My Facebook feed has been getting a lot of posts advertising the Rand Club. It’s one of the old downtown Johannesburg places staying relevant in a world seeking more blingy entertainment. When I go there, I meet the PR man who’s helping the club raise its social media profile when Brian McKechnie comes in from the glare outside. It’s a hot afternoon, and the interior is cool and pleasantly gloomy, with its reassuring dark wood and red velvet.
Though the clubhouse was opened in 1904, the Rand Club itself was established in 1887 as a private gentlemen’s club just a year after the city was. It’s perfectly designed for the harsh highveld summer.
It’s had many members among Johannesburg’s movers and shakers, including Julius Jeppe, Hermann Eckstein and Lionel Phillips, all sirs. Previous chairs include city fathers Hans Sauer and Everard Read, as well as Alicia Thompson, Rick Currie and David Williams.
A passionate champion of heritage in his hometown, McKechnie, a member of 14 years’ standing, was last year elected the club’s 50th chair.
Tall and fit-looking, McKechnie radiates energy and youth, though he later tells me he is 46.
As I’ve come for lunch in the club’s restaurant, which is open to the public, he suggests we order our meal and then take the tour so that when we get back it will be ready. There’s no GM at the moment, though there is one starting later this month, and this is delaying things in the kitchen.
The revered old club is facing a number of challenges. McKechnie is a respected architect and heritage consultant with a string of accomplishments under his belt, but filling in the gaps in the day-to-day running of the place must be daunting, not to mention sorting out the club’s financial problems. Like many Joburg residents, the Rand Club has beef with the city, which gave it a sky-high valuation after it queried the previous one. The result was a R50,000 a month rates bill, widely interpreted as a punishment.
McKechnie has sorted out recurring water outages with the installation of three huge tanks in the basement and roof, providing 24,000l.
Today’s make-up of the Rand Club’s membership, now 500, is much more representative of Joburg’s diverse population than it once was. And its role has changed since members such as Cecil Rhodes sat in its armchairs and made deals with Randlords. (Though McKechnie says Rhodes and his cohort preferred the Kimberley Club.)
The meeting rooms are decorated with contemporary SA art and have names such as the Mvela Room, which was refurbished by the politician and business person Tokyo Sexwale. Look out for the beautiful tapestries by the Mapula Embroidery Trust on the walls in this room and the panels by Raymond Andrews on the mezzanine, flanked by a portrait of Nelson Mandela by John Meyer.
With many residents heading for better-run cities, remaining true to the City of Gold is increasingly wondered at. But being positive and constructive helps, and McKechnie, engaged in the life of the city with the firm Activate Architecture, has skin in the game. Home is a modernist house in Northcliff, which he says has amazing views. He keeps a small library for the rare books he collects, including works donated by the late architectural historian Clive Chipkin and an illuminated text given by the city to former mayor Norman Anstey to commemorate his term.
McKechnie was responsible for much of the refurbishment and restoration of the Art Deco Anstey’s Building, which was the tallest building in Africa when it opened to the public in 1937.
I’ve been to the Rand Club many times, so needed only a quick look around. There’s a grand old ballroom that can be rented for functions (banquet capacity is 220), and I love the nooks with padded armchairs where you can curl up for a chat or read a book. You get a strong sense of the Randlord era in the club and it’s an important link to the origins of our mining town, though now more accessible.
Old and new rub shoulders though and as you walk into the dining room there’s a huge glittering cow, part of the global CowParade public art initiative.
The teak bar, said to be the longest in Africa at 31m, was gleaming and the tables sparkled with crystal and good cutlery. At one of them was a group of legal men, wearing their gowns and collars, as several judges are members, with the magistrate’s court only a few blocks away.
We sit down in the comfy stuffed leather chairs and our meal arrives shortly after. I had pre-ordered the T-bone steak with rustic fries and Greek salad, while McKechnie had the lamb rogan josh with basmati rice, coconut, salsa and homemade roti. As Uber had just that week sent me a 50% discount voucher, I ordered a glass of Diemersdal Merlot, while he opted for a cola tonic and lemonade.
The steak was huge (500g, I took half home), done to medium-rare perfection, and tasty. Though the dish was paired on the menu with the Strandveld First Sighting Shiraz, the merlot was the only red wine available by the glass. McKechnie rounded off the excellent meal with a black Americano, while I had the cappuccino, by now feeling abashed at my food choices compared with the svelte McKechnie, who says he’s training for the Midmar Mile.
Lunch for two at the Rand Club’s Main Bar restaurant
- T-bone steak and chips: R230
- Rogan josh with basmati rice: R185
- 1 glass Diemersdal Merlot: R60
- 1 cola tonic: R12
- 1 lemonade: R30
Total: R517
He is a true son of Johannesburg. “My grandmother was Joey Bezuidenhout and her grandfather was FJ Bezuidenhout. His farm stretched all the way from Judith’s Paarl to Marshalltown and then Rosebank in the north, so my family has been in Joburg a long time.”
The farm was sold to FJ in 1861. The old farmhouse is still there but, like much in the suburb of Bez Valley, it has fallen into disrepair. When it comes to heritage in SA, you win some and you lose some.
McKechnie says his interest was piqued while he was doing postgraduate studies at the University of Pretoria and working on Johannesburg heritage projects. “This gave me a renewed appreciation for Johannesburg. We were looking at heritage in the CBD. I did my [master’s in architecture] thesis on urban renewal.”
The architecture you practise finds you, he says. His takes him to fascinating projects like revamping Innes Chambers and the original Anglo American headquarters on Main Street, now repurposed after the mining behemoth moved its HQ to London. He is also working on the heritage aspect of the Oxford Parks between Oxford and Bompas roads.
Duty calls too soon. At 2pm McKechnie has to rush off to meet the acclaimed artist Mary Sibande, who is waiting for him at one of the tables. There’s another interesting collaboration in the wings.
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