has a rich history…
Aandklas Hatfield opened up its doors in 2006. This cottage turned bar was built in 1943 for the use of Mr F. Jacobz. It was a residential house until 1996. It was converted by the owner to a commune for the use of university students.
Eventually this was converted into a venue called Up The Creek in 2002 and it became Aandklas in 2006. I actually bumped into one of the original commune occupants a few years ago who told us that “it was fun drinking in his commune again”.
Since Hatfield Square was demolished in 2015, Aandklas Hatfield was one of only 4 bars that remained in the area. Sadly Aandklas Hatfield has been rebranded and is not open anymore, but in Hatfield’s heyday it was one of the more than 15 bars that were located in the area.
17. The Botanical Gardens have been around for more than 70 years…
The Pretoria National Botanical Gardens was established in June 1946. The University of Pretoria granted approval to the Department of Agriculture for the development of a botanical garden on a piece of land that was previously part of the University’s Experimental Farm.
The Department of Agriculture acquired properties on the Northern ridge and the garden was officially opened in October 1958. One could only visit these gardens if you made special arrangements, but in 1984 that changed when the gardens were opened its gates to the general public.
18. Church Square was used as a location in a movie…
A part of Church Square was used as a location for the 1996 film, The Ghost and The Darkness (which starred Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas). The steam train that was used in the film was borrowed from the Pretoria Railroad Museum.
19. Elon Musk was born in Pretoria…
The famous business magnate, investor, engineer and inventor Elon Musk was born in Pretoria in 1971. He attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School and eventually graduated at Pretoria Boys High School before he moved to Canada.
20. The area where Loftus Versfeld is located has been used as a sport field for more than 100 years…
The area was first used as a sports field in 1906. In 1914 the fields got initiated as Eastern Sportsgrounds. In 1923 the first concrete structure was erected with seating for 2000 spectators. Changing rooms and toilets were added in 1928. Mr Loftus Versfeld died and the stadium was renamed to Loftus Versfeld in 1932.
In 1948 improvements were made to the stadium. Between 1972 and 1984 various pavilions were added and in 1989 the main stand pavilion was renovated to what it resembles today. The Eastern pavilion was renovated in 1995. It was renovated again for the FIFA World Cup in 2008.
BONUS Facts:
21. “Mamelodi” is the name derived from the Sepedi word with the prefix being “ma” meaning mother, and the suffix “melodi” meaning melody. It can be also mean Mother of Melodies.
22. The suburb of Sunnyside was incorporated into Pretoria in 1890, the suburb of Arcadia was incorporated into Pretoria in 1889 and the suburb of Brooklyn was incorporated into Pretoria in 1902.
23. The suburb of Voortrekkerhoogte (located near the Voortrekker Monument) was renamed to Thaba Tshwane in 1998.
24. Petrol driven buses were introduced as a mode of public transport into Pretoria in 1972.
25. The first tram ran in Pretoria in 1910. The system was abandoned in 1939.There were about 13.5 miles (21 km) of tracks for trams in Pretoria.
26. The suburb of Colbyn is named after Colby, Isle of Man, where the suburb’s developer, J.B. Kneen, was born. It was surveyed by the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.
27. The Methodist Church of Southern Africa also laid out the suburbs of Hatfield, Queenswood and Kilner Park. The original deeds forbade the sale of liquor in the suburbs they laid out.
28. According to 2023 estimates, Pretoria has a population of 2.8 million. It’s the fourth biggest city in South Africa (behind Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg).
29. Mahlamba Ndlopfu (formerly known as Libertas) is the chief official residence of the President of the Republic of South Africa. The head of government has made it their official home since 1940 and it is located in the Bryntirion Estate in Pretoria (near the Union Buildings). The residence was designed by Gerard Moerdijk (the same architect who designed the Voortrekker Monument).
30. Electricity was introduced in Pretoria in 1892. The power station was situated on Schoeman Street (now known as Francis Baard Street) towards the North-side about halfway between Prinsloo Street (now known as Sisulu street) and Van Der Walt Street (now known as Lilian Ngoyi street).
31. The Cullinan diamond, found in 1905 at the Premier mine about 25 km east of Pretoria, is the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered, weighing 3,106 carats. The discovery brought international fame and attention to the region.
Well, there you have it, 31 Interesting Facts You Didn’t Know About Pretoria. This article will always be a work in progress, so if you have any facts about Pretoria that you want to share, e-mail me via factsguyza@gmail.com. You’re also welcome to leave a comment below.
Watch this space for regular updates in the Geography category on Interesting Facts.
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